[TheForge] Trying to put 5 gallons of water in a 1 gallon bucket

[Ries Niemi]

In the past, because of poverty, stubbornness and occasional ignorance, 
I have tried to do what Andy is trying with his copper countertops- 
Which is find a cheap backdoor way around a tough technical problem.
Sometimes I have had it work, sometimes not. Done a few hairbrained 
kitchen counters myself- There was the passthru I did for a coffee bar 
one time, with a 6" diameter rolled front, 8 feet long. Looked like a 
giant bullnose. It looked like copper, too- but I used copper laminate- 
kinda like formica with a very thin layer of copper foil glued to it. 
The toughest part was getting it to curve into that 1/2 circle. Sanded 
the hell off the back of the formica before it would bend that tight.

Lots of times I hear people asking- how can I build a tool for 200 
bucks that will do exactly what a 10,000$ tool will do. And most of the 
time, you cant.

Tig welding all those seams might work. If you have a tig welder, and 
practice using it. Then again, might not- might warp the stuff so much 
that it cant be flattened down again. Tig welding puts a lot more heat 
into metal than soldering. And copper will warp, especially thin stuff. 
Tig brazing might work- I do it a lot on steel, but I use a silicon 
bronze rod- which would not give you a good color match with the 
copper. And if you used a copper rod, it wouldnt be brazing, but fusion 
welding.

They do make metal bearing epoxies, but they are usually not for 
cosmetic color matching. They make aluminum, bronze, and cast iron 
epoxies, some of which you can even machine after they are set. But 
they arent very elegant to use- thick as frozen peanut butter, grainy, 
and messy.

My vote is- use a relatively thin epoxy. Sand it smooth. Then go get a 
bottle of testors model airplane paint, for about a buck, and an itty 
bitty brush, and paint the epoxy.

Because you already married the wife, and bought the copper, and spent 
the money and time. So you either gotta rebuy the copper, and probably 
more tools, or admit defeat, and tell here this is the best I can do. 
Money versus wife equations are never easy to resolve, and sometimes 
ego sacrifice is the only answer.

ries