Quote Originally Posted by hotrod1 View Post
Hi GregT yes there are a few too many tubes in places buy still surprisingly light I can lift it up at either end with one hand with little effort and it has lasted this long without any major twisting or sagging so it can't be all bad. the welding looks to be mainly gas but with some TIG as well for the repairs. I am not a confident welder so I will do all the donkey work and then a friend who is a tradesman welder will do the hot stuff.
Well, that does help to date it a little. TIG was available in ChCh from the 50's - there were a couple of specialist welders with the gear. If it had been MIG welded IMO that would have dated it as reasonably late work.
Gas of course has been around for years - but fusion welded gas is actually quite rare I'm told, most fabricators preferring bronze welding or refining it by using nickel bronze.
My personal preference based on 30 plus years of building roadrace motorcycle frames is bronze welding as I find distortion to be much less.
Carry on.