[Jewelry making - Article 00025] - Re: [Orchid] Marble stone as a Soldering Block?

[R . E . Rourke]

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    if i understand you correctly you want to put the marble slab under
    your soldering work place: 

    that's fine, a couple of points though: marble is very pourous and
    will stain easily. It cannot take the heat of soldering safely-
    while it is essentially a crystalline form, actually recrystalised
    limestone (without going into the technical chemical composition for
    those that will want to argue that point), it absorbs heat fine,
    which is why candymakers use it extensively to cool mixtures that
    reach no more than 500 degrees, for the heat you are going to need
    -upwards of 1450 degrees F, gaps inside the block that are not
    visible (small air pockets) can heat, expand then break off
    forcefully..so for a small droplet of, say molten silver to fall on
    it would be OK, and possibly a lightweight earring (24 -28 guage ),
    anything heavier COULD potentially cause a large piece to break or
    explode..One should always wear eye protection -at least- but ask
    other than a magnifying visor, how many jewelers on this forum
    actually do... 

    So for safety sake, while marble seems acceptable, it is not as good
    as say a firebrick readily available at most hardware
    stores..another acceptable temporary thing you can use is ceramic
    briquets or slabs designed for barbecque pits, and gas grills, old
    fixtures from space heaters work too, just sand a flat area to place
    your work on,. However a number of online merchants sell soldering
    blocks, charcoal, siliquar, etc. and they are relatively inexpensive
    and can arrive by thursday if ordered today! Different substrates do
    different things, so if you work in silver you will probably want
    some charcoal( buy the hard type as it lasts much longer) if you work
    gold more then siliquar, ceramic composites or solderite pads (white
    on one side, gray on the other) are reversible for both metals -just
    keep it sanded and cleaned as their lifespan is not long to begin
    with (a few months of daily use) and removing dross, slag and flux
    residues prolongs the life of the pads. hope that's what you needed,
    if not feel free to ccontact me off list.. 

RER
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