I use a punch: H- hard M- medium E- easy X- X easy G- (glass) enamel etc... for my silver. a good hard punch imprint every inch or so survives the roller better than a scribe or marker pen. For argentium solder I suppose I'll just put an A with the other letter.
When it comes to Golds, Palladium and Platinum I keep them in separate marked up plastic bags, so my 18ct red is seperate to the 3 18ct Yellows I have. They are always stamped with what they are. I bag just to speed up selection and stops me mixing them up. Then into a lidded tray to store in the safe. If that went missing think of it's cost? If you want to keep it traceable? Stamp the center with your hallmark punch, handy if you go to workshops.
You use hard solder if you know you have more soldering to do on the piece, each solder grade melts at a different temperature, Hard being the highest and Extra Easy the lowest
According to Cookson's product info the temperature ranges for each are as follows -
Hard 745-778°C
Medium 720-765°C
Easy 705-723°C
Extra Easy 667-709°C
so if you used hard for the first joint, you can use medium for the next, easy for the one after that and finally extra easy to perform the final soldering op.
Of course, it never works out quite that easily, and you may need to use various methods to prevent earlier solder joints 'coming unglued' as you attempt further soldering.
My favourite dodge is tippex, because it is made from kaolin (china clay) it acts as a refractory (or insulator) and protects solder joints coated with it - and then when pickling the piece it goes to mush and is easily cleaned off.
I never use medium grade solder as its molten range touches both hard & easy grades leading to unwanted meltdown.
Like the Tippex suggestion.Beats rubbing a bit of tripoli on to the join.
Tony
I use the same method as Ominicci (bet I have spelt that the wrong way)
I actually cut it in the bags, to stop it flying around the room...x
Clair Wolfe Jewellery
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