[Jewelry making - Article 01403] - Re: [Orchid] Chain mail - to solder or not to solder?

[colleen baran]

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>     I am wondering what the convention is for chain mail used in items
>     of jewellery - wether it should be soldered or if its okay to just
>     close the jump rings tightly and leave it at that.  I had assumed
>     that the only really correct way was to solder every  single
>     link.

   Hi,

    Generally the question could go either way dependant upon the
    thickness of your metal.  I personally would solder anything below a
    16 guage/1.3 mil- but I really don't like open links and their lack
    of concrete permance.  I like to know that my joints are solid
    rather than sending them out there into the world and wondering.  
    Of course, I also like soldering, it is my favourite part of he
    process.  Though... I made a chainmail necklace last year that took
    about 6-7 hours of soldering and I admit I found  the 5th- 6th- hour
    of soldering little links a bit tedious.  It is just very important
    to solder half of the links before hand and only solder joining
    links after it has been put together- it saves way more time than
    you would think.

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