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reusing swedish jib hanks?


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hi all,with this crappy weather this weeks sailing time became boat upkeep 

 

some of the bronze hanks on the old racing jib have eaten their eyelets so decided to have a go at moving them

 

the move went well but haven't tried closing the hanks up again yet

 

suspect they might break

 

toying with the idea of slipping them off again and trying to anneal them first

 

the question being what is the best way to anneal bronze

 

with a quick quench in water like copper?

 

or a very slow cool in ash like steel?

 

sure google with know but anyone here with experience?

 

edit

 

To soften (bronze) , it should be brought to a medium red color, (held for 1-2min) then quenched in water to cool quickly. I would be careful not to overheat it though—some bronzes will suddenly go from solid to falling-apart when hot. 

 

gallery_1988_37_442649.jpggallery_1988_37_532133.jpggallery_1988_37_369838.jpggallery_1988_37_191227.jpg

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^

 

they did turn up in my research

 

so at least someone, somewhere has seemingly used them successfully

 

on a side note after studying carefully the chafe on capricorn's mainsheet block dyneema loops + traveller

 

have rotated all loops to move chafe area away from boom corners 

 

and have shortened the dyneema looping on the traveller, by adding another loop

 

to also move the slightly chafed areas away from the chafe causing edges

 

as always it's in the good book

 

Job 12:18     

New International Version (NIV)

18 He takes off the shackles put on by kings
    and ties a loincloth[a] around their waist.

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just warm them up a bit and prise them open, when I did it none broke on re closing with a soft mallet or block of wood, although new piston hanks aren,t all that expensive if you can get them wholesale,  When I say warm I just mean 30 or 40 degrees or so.

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Another method if they break - if there is enough material left is to drill two holes and seize them on. Worked ok on some larger ones many years ago - they were $20each at the time.

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I can't see what you have to lose, you've already bent them once so there's already damage that can't be undone but I don't think the damage would be significant for their use either. You haven't opened them right up, just put them back in and tap them down again. What is the worst that would happen any way- you'd lose 1 or 2 hanks in a race, they're just jib hanks, you could probably sail an entire race without any in at all. You're not lifting anything heavy or a person and If some do break then you know which need replacing. :razz:

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Vorpal Blade, a sailmaker, has pointed out that best to use are hard (stainless?)  'spur tooth' grommets and make sure any repositioned hanks stay below batten pockets or they will snag the hoist + drop 

 

thanks Bill

 

so just went ahead and tried to anneal the hanks by boiling for a few minutes (probably pointless) and then heating to cherry red.....................if correctly annealed it's possible to reverse the 'crystallization' that happens to work hardened copper alloys

 

gallery_1988_37_37871.jpggallery_1988_37_195296.jpg

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How interesting. ,I've been doing the very same job. I lost a few opening them....the rest look OK. I heated them up to 40 degrees by swearing at them. Always helps.

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I've used the Wichard hanks on Pulse for 14 years. Never had a halyard or sheet catch them. I have reused about 2/3rds of them on replacement jibs, without heating them or anything. Especially good for storm jibs, staysails etc that you don't use all the time, as the hanks remain reliable, unlike pistol hanks. Great to load at sea, by smashing them on the head stay one handed. A completely underrated bit of great, simple kit...

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The Swedish hanks shown are what was marketed as NZ style hanks in Europe- referring of course to the Murray hanks made here for years, the European ones are not made of the same metal as the old Murray ones though -which could if carefully prised open be used again and again. I too have experienced the wichard hanks coming away from the forestay in very unpleasant conditions (flogging) and seen them hook other halyards --very tricky.

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