Daily Journal of Mr. Jacob Charles Malec, participant
Robert Barclay Trumpet Making Workshop--July 12-17, 1999

Second Day
Tuesday, July 13, 1999 -- 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Today was long and tedious, but proved fruitful in the end. I finished my yards and my bell. To complete the yards, first I had to anneal the bras pipes to make then soft. Then I forced them onto a mandrel were I removed any excess solder with a file. Then I burnished them with a burnishing rod. Burnishing is rubbing the yard to make it smooth. ( There are examples on the picture page.) After the yards were as true and as round as we could possibly get by hand, we pulled them through a bit witch made them perfectly true and round. This took until 2:00. Finally I decided to work on my bell. The bell is very difficult to shape. In order to shape the bell you have to ram the bell onto a bell shaped mandrel and get it stuck. Then you have to burnish it until the brass becomes to hard to work . Then you heat it again, and repeat the process until the bell is shaped.

Daily Journal of Dr. Daniel Burdick, participant
Robert Barclay Trumpet Making Workshop--July 12-17, 1999

Day Two
Tuesday -- 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Today was another very busy and tiring day. It started out very auspiciously with a great soldering session on my third and final tube seam. The solder just ran along the flux and it was a very clean and efficient solder. Next, I water tested my other seams and found a few holes that needed some re-soldering. So, I did these solders and they were not that elegant. But they were serviceable. The rest of the day seemed to go down hill.

I needed to hammer out my bell on the anvil. However, the anvil is outside in the sun and I forgot my hat! So, since my dad has skin cancer and my skin burns at the mention of the sun, I went back to Shawn and Emily's to get my hat. While at the house, I used the hose to water test the bell and found three holes that needed resoldering. So, I made it back to the workshop and started hand hammering my bell. It was a fun process once I figured it out. After each hammering, the bell needs to be annealed to prevent stress fractures. Rick helped