[Jewelry making - Article 00198] - Re: [Orchid] Torch Work

[coralnut]

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    Certainly Lorri,  See following: 

    The Eight Basic Rules of Soldering By: Donald Dietz 

    1. Pieces to be soldered should fit as tightly together as possible
    to get the strongest join.  Contrary to what you may have heard,
    solder WILL fill small gaps, as long as the metal touches at one or
    more points along the join.  While this is not the preferred way to
    do a job, sometimes it is unavoidable. Nonetheless, strive for
    perfect fitting joins. 

    2. Clean around the areas to be soldered. Use a file, sandpaper,
    steel wool, a pencil eraser; anything that will remove the surface
    oxides. It is not necessary to abrade into the surfaces, just insure
    they are clean of oxides. 

    3. Wash all parts in denatured alcohol to remove finger grease from
    handling the piece. 

    4.  Warm both (all) pieces with the torch one at a time and flux all
    surfaces with Prip's anti-firescale flux*, set up the solder job and
    cover the join with a borax based self-pickling flux such as
    Battern's, Aqua-flux, etc.  Immediately warm the self-pickling flux
    with the torch until it bubbles up and then relaxes. 

    5.  Apply CLEAN snippets of the appropriate solder (hard, medium or
    soft) as close to the join as possible. A soldering pick is an
    efficient tool to do this though there are other methods such as
    pre-soldering one side of the join, or using paste or wire solder. 
    NOTE:  Snippets become dirty if left in their container too long. To
    clean, place them in a small copper/stainless strainer or piece of
    cloth and dip them into hot pickle. Rinse and lay out on a paper
    towel to dry. 

    6. Use ONLY the amount of solder necessary! Experience tells you how
    much is necessary but it is better to use too little and have to add
    some than using too much and have to remove unsightly globs later. An
    average bezel/back plate job will require just 4 small snippets
    placed north, south, east and west - the tighter the fit of the join,
    the less solder required. 

    7.  If possible, solder in a semi-darkened area!!  Start with the
    piece at the far end of the torch flame and apply heat to the larger
    of the parts being joined until it begins to show a blush of dull red
    (about 900 degrees F).  Slowly move the the flame closer until the
    piece becomes a brighter red and concentrate the flame at the
    opposite side of the join from the solder. At this point the solder
    should melt. Keep the torch moving slowly to prevent overheating any
    part of the work lest it sag or bubble. As the area continues to
    heat, the solder will flash and flow through the join toward the
    heat. Immediately either remove the torch or, if soldering a long
    join, move it forward to the next segment. 

    8.  Drop the piece into water to cool it, then into hot pickle. 
    Remove in about 2 to 5 minutes, rinse and dry. 

    NOTE: 

    When joining bezels and backs, it is often hard to get the flame
    under the piece and pointed to the outside of the join being
    soldered. Some people use a 'sweat solder' stand with wire mat on it.
    Unfortunately, the wire mat acts as a heat sink and draws heat away
    from the job being soldered.  This, in turn, requires a hotter flame
    to overcome the lost heat and often results in overheated or
    misshapen metal. Try soldering such pieces by holding them in front
    of you with a pair of tweezers and heating under the join but
    pointing the flame away from the tweezers. With practice, you can
    solder a medium bezel to a solid back this way in about 30 seconds. 

    * To make Pripps Flux - desolve in hot water, 80 gms of tri-sodium
    phosphate (TSP) available in most paint/hardware stores, 120 grns of
    boric acid available at a drug store and 80 gms of borax available in
    the laundry department - also called Boroteem soap powder.  Lightly
    heat the objects to be soldered, dip in the flux, reheat and dip
    until each piece is entirely covered with a thin white coating
    (spritzers or atomizers may be used as well).  Set the pieces up, 
    flux the join with 'self-pickling' flux (Batterns, etc) and solder. 

    Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFL where simple
    elegance IS fine jewelry! dcdietz AT comcast.net


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