Bayonettes

These look pretty cool when you enlarge them. These bayonettes are pretty easy....just a clean up and light plating of the steel, and a long cleaning job. The scabbards however....that was another story.

The Regiment wanted three covers to protect the flags from getting snagged on the sharp bayonettes, and a chrome plated one to use for funeral services. Chrome is very difficult and dangerous (remember the Erin Brockovitch movie?) but nickel is pretty tame, and is stronger than chrome. Looks nicer in my opinion.

It was a bit of a trick to get a bit of texture on the bayonette. Finally, after, what....twelve or so coats of nickel, it turned out not too bad. Its still pretty thin in the centre though....and if they polish it with brasso, it will show through. In which case, its a fairly quick job to re-plate. (now that the difficult and time consuming part is all done.)

Here is what it looks like when it is all done. There is a space in the front already cut out for the fourth bayonette when they decide to get it done. Doesn't look like 120 hours worth of work does it?

Bayonettes part 4

Tinning the metal. I like to leave a lot of silver on the bottom half. When it melts, it will squeeze out and fill up the gap between the two sections.

This is how it is supposed to look.

A sideways closeup of the clamping arrangements.

You try to not use too many clamps, and also as light as you can get. Sometimes those cheap Chinese clamps are really heavy....dont use those. The heavy metal will suck all the heat away from the assembly. You see that little chunk of metal on the top? That's a scrap of solder. When it melts, I know the whole thing is warm enough to fuse together.