Safest way to "UNsolder"

Rut-roh… Just when I thought I was almost homefree, the bezel
cup I soldered to a ring shank turned ever so slightly that the
darned thing is noticeably crooked now (after pickling). What’s the
safest way to UNsolder and redo this so I don’t make an even bigger
rut-roh?

Thanks, in the midst one of those times when it’d sure be nice if
you could just hit the “undo” button eh? Carol,

Carol, just reflux the part that you want to unsolder, reheat and
when the solder flows again, jerk that part away with tweezers. You
can also let gravity help you by clamping that part with cross
locking tweezers in a third hand so that the entire piece is hanging.
Flux and heat until the solder flows and the rest of the piece should
fall off of the piece you are trying to remove.

Marilyn Smith

Carol, At the school, students are forever getting into that kind of
trouble. So we have to do a lot of ‘unsoldering’. My normal
procedure is to go through the entire soldering protocol…alcohol,
Prip’s flux, then place the item into a third hand if you can get a
good grip on it somewhere, put Battern’s flux around the place to
unsolder and begin heating gently but fairly rapidly. If it takes too
long, you could burn off the flux protection and end up with
oxidation anyway. As the piece reddens, gently pull the bezel cup
with tweezers or nudge it with a soldering pick. When the solder
melts it will simply pull, fall off, or be pushed off the shank.
Make sure it is completely clear of the shank though as the slightest
contact could result in its being soldered somewhere else where you
don’t want it.

Good luck and cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFL
where simple elegance IS fine jewelry! @coralnut1

It’s often helpful to paint the seams you don’t want to come apart
with rouge. Just rub a paintbrush dipped in turpentine onto the bar
of rouge and go over the seams. Use binding wires to hold other
pieces together.

Tony Konrath
Key West Florida 33040