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cfb
09-04-2014, 09:40 AM
I have started making jewellery again after some 20 odd years and dug all of my old equipment out including solder. I have been trying to make a simple copper bangle but wanted to solder tips and other pieces onto it in silver. I have had a really bad time the hard solder just will not run, I have cleaned the joints and restarted several times changing flux and changing from diverse thickness to similar thicknesses, then copper to copper just to get one joint to work. I then used a roll of east solder that I inherited from someone else that is newer and much brighter who had given up and suddenly it all worked. I probably should have started with a medium or easy but I was winging the design and wasn't sure how much I would be doing so stuck to a hard.

After doubting that I still had any skills, at all I realised that the old solder peices probably need a good clean. The one thing that I haven't done was to pickle them I am assuming that this is what I need to do or are they completely unsalvagable.

CJ57
09-04-2014, 10:35 AM
Hi
I don't think solder degrades, did you give it a rub with a bit of emery or a file to clean it up? We would all say that hard and day are the solders we use, medium is a bit of a devil and doesn't run well at all so use hard as much as possible and them move on to easy. It probably only needs a clean as you say

Anna Wales
09-04-2014, 12:28 PM
I've only recently come back to making after a long break too and all my solders are still fine. As Caroline has said I just gave mine a good rub with wet/dry.

Goldsmith
09-04-2014, 12:44 PM
As others have suggested all the solder needs is a good clean, I use a three square scraper when cleaning my solder strips, I clean them with a scraper every time before cutting off pallions for soldering. Sometimes I use a glass fibre brush for cleaning solder also. I am still using silver solder strips that I bought some 30 years ago.

James

cfb
11-04-2014, 07:53 AM
Thanks to all

emilylisbeth
19-08-2014, 10:35 AM
Hi there everyone,
I'm new to the forum and was wondering if anyone could help?
I myself have just taken up jewellery again and have found several strips of solder but as I haven't marked them I'm unsure how to tell whether they are hard, medium or easy. Is there any way to distinguish them?
Thanks in advance,
Emily

Goldsmith
19-08-2014, 11:06 AM
Hi there everyone,
I'm new to the forum and was wondering if anyone could help?
I myself have just taken up jewellery again and have found several strips of solder but as I haven't marked them I'm unsure how to tell whether they are hard, medium or easy. Is there any way to distinguish them?
Thanks in advance,
Emily

Hi Emily, most silver solders have different width and thickness strips to identify their grades. If yours do not then you can also just cut same size pieces of solder and test them in a line on a piece of scrap metal, fluxing then heating with a torch until they flush and recording which solders run first and this will tell you which solders are easy or hard by process of testing, as the easy solders will flush first and the others will follow when their melting temperatures are reached.

James

emilylisbeth
19-08-2014, 11:51 AM
Thanks James!
The most obvious are often the best eh? I will do that.
Can I pick your brains with another one? I have solder paste and it's 'ok' but I find it turns to ash very quickly and doesn't give the same neatness that pallions of strip solder do. I know the obvious answer here would be to just stick with what works for me (strip) but I was just wondering, is solder paste 'frowned upon' in the professional world of jewellers or there instances where it is more favourable?
Thanks again
Emily

Dennis
19-08-2014, 12:01 PM
Paste solder seems attractive to beginners, partly because it already contains flux. The truth is that it needs its own special skills, because the ingredients will burn to an ash if heated directly with a flame, so rendering it useless. However it will run successfully if the whole piece is first brought to soldering temperature, well away form the joint. Dennis.

Goldsmith
19-08-2014, 12:06 PM
Thanks James!
The most obvious are often the best eh? I will do that.
Can I pick your brains with another one? I have solder paste and it's 'ok' but I find it turns to ash very quickly and doesn't give the same neatness that pallions of strip solder do. I know the obvious answer here would be to just stick with what works for me (strip) but I was just wondering, is solder paste 'frowned upon' in the professional world of jewellers or there instances where it is more favourable?
Thanks again
Emily

Emily, I have worked in this trade now for 53 years and I have never ever used solder paste. I also only use a Borax cone and borax plate, making my flux mixed with water for all soldering jobs using the pallions of gold and silver solders.

James

emilylisbeth
19-08-2014, 12:14 PM
Thanks Dennis and James,

Borax cone and water is the way I always soldered when I first started and it was great. Then I saw solder paste and thought it might be the updated way to do things and bought 3 tubes. Sometimes the old way is the best. I will stick to my beloved borax cone :-)

Thanks for the info, it's much appreciated!
Emily