Soldering Tiny Bails

[TrippyTuesday]

Hello Everyone!

I was hoping some one might have some advice for soldering the ring closed on these small bails. I'm fairly new and have been casting my own pendants, and these bails from Cooksongold are so small that when I go to solder them the bail breaks from the ring before the solder has a chance to melt and close the ring. I've tried being really careful and while I have been successful, it still fails about half the time. Does anyone have advice on a foolproof way of doing this? I was thinking of getting some thermogel and just slathering the bail, but I'm not sure if thats extreme.

Heres a picture of the exact bail for reference.

Thank you so much!

12898

[Dennis]

Hi Trippy, and welcome. I suspect most people would not solder it at all, but just close it as perfectly as possible. It looks stout enough to resist opening again.

However If you feel more comfortable soldering it, I would hold it up by placing some not too pointy tweezers at the joint between the ring and the bail.
Here the tweezers will act as a heat sink and protect that joint.
I would also use a snip of easy solder, to avoid the need for too much heat.
Work in a darkened area so as to monitor the effect, you should only get a dull red, and move the flame around a lot until the solder begins to flow. Dennis.

[mizgeorge]

Your problem with these is that they've already been soldered (or welded) when the ring was added to the bail. The simplest solution is to cut it off completely before you start, make your own jump ring and add it to the bail, soldering it closed in a single operation. Or just make your own bail from scratch - a handmade version will always be nicer than a cheap bought-in one. Or just use a heavy jump ring rather than a bail and dispense with them altogether.

[CJ57]

I agree with George. So much better to make your own so that you know what you are working with and probably much less time wasted