1935 Hercules Model G Fork Is Back

The Hercules Model G fork is back from the frame builder. The item has a few interesting twists to it.  First, the dropouts are not separate pieces brazed into the blade tubes, rather they are crimps stamped into the ends of the blade tubes. It appears the factory stamped the drops into shape, then filled the core of the drops with steel to strengthen them. The result is the shape and skin of the drops are stamped but the cores are filled with metal. It certainly is the the same as what Raleigh did, which was to take a separate, pre forged piece of metal and braze it into the blade tubes.

                                                                                                                  

He looked over the damage I had previously shown here on the blog.He found that the area of the drop had begun to separate around the joint. The separation ran about halfway around the drop. He also found that what I had previously believed to be cracks were not major. He indicated they were mostly deep scratches, though they appeared to be cracks at first. The material being steel, he believed a repair certainly possible.






I picked up the fork from him today. He ground down the scratches and added fillets (see http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_e-f.html#fillet ). This leveled off the surface and made it smooth. He  brazed the part where the drop had started to separate. He indicated the project had turned out to be less difficult than anticipated, and that he was very confident in the quality and strength of the repair. As you can see, the work looks very good. I'll need to patch up the paint in the area, but that can certainly be done. The gold is the fillet built up and leveled to smooth the surface. It will soon be back to work on this project.