"but the skills are not transferrable". They are that is how one
learns and develops the skill, by building on what was previously
learned.
While acquiring any skill is worthwhile pursuit, some routes are
shorter than others. Before working as a jeweler, I did repousse in
copper for several years and I worked as chaser in bronze foundry. I
was quite competent with acetylene torch. Some times casting wasn’t
successful and large details of sculpture were missing. I was
rebuilding what was missing simply by doing weld upon weld and
roughly
shaping it with the torch. After chasing it look like the problem was
never there.
When I started in jewellery, these skills were not only useless,
they were detrimental. Precious metals do not respond in the same way
as copper or bronze. Things which look attractive in copper, do not
look as good in gold, and etc.
As I said, I am a traditional jeweler. All my comments are made from
the point of view of traditional jeweler. What works in other areas
of metalsmithing, simply does not work in jewellery.
As a beginner (I’ve been at this for 18 months or so), I have to
agree with Noel on gold. I did take a wonderful class with Paulette W
(not Pauline Warg; the other one!) at Metalwerx called “Overcoming
your fear of gold”, or some such. We worked with 18K and everyone had
a great experience making the shift from silver.
I’ve become pretty competent with silver. I found that the 18K
required a lighter touch with my oxy/propane Little Torch, although I
had no problems with the Smith acet/air torches at the school. All
things considered, once I got the heating diff, 18K was lovely to
work with. Fast, forgiving, and no balled up solder.
14K was different again. I had some in the studio that I wanted to
use up, and made a mess before I figured it out. I will stick to 18K
once the 14K is gone.
Different metals, techniques, and solder each have their specific
properties but it all comes down to heat control in the end. Skills
I learned for O/A welding steel are not that far removed from
soldering fine jewellery with any metal.
hi and thanks for the nice comments! Yep, an LPG torch is on my
shopping list, probably this pay. My teacher has one and it is nice
to use, plus LPG so much less scary than propane.
When I realsed that I really couldn’t teach myself this stuff from a
book, I started my search with Enmore TAFE. I was ready to enrol,
but a 2 day course was nearly $800- probably worth it but a bit out
of my reach at the moment. My next stop was COFA but the short course
had started the same day I looked into it! The local Community
College was stop #3 and that’s where I ended up. I will keep Enmore
TAFE on my list- it’s good to know that it is worth the $$.
As I said, I am a traditional jeweler. All my comments are made
from the point of view of traditional jeweler. What works in other
areas of metalsmithing, simply does not work in jewellery.
I find no such problem, so such a pronouncement doesn’t ring true to
me, and may be misleading to others starting out. You imply that
jewellery has clearly defined limits and that skills learned outside
the limits will probably be detrimental. I suggest that’s a personal
view of jewellery’s limits and your experience of transferring
skills across. Valuable as such but you make them sound empirical,
general to us all.
Times change, people adapt, and jewellery traditions evolve. Many
different individual jewellers are making jewellery nowadays and I
consider there is room for a rich variety of different attitudes,
values, processes and forms. My personal tradition follows the
ever-changing package of skills I bring to it, building upon and
evolving it.
There have been a lot of good tips on how to solder. When I learned
to solder, I sometimes had trouble figuring out what was the CAUSE
of a soldering problem. Once I figured out the cause, then it was
easy to fix. I kept a note nearby with the following six
troubleshooting tips for soldering problems:
Fit (surfaces touching)
Flux
Flame size/shape
Heat sink
Contamination (dirty metal)
Gravity (don’t try to make solder run uphill)
I never ran across a soldering problem that wasn’t resolved with one
of these items. Good luck.
Jamie
p.s. I have to chuckle at the fact that I used to keep this list
nearby, because now soldering seems so natural, I feel like I was
born with this skill. You’ll be amazed how soon you will feel the
same way too!
You imply that jewellery has clearly defined limits and that skills
learned outside the limits will probably be detrimental.
I would not call it limits. Jewellery skills begin where other trades
reach their limits. Only watchmaking can match jewellery in attention
to details and ability to work on small scale. Jewellery is not
micro-plumbing, micro-silversmithing, and etc. Jewellery tools may
look like tools of other trades, but they are used very differently.
The quicker beginner understands that, the quicker the progress
would be.
I’ve been watching you beginner frustrations and can only grin -
most of us have been there done that! I just wanted to comment on the
2 day course. $800 seems excessive. I teach a 2 day course, furnish
all silver and 1 or 2 gemstones and only charge $400 - and I limit it
to 2 students! Maybe I should rethink it - naw, I like to teach and
enjoy sharing with others. Good luck with your new skills…
I've been watching you beginner frustrations and can only grin - I
just wanted to comment on the 2 day course. $800 seems excessive. I
teach a 2 day course, furnish all silver and 1 or 2 gemstones and
only charge $400 - and I limit it to 2 students! Maybe I should
rethink it - naw, I like to teach and enjoy sharing with others.
Good luck with your new skills.....
especially since the community college course, as frustrating as it
has been in many ways cost $110 for 8 2 hour sessions over 8 weeks.
I’m sure comparing CC to Enmore Tafe is like comparing a tricycle to
an aeroplane, but it is getting the job done… kind of
Jamie, yours is good common sense advice. However, I’d like to see a
comparison of liquid vs paste solder, a question that I recently
submitted but which didn’t get posted. Paste solder is a pain when it
bubbles around, getting into places that you need to put solder
chips. I always apply the paste, heat it and then lay the chips so
they don’t dance around. I haven’t tried liquid flux yet but hear
that it burns off quickly. I’d like to hear someone’s advice on this.
