[Jewelry making - Article 01115] - Re: [Orchid] Soldering Enormous Bezels

[Frank Romano]

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    Lee, I had to do a similar piece recently.  My solution was: 

    Put the silver piece on a charcoal block.  I know this doesn't allow
    heating from below, but sagging was a problem for me too, so I
    decided to just support the silver and heat from the top. 

    Position some firebricks to reflect as much heat as possible back
    onto the surface/body of the silver. 

    Get an assistant or become ambidextrous and with 2 Bernz-O-Matic
    plumbing torches, available at any hardware store, using propane or
    MAPP gas (they also have an oxypropane setup available, too), heat
    the silver till the solder flows.  I know, it feels kind of like
    using a flamthrower after using a Smith Little torch... 

    Anyway, I used both torches to heat the main body of the 16 ga.
    silver and once it all got to temp, used one of them to draw the
    solder .  I didn't time it, but it felt like I must've heated it for
    about 15 minutes before anything flowed. Big silver pieces are not my
    favorite :-) 

Frank Romano
"Gemcutters are Multifaceted Individuals"
http://www.romanogems.com


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