twist at the end, allows you to lift the pick up quickly from a
flat surface. It won't roll either.
This is a good point. Mine is forever rolling off my soldering tray
and into my catch tray. It must have rolled a 180 on the soldering
tray the other day because I grabbed it without looking, before it
fell off and ended up picking it up by the hot end just after having
used it! I’ve got a nice burn to show which will serve as a reminder
not to go for it without looking!!!
Tungsten for welding contains 5% thorium. Thorium is used to coat
tungsten wire used in electronic equipment, improving the electron
emission of heated cathodes. I don't know how this will react with
silver solder or with pickle.
There are several varieties of tungsten rods used for welding: pure
tungsten, and several tungsten and oxide combinations,
tungsten-thoria (not thorium but its oxide), tungsten-cerium oxide,
tungsten-zirconium oxide, and tungsten lanthanum oxide. The oxides
are as you say used to enhance electron emission and stabilize the
arc. If you are going to use one of these for a soldering pick chose
the pure tungsten ones (they are used for AC TIG welding) and
definitely stay away from the thoria ones as they are slightly
radioactive and you don’t want to breathe the dust from grinding them
I've used tungsten picks before from suppliers and found that
silver solder would melt onto the pick. Maybe it wasn't pure
tungsten, but again it's the consistent and repetitive heating.
However, you are right, I haven't fully explored this yet and I
will give it a try. My husband has some in stock as he owns a tig
welder. The width of the welding stock is wider than the thin rod
you get from jewelry suppliers.
They are available from .020" to 5/16 diameter
Regards,
Jim
James Binnion @James_Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
Much more to come. I’ll make a big announcement with champagne and
celebration when the whole site is ready. However, this temp page
will allow you to have a site to read up on the soldering tools.
Thank you to all who have been ordering. I am getting quite a list
together and the check is on the way to my manufacturer.
Also many thanks to this wonderful forum who picked out the name of
Metalwerx, the school I started which celebrates its 10th year in
October!
Now my new child, Cleverwerx has learned a lot from its older and
wiser sibling.
My mentor, James Cook, used a graphite rod (sharpened pencil “lead”)
too. He extracted the graphite from the pencil, and used the metal
tube of a ball point refill to reinforce the length of graphite. Then
he coiled wire about both ends of the tube and wrapped the wire to
form a handle at right angles to the tube. He could advance the
graphite as needed, but rarely needed to.
This man had so many effective tricks to dent a penny! However, I
like the simplicity you describe of leaving the graphite in the
pencil and just exposing 15-20 mm of the graphite.
It’s questions and responses like this on Orchid that keep those
useful tips available to the next generation. Thanks to Charles,
Hanuman and Ton for the insight and maintenance of this forum.
This thread is probably overworked - but a convenient solution for
those who would go the graphic lead route is to use a “drafting lead
holder” used in architectural and engineering drawing. Obtainable at
any good art or drafting supply store, this handy little tool holds
5" leads purchasable by the dozen in any hardness. An extra few bucks
buys a sharpener - altho a piece of fine abrasive paper works fine as
well. The leads used in these things are strong and larger in cross
section than those used in ordinary pencils. The barrel of mine is
hexagonal and red in color. Easy to see, doesn’t roll of the bench.
allright I’m going to chime in here. I use lead pencil and cut back
the wood, or you can also buy graphite pencils (solid graphite
inside and out) they work great and I get the from the art supply
store.
Jennifer Friedman
where sunny Ventura has been getting quite warm lately and very few
people here have air conditioning. Never needed it before. Global
warming?
I have used Carbon Arc Gouging rods for larger soldering pics for
years They can be shaped with a file or pencil sharpeners. Carbon
Arc Gouging rods are 1/8 to 3/8 dia and 14 in long They have a copper
jacket electroplated on the outside. They are available at welding
shops. Cheep.
grabbed it without looking, before it fell off and ended up picking
it up by the hot end just after having used it!
As you now have learned, it’s better to jump out of the way & let it
fall where it may, then risk either quickly grabbing the wrong end,
or having that wrong end land on your leg! It’s now an involuntary
reaction of mine to jump out of the way when my solder pick starts
rolling to the edge of my bench, or drops from my hand off the bench
for some reason.
As you now have learned, it's better to jump out of the way & let
it fall where it may, then risk either quickly grabbing the wrong
end, or having that wrong end land on your leg! It's now an
involuntary reaction of mine to jump out of the way when my solder
pick starts rolling to the edge of my bench, or drops from my hand
off the bench for some reason.
Take a look at the image of my soldering pick. It doesn’t roll,
there is no worry which end you need to heat up and you can apply
pressure while it is hot without bending.
-k
Karen Christians
Waltham, MA
http:www.cleverwerx.com
It's now an involuntary reaction of mine to jump out of the way
when my solder pick starts rolling to the edge of my bench,
A good reaction-- and here’s a good habit: never set down a hot (or
potentially hot) tool. If you’ve been using a torch and ANY other
tool (most often a pick), dip the tool in water before setting it
down. This will soon become second nature. Do it even if you know
the tool isn’t hot, just to reinforce the habit.