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Frame Construction

Utilizing the finest in light weight steel tubing from manufacturers such as Reynolds, Columbus and True Temper, each frame is carefully hand crafted to your specifications. Every operation is meticulously performed by hand.After being mitered, each joint is individually pinned, then tacked with a small amount of silver in a precision fixture. It is checked for alignment, then brazed. The frame is checked and rechecked for alignment throughout the construction process. This method insures the frame is straight without any built in stress.
Every frame is silver brazed using a low temperature silver brazing material. Although more expensive than traditional brass, silver brazing does not subject the tubing to high temperatures that can cause the material to weaken and become brittle. With silver brazing the metal retains its original characteristics. Brazing with silver has one small drawback though. It does not fill gaps as well as brass. Therefore the miters at the ends of each tube must be cut very precisely so that there are no gaps larger than four thousands of an inch (.004" ). This is important because the silver must flow all the way around the mitered end to form a small fillet joining the two tubes together. Otherwise the lug will end up holding the joint together which is not what it was designed to do. You can feel the difference in ride and handling between a frame made this way and a mass produced type frame. Frames constructed in this way posses the ride characteristics that all other materials are compared to.
You may have noticed lately that fewer and fewer builders offer lugged frames anymore. There is one very good reason for that, time. Building frames with lugged construction is very time consuming due to the additional labor inherit in lugged frames. This is unfortunate because lugs not only enhance the aesthetics of a frame, they are also an important part of a well made frame. Lugs act as a strain relief, spreading the load at the joint over a larger area, greatly increasing the strength of the frame. The graceful curve of a long point lug is an elegant yet functional method of dissipating the stress in an even fashion out to the point of the lug. The cutouts and holes I like to design into lugs serve a dual purpose. First they give a frame a distinctive appearance that shows off the care and craftsman ship that went into the frame. Secondly they provide points to feed the silver into while brazing.