Here’s another tip, after noticing so many people having difficulty
finding small bits on or around the bench. Next time you buy
something - often a small appliance - that is packed with those
blocks of dense styrofoam, keep them. They come in so many shapes
and sizes, including corners. Put them in odd places around your
work space, tacked down with double-faced tape if needed, and push
in all those endless small parts, burs, works in progress - whatever
you want near to hand and visible. Replace when they crumble from
use, if necessary, for pennies at a crafts supply. Great for drying
sprayed things set on toothpicks too. No end to their uses.
I am missing the simple and cheep pickle pot with heating. Find a
used, or buy a cheap new coffee making machine, the filter types.
They have a heating plate and a can with a lid. Put in the can your
pickle and if you need heat for cleaning silver, just turn the coffee
maker on, and the heating plate will heat up the pickle to a maximum
of 70 degrees Celsius. And of course do not rinse the cleaned object
in water, but neutralise it in a washing soda solution, to prevent
your tools to get rusty . Cut out a piece of cardboard from a box,
and lay the neutralised object on it. the cardboard will soak up the
surplus of soda solution.
Old inkpots are good for the use of fluoron solution, or other
liquid flux. drill in the cap a hole and stick a small brush trough
this hole and fixate it with a glue gun. (melting sticks) The pot will
not fall over (large base) and no evaporation trough the cap.
Other trick is, buy some cellular concrete blocks, 5 cm thick.
The white block in the buiding market where also kind sculptures of.
Cut with an old handsaw pieces of 15x20 cm. They are great for solder
on. The blocks are good heat insulator. You can push nail in it to
hold your object. Also they can be shaped with a knife if you need a
cavitations or else for your object. The are so cheap that if the
block gets dirty you can take new piece. For those who do not know
about these cellular concrete blocks, a link. http://www.scrpa.com/aerated.html
1) I am missing the simple and cheep pickle pot with heating.
Find a used, or buy a cheap new coffee making machine, the filter
types. They have a heating plate and a can with a lid. Put in the
can your pickle and if you need heat for cleaning silver, just turn
the coffee maker on, and the heating plate will heat up the pickle
to a maximum of 70 degrees Celsius. And of course do not rinse the
cleaned object in water, but neutralise it in a washing soda
solution, to prevent your tools to get rusty . Cut out a piece of
cardboard from a box, and lay the neutralised object on it. the
cardboard will soak up the surplus of soda solution.
Hi, Martin. Over here, the cheapest (and simplest) thing for a pickle
pot is to buy a “crock pot” at a yard sale. Usually a couple of
bucks; and works really well.
Other trick is, buy some cellular concrete blocks, 5 cm thick.
The white block in the buiding market where also kind sculptures of.
Cut with an old handsaw pieces of 15x20 cm. They are great for solder
on. The blocks are good heat insulator. You can push nail in it to
hold your object. Also they can be shaped with a knife if you need a
cavitations or else for your object. The are so cheap that if the
block gets dirty you can take new piece. For those who do not know
about these cellular concrete blocks, a link.
Hi Martin, This material sounds great- but do you get any
contamination from the aluminum powder that they mix with the cement,
lime silica and fly ash? The aluminum powder is what makes it
aerated. -Kate Wolf http://www.katewolfdesigns.com
Stacking ink dishes from the Chinese grocery store : these white,
glazed, shallow stacking round dishes are perfect for my silver
solder. I roll my solder out to 2/3 thickness, use a scribe to mark
it all over (SE, SM & SH) and cut it in half. I keep a small piece
of sandpaper by the soldering area- to sand the solder before
snipping. Put a bit of paste flux in the dish, dip and solder. When
the dish gets cruddy, I use a: Laboratory Wash Bottle: this plastic
squeeze bottle has a spout like a bent straw- handy for when you want
a fast stream of water to cool something off, add a squirt of water
to the paste flux, or clean out my solder dishes. Also great for
cooling down Aquaplast (that handy thermoplastic that become pliable
in hot water, and hard when cooled). I love the $5 stainless red
handled kitchen scissors from the Chinese grocery- best solder snips
I’ve used. They’re also good for cutting gold foil.
Stacking ink dishes from the Chinese grocery store : these
white, glazed, shallow stacking round dishes are perfect for my
silver solder. I roll my solder out to 2/3 thickness, use a scribe
to mark it all over (SE, SM & SH) and cut it in half
I use a fat permanent marker to color all of one side of
sheet
solder: hard solder- red, medium -yellow, easy- green for both 14 kt
white and yellow gold, and sterling. If I have left over snipets, I
can easily identify what they are. I always put away any gold solder
right after I finish using it, if there is any solder left on my
block the next day, I know it’s silver solder.
Hi Martin, This material sounds great- but do you get any
contamination from the aluminum powder that they mix with the
cement, lime silica and fly ash? The aluminum powder is what makes
it aerated.
I have never had a problem with that. But maybe you have over there
an other type of cellular concrete blocks. I think just try The only
problem is some times it will melt when using Oxygen and gas for
heating. But with propane it works great.
Wow, seeing the post about color marking solders is great. Here’s
what I’ve been doing. Bought a package of clear plastic audio
cassette boxes. Labeled them for various solders. They’re the
right size, easy to see through, and stack in a small space.
I also use them to keep filings of golds that aren’t used often
enough to pile up in quantity. When box is full, it’s clear.
Probably have other uses that I can’t think of at the moment. Cheap
at dollar stores. Stock up before they become obsolete.
I use a fat permanent marker to color all of one side of
sheet solder
Richard: This sounds like a very neat idea but I do have a
question - do you have to clean off the marking pen before using
the solder? Does it interfere with the solder melting correctly?
The marker does not interfere with solder flow in any way. I use a
Pilot ultra fine point to mark where I want to put a earring post or
for alignment, The mark remains thru heating up to the solder flow.
i use these tiny containers made of aluminum that have glass lids
for holding all my findings, stones and various small things… they
are used for separating seeds in a garden catalog. they are
wonderful and come in a beautiful case. i love the glass lid part
cuz you can see right in! also these are safer than an egg carton
because they all have lids and the case has its own top, too.
go to the gardening section on www.leevalley.com. you can get a
case of 40 for $6!!! also make great presents for any jewelry or
craft friend. joanna gollberg
The marker does not interfere with solder flow in any way. I
use a Pilot ultra fine point to mark where I want to put a earring
post or for alignment, The mark remains thru heating up to the
solder flow.
I just use a Magic Marker to write (soft, hard, whatever) on the
back in a munber of places. Lots simpler than trying to color the
whole thing. although, of course, once you cut it into paillons you
do have to keep them separated into little jars or whatever. I do the
same thing with my sheet silvers (I don’t work with gold), just write
the gauge on one side in several places.