Hi,

This is my first post here. So hello! How are you? And please could one of you mighty brains help me solve this question...

I'm new to soldering, but have enjoyed a degree of success using Cookson's soldering starter kit and following the 'sampler' exercises in Kate Ferrant Richbourgh's excellent book, Simple Soldering. For those of you who don't know the book, it offers tutorials based around you creating 16 one-inch-square copper sample tiles, each of which introduces you to different metalsmithing and soldering techniques and/or materials. The squares are made from 0.5mm copper sheet and you add various bits and bobs, in silver or copper, on top using different types of solder.

As I said, after much practice I managed to complete the exercises, but on some I found that it was almost impossible to get the solder to flow. I wondered if it was because my Cookson's torch wasn't powerful enough once the top of my square had been covered with embellishments, so I tried an old campingaz VT1 torch I had in the garage from some soldering/plumbing work a friend of mine had done for me a few years before. This certainly provided enough heat, but with a flame whose diameter was around the same size as my sample tile I had no control over where the solder flowed (mmm, nice shiny puddles of solder everywhere - still, it gave me the opportunity to learn filing and sanding! ;-)). I then went to the DIY store and bought a Campingaz x-1650 extra fine burner for the nozzle, but I still find it very imprecise compared to my Cookson's torch, not to mention it sometimes has an alarming tendency to produce a fiery dragon breath effect across my soldering station when I point it at a sharp downwards angle.

So, my question is, do I need to upgrade? (I would like ultimately to be able to work on bangles/cuffs and later move on to metal clay.) Or do I simply need to become ambidextrous and use the campingaz torch for heating and the Cookson torch for directing the solder flow? If I do upgrade, would there be any point upgrading to a propane/air torch (I'm not sure my insurance would allow for a oxygen/acetelyne or oxygen/propane system and my budget won't stretch to a torch and an oxycon system). Would a propane/air torch give greater heat like the campingaz torch, but with the fine control of the Cookson torch?

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I hope giving you precise info of what I've been doing will get me some precise answers. At the moment I just seem to have more and more questions!

Many thanks in advance,

Karen