[Jewelry making - Article 00130] - Re: [Orchid] Knitted chain by hand or weaving

[Loren Damewood]

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Beth,

>     I took one of Loren Damewood's knotting workshops, and Loren uses
>     fine silver, and simply melts the ends together... no solder.
>     Beautiful. Same principal would probably apply here. Loren, if you
>     are following this thread maybe you could chime in with a better
>     description of what you do? 

    Fine silver fuses very nicely, if it's free of surface contamination
    and is in mechanical contact. You have to have a deft touch, because
    it is necessary to get the surrounding metal almost hot enough to
    melt down, but not quite, and then concentrate just enough heat at
    the joint to form a puddle of molten metal there. If you get it too
    hot it will slump, and if you don't have good contact, the separate
    pieces will melt away from each other, beading up due to the surface
    tension of the molten silver. 

    I also make a habit of keeping some bits of silver wire scrap handy,
    melting clipped off ends into balls ready to pick up on a solder
    pick. The method used in pick soldering works perfectly, but it's
    important to remember that the "solder" and the work melt at the
    same temperature. Get the area hot, bring the extra bit of silver in
    contact with the joint, and boost the heat just enough to flow it
    into place and let it merge with the surrounding metal. 

Loren
http://www.golden-knots.com

 
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