Quill stem/bar combo

just finished this quill stem and straight bar combo(actually the bars curve back slightly)

it will be a prize for the Burro's 4 Year Anniversary Holiday Deliverycat & Party

i dont have any build photos because i just got a new camera, but this means that i will have more posts of my work with much better photos. 

about this stem:

i machined the quill tube from 4130 stock to get it down to the standard 22.2mm. then i machined the inside of the tube to lighten it up( i could have used thinner tubing, but its what i had laying around)

i made the extension out of 4130  and used some bars i found at Krank It Up community bike shop

i wanted the stem to have a classic look, so i cut the extension tube so that the quill could slide all the way through. i then fillet brazed the bars in place and then made stainless steel caps for the ends of the bars. i capped the back of the extension tube with a Florida quarter.

instead of powder coating or painting the bars, i thought using a gun bluing technique would keep it looking classic. the nice thing about bluing is that you can touch it up easily and you can see the bronze in fillets along with the grain of the metal. the quill and extension took the bluing solution well, while the bars came out a little splotchy.  I think that this must be due to whatever alloy the bars are made from or possibly due to the heat treatment that these bars may have gotten when they were made. whatever the case, i think it adds to the look. 

after the bluing process, i finished the bars with some boiled linseed oil to seal the metal.