After completing making all the tabs, bends and seams for my custom copper bathtub in the last installment, now came time to solder all the seams together making it water-tight. If all of my calculations are correct, when finished I should be able to drop the copper down snugly into the bathtub base.
I had prepared each seam and tab with a wire brush and carefully applied my flux to all surfaces.
Lighting the torch, I began to roll over in my head every calculation I had made, checking and double-checking every figure, every millimeter. There was no delaying it further.
I had hammered all of the double lap seams flat and all the calculated tapers and tabs appeared to come together effortlessly. I took a deep breath and began.
As I heated the seams and waiting for the solder to begin to flow in my head I continued to recalculate every measurement. Had I properly taken into account the thickness of each seam? Did I properly account for not just the taper along the sides but the front and back and properly figured the slope of the floor?
The solder began to flow like mercury down into the seam flooding it with metal. I frequently checked the inside of the tub to be sure that solder was not becoming visible from the interior. So far so good.
As I moved from one seam to the next I wondered how I would be able to lift and maneuver the copper insert into place without twisting it. Twisting the bathtub would crack the soldered seams and the bathtub would leak.
As I moved along each seam a friend that had stopped by asked about how I would deal with the copper’s discoloration resulting from the heat. A simple remedy would be to pour a little grape juice on the copper. The acid in the grape juice would result in a bright copper. I really didn’t care much about this discoloration as I was going to let the copper mellow to a soft patina anyway.
As each seam slowly succumbed to my torch the rigidity of the copper box became more apparent. So far so good. I knew in the back of my head that the real test was yet to come.
Would it fit properly and snugly into the bathtub frame that I had constructed and secured into place? Was I sweating from the heat of the torch or was it because I knew the next step would be a success or complete failure? Would I have to start all over again? Would the Cubs finally win it next year?
I would soon learn as next I had to insert my custom copper bathtub into its proper and final place. If only I had thrown on some daytime television organ music – the suspense was killing me.
Join us next time for the setting of the copper bathtub.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }