Formula for yellow solder for brass

Jewelry Discussion
1

I received no replies, so I am reposting: Doesn’t anyone have a
formula for yellow solder for brass…

Janet in Jerusalem

2 
I received no replies, so I am reposting: Doesn't anyone have a
formula for yellow solder for brass...

try low karat gold solder.

Leonid Surpin

3

I’ve used Johnson Matthey Mattibraze 34 with good results, but I’ve
been told that its been discontinued because it contains cadmium. The
maker’s recommended replacement is Silver-Flo 40, but I haven’t
personally tried it. If you try it please report back.

Regards, Gary Wooding

4

Janet,

I’ve only used purchased solder for brass and bronze, but it works
quite well. From RioGrande. Also, 9k yellow gold works fine in a
pinch.

http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/1za

Jamie

5

You can try this.

Thanks!!!
Dennis K.

6

Janet, there should be something about this in the Orchid Archives,
but let me say again what I use. So long as you are using red brass,
the best match I’ve found is a yellowish brazing rod, available at
places where welding supplies are sold. Get the smallest size (1/16"
diameter) and hammer it out into strips and cut it up into paillons.
I use the black (high temperature) flux with it. Its melting point is
close to that of red brass (and above that of the standard brasses).
The particular brand I have on hand is "Lincoln Low-Fuming Bronze,"
but it is actually a brass. I use it bare, since, on the rods that
have a flux coating, the flux just tends to crack and drop off.

Another thing that works is 6K gold repair solder (perhaps too
expensive right now!). But if you haven’t coated your finished brass
item (which I never do), then the brass slowly turns darker and the
seam remains a lovely bright gold color. This may be an effect you
could use in brass jewelry, but I’ve not yet experimented with it.

Jesse Brennan usually has suggestions on this topic. I hope he is
still with us.

I’d like to know if you come up with other options.

Judy Bjorkman
Owego, NY USA

7

Hi Janet,

I make my own brass solders and what I do it to melt copper to zinc
in a ratio of 50/50% It is a kind of hit an miss affair, because
there is quite a lot of smoke and fancy coloured flames but
eventually, with a low reducing flame I am at about 40% zinc to
copper.

This gives a yellow solder that is quite high in temperature to
cartridge brass,(which I use) but it’s got a nice yellow colour. At
first, the melted copper hates the zinc, lots of sputtering and
smoke, but as more zinc is introduced to the melt, it gets an easy
solder melt look.

That is, it stays shiny, liquid and silver looking for longer and
longer after the flame is removed.

So when you pull your flame back, you can see how long it takes to
solidify and so you can judge how easy or hard the solder will be. If
it is too easy, it takes forever to solidify, and when it is to hard
it is still silver coloured but solid in the feel of your melting
stick.

Maybe some of the leading lights on Orchid like Leonard or Donovan
can give a better way of melting the two metals but that is how I do
it.

My blog address always gets removed from my emails, but if you go to
my web site and click on the News icon on the top it will take you to
my blog and there you will be able to see my latest brass art piece
called my Dragon Bow.

This is a complicated exercise in brass soldering, where I use the
formula and methodology of making brass solder extensively.

I am aware that you are an accomplished goldsmith, Janet, so I say
this for those that are still learning.

The solder I have described has a high melting point.

Thus at high temperatures, approaching the melting point of the
parent metal, brass becomes very weak and will sag noticeably if not
supported correctly.

Also, it the temperature is increased further, an eutectic solution
is formed, thus ruining the piece.

Flame control and a good flux is everything.

Cheers, Hans
http://www.meevis.com
http://hansmeevis.blogspot.com

1 Like
8

Amnesia part 2.

I forgot to add the second part of my post.

I have another formula that is also yellow and has a slightly lower
melting temperature.

Copper 50% Fine silver 20% and Zinc 30% by weight.

Also, when I mix it, I first melt the copper and silver and then at
the right time push the zinc into the melt.

If it is timed right, there is very little loss of zinc. I weigh the
finished melt afterwards, going on the assumption that only the zinc
would have evaporated. ( or burnt off)

Some times is marginally lighter, but mostly it does not matter.

Cheers, Hans
http://www.meevis.com
http://hansmeevis.blogspot.com

9

Hi Gary

I’m looking for something I can make myself. International purchases
are costly in terms of time and paperwork, as well as
money…:-)…

Hi Jaime

1 oz. MINIMUM for $40…

Hi Leonid

I’m looking to make a no-gold solder.

Any formulas, anyone…:-)…

Janet in Jerusalem

10 
At first, the melted copper hates the zinc, lots of sputtering and
smoke

Hans, have you tried making it by starting with brass, such as the
brass one might need to be soldering, and then just adding extra zinc
to the brass? Seems to me that might go easier than adding the zinc
to the much higher melting copper. Plus, in the event the brass
you’re using has a bit of lead in it (as some do, to make them more
easily machined), starting with that brass would then automatically
adjust the solder to match that aspect as well…

Peter

11

Some days ago, Dennis gave a link to Esslinger’s website, where they
describe a syringe of yellow paste solder for copper and brass,
which supposedly matches a bright yellow finish. I ordered one, but
it turned out to be Phos-Copper (the label is on the syringe). I
tested it, and indeed it leaves a grey seam, which I already knew
about Phos-Copper. So, it’s fine as a solder, but it definitely does
not match brass or copper. I telephoned Esslingers, and they said
they would change their description.

Disappointed,
Judy Bjorkman