Shepherd Belt Buckle

Rummaging around in my treasure box the other day, I came across an old, much loved, belt buckle.

It is cast from pot metal and after long years of hard use its hook failed.

Once upon a time a friend made an effort to repair it with high temperature solder, but the heat took the temper out of the metal.

The softened metal around the hook quickly failed again.

I decided that my New Year's Day project would be restoring this old friend to full function after years in the darkness.

Two hours of cleaning the buckle up, grinding the old hook off, fabricating a new hook from a bit of hardware, and glue tacking the hook into place was an enjoyable part of a successful start to 2013.

Tomorrow, if all goes well with the epoxy gluing and the final finishing, I will blip my rejuvenated venerable belt buckle.

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