Brazing

I brazed up the spacers on the jitney manifold Tuesday. Took me a little time - seems like a lot of brass in there but I only used 1-1/2 rods for everything. I use bare rods when brazing, rather than the coated rods that are more commonly available. When using the bare rods, the flux is added to the joint by heating the end of the rod and dipping it in the can of flux, adding as much or as little as the job requires. I've had the can of flux in the photo for years. It's an Airco brand and I haven't seen anything from that outfit for a long time. The can is still about 1/4 full, which means it'll probably be a lifetime supply at this point in the game. It's rare that I braze anything any more, but it was a good choice to join the steel spacers to the cast iron manifold. Not recommended for exhaust manifolds, however, since they get up to the melting point of the brass during use.

I took the Missus for her cataract surgery on eye number one yesterday. Taking her for her check-up today. Next week the same thing again. Not conducive to shop work, but when it comes to priorities, this trumps most everything else. Cataract surgery is nothing short of amazing. The sky becomes blue again and I only need glasses for close-up work.