Originally Posted by
Hans Meevis
My eternal bug bear--solder lines. Mostly caused by the zinc in the soldering alloy.
One of three methods that I use sometimes help.
A super neat and thin joint, so that the line is very thin if it shows.
Use a 'L' shaped polished burr to bash the solder joint down before finishing, thus work hardening it.
Hard metal polishes better and the circular motion 'smears' silver over the joint.
Use some silver hard and add a small amount of fine silver to it.
This effectively makes it a super hard solder, more difficult to solder but with less reactive metal like zinc in it.
And also, if it is possible, plan your piece so that critical solder joints are not easily visible, so they can look ugly all on their lonesome.
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