The talk of tinning/cleaning prior to soldering the rib reminded me, my friends did say that in the "old days" they would actually tin the whole barrel blanks instead of just the area the rib would be soldered to. This was to prevent later rusting between the barrels and ribs. This practice went away because of the work and time it took to clean the "tin" from the areas to be blued (also excessive "cleaning" of the rib/barrel joint with files/scrappers can result in excessive thinning of the barrels along the ribs if extra care is not taken).
Mike
