Steelworking Intensive
Plus Gas Welding, Brazing & Soldering Steel
Steelworking Intensive
Those of you who are into automotive restoration as a profession or hobby will be right at home in this workshop. Last year, a customer brought the front fender of his 1958 DeSoto which was damaged around the front headlight brawl when a patch was wrongly welded-in. The students helped while Kent showed them how to replace the entire front section and fit the patch to the headlights, using nothing more than a few hand tools and a torch. After a few hours the seamless patch was finished! Car, motorcycle, airplane, or boat – bring that difficult part and let Kent show you how to get started!
Day 1 – Methods for Repairs for Rust and Crash Damage
We begin this 4-day event with a look at making rapid tooling for repair panel fabrication, plus repairing damaged panels. Kent's years of steel body restoration with some of the masters of rollover repairs will bring lots of light to this topic. Add annealing and hardening, and you know the day will be packed.
Day 2 - Stretching, Shrinking, and Planishing
There are some rapid ways to shrink steel panels right on the car, bike, or hay baler; so let's get with the program and move some metal. The same goes for stretching to flare fenders. And then smoothing…why not pick up a Fender Planishing machine and let the machine do it…right on the car? Ever heard of or seen The Amazing Shrink Disc? Or the whirling whanging rubagizmo? Kent can show you how the Texas Dustbowl Depression-era metalmen lifted out hail dents without a sound.
Day 3 - Gas Welding, Brazing and Soldering
What really works, and what’s just a time-waster? Why braze? How can solder save time? Is gas welding faster than TIG? Is the MIG welder really a manure spreader? We take a close look at what’s appropriate for the task. Chrome? No sweat. Kent has made a bunch of steel stuff for chrome-plate and has done serious repairs for chrome. How do you prep? Kent worked with a plating shop for years…prepping for Pebble Beach. Want to win? Kent did, and he can show you some mighty effective methods.
Day 4 - Oil Cans
Need I say more? Kent recalls, “I once spent THREE MONTHS on a fancy five-piece brass-trimmed Pierce Arrow hood that had gone saddle-back after a load of snow fell on it. Then some character sandblasted it! I sure learned a lot about shrinking…and oil cans.” What are oil cans (oilcanes?)? How do they form? You’ll be surprised to learn the truth – and how easy it can be to send one packing. By day’s end, you’ll be able to make ‘em and erase ‘em. And if you’re a real pro and get through Kent’s obstacle course…we can do a class on louvers.
Pre-requisite: Sincere interest and basic metalworking skills. (“The Original” 4-Day Intensive is NOT a pre-requisite for this class.)
Workshop photos
Metalworking Workshop Courses Offered
Metalworking Workshop Schedule