I’d like to hear more discussion on the pros and cons of liquid and
paste flux. I’ve been using paste but it is bothersome when it boils
around, dislodging the solder chips. I have to hear the piece with
flux, then go back and place the chips, which is an extra step.
especially since the community college course, as frustrating as
it has been in many ways cost $110 for 8 2 hour sessions over 8
weeks. I'm sure comparing CC to Enmore Tafe is like comparing a
tricycle to an aeroplane, but it is getting the job done... kind of
;-)
The cc courses can be very helpful. I took one for a long time,
which I finally ended up teaching. The class was passed to me from
some very good friends, Tom and Nancy Myers. Teaching that class was
one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.
With 25 students it was very frustrating trying to provide students
the one on one time they needed. No matter how hard I tried, I often
felt students were being short changed as there just wasn’t adequate
equipment or enough time. Can’t tell you how many late nights were
spent trying to help struggling students.
one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. With 25 students
it was very frustrating trying to provide student the one on one
time they needed.
right- I feel like the frustrating parts are what you get from a
group setting- but I have learned a lot by shoulder surfing, asking
the other students questions and so on, rather than just sitting
there and waiting for my next instruction. It’s what you make of it.
Every week I come away with some clever little thing that I would
take years to find in a book or come up with myself!
I'd like to hear more discussion on the pros and cons of liquid
and paste flux. I've been using paste but it is bothersome when it
boils around, dislodging the solder chips. I have to hear the piece
with flux, then go back and place the chips, which is an extra
step.
I’ve been using a liquid flux called Auflux for many years. It’s
name comes from Au, the chemical name of gold. It’s a very thin
liquid, almost luminous green in colour, that never needs mixing. It
does bubble when heated, but nowhere near as much as paste flux.
I have it in a little ‘pump-bottle’ dispenser on the soldering
station. The cap is like a tiny shallow bowl with a flip-up lid. The
cap is also a pump; when it’s pushed down it pumps some Auflux up
into the bowl where a valve stops it from draining back down. A
little brush is used to paint the flux where needed.
Very little flux is required - just a smear does the job, so
bubbling is kept to a minimum. But care is still needed to prevent
small paillons being dislodged.
It works very well with the precious metals (better than Easyflo in
my opinion), but I’ve not found it very effective for steel.
I have to hear the piece with flux, then go back and place the
chips,
here’s an easy fix.
Have your solder snippets ready to go and lined up on a metal or
glass block. Put a few drops of cupronil on the block. heat your
piece a little, dip a snippet in the cupronil and affix to the piece.
If you have the right amount of heat the flux will quickly but gently
solidify, holding the solder in place. Place all your solder
reheating as necessary as you go. OK, now heat the piece hotter than
you did before. From about 3-5 inches away spray the cupronil to coat
the piece. Do not use a full pump, just several baby pumps. If you
have it heated right the flux will instantly solidify without
disturbing the solder. The dry flux will accumulate like snowflakes
on frozen ground. You might describe it as multiple flash coats,
because the flux is not permitted to be liquid on the piece. If the
flux pools on the surface, clean it up and start again. What you
should have now is a fluffy, dry, white thingie on your soldering
block. Ok now solder it. Bring the heat up not too quickly to avoid
over bubbling the flux.
Sorry about the confusion Hope, the course I was talking about is 1
day per week, for 3 years. It is part of an apprenticeship, but you
don’t have to be an apprentice to do it and will come out with a Cert
3 at the end of it. It is relatively cheap too, i think last year it
was $500 a semster, please keep in mind that this course would be for
the person looking for a full-time career in jewellery.
I probably wouldn’t reccommend one of those 2 day courses, when it
comes to learning the particulars of jewellery you really can’t learn
it all in 2 days… get the basics down then think about day
workshops (enamelling, setting etc.)
discussion on the pros and cons of liquid and paste flux.
I’ve been using Battern’s or other brands of the same type of flux
since the beginning of time. I have no use for paste fluxes, mostly
for the reasons Barbara talks about, except for really filthy stuff
like brasses… Just me…
Sorry about the confusion Hope, the course I was talking about is
1 day per week, for 3 years. It is part of an apprenticeship, but
you don't have to be an apprentice to do it and will come out w
oh thanks! I only was looking at short courses, didn’t see that one.
I will have a look at it for fun, but it’s probably a bit serious
for my level of ambition. You never know though, what the future
bringeth
The 2 day courses explicitly only covered sawing, filing, soldering,
polishing- I just couldn’t go there for the price. Signed up today
for another term with the community college, it will be a different
teacher next term tho!
I picked up a new torch yesterday- LPG with a long hose and a nice
balanced handle. Today I got a chance to play with it and it was
GREAT. The combination of having firebricks (I was soldering on a
piece of scrap iron before) and a hotter, more manageable flame
probably made the biggest difference- also taking into account all
the rest of your collective advice on the other factors that can
foil attempts to solder (no pun intended haha). There are a few pics
on my blog of how I have set up my workspace- it looks like my
soldering station is approximately 100 times bigger than anyone elses
that I have seen in the bench exchange pics. Should I move it down to
the white table and do sawing polishing etc at the bench?
