Heat shield products (was: Ring sizing)

I want to increase the size of a SS ring from  7 to 9.  Some
One bit of advice with sterling is REMOVE ANY STONES BEFORE
SOLDERING. Silver conducts heat real well....Dave

On a related topic, has anyone used any of the heat shield
products (e.g., the one by Vigor that comes in a ReddiWhip like
can – not as tasty though) while soldering? What have you used
them for – soldering with stones in place? protecting delicate
wire work while soldering? etc. How effective are they? Which
brands do you recommend.

Thanks in advance. I joined the group about 3 weeks ago but
have already gotten a year’s worth of valuable advice!!

Happy memorial day.

rd

Heat shield works well for ring made of gold as long as the mass
of the ring is not to great. It also work with light silver
ring 1.5-2. grams. It will not perform miracles. You should
still practice the 1/3 principal. In other words you can only
solder 1/3 of the shank away from anything hear sensitive. We
also use wet sand, wet paper towel, water in beer cap, etc.,
etc. Jim alpine@hay.net

On a related topic, has anyone used any of the heat shield
products (e.g., the one by Vigor that comes in a ReddiWhip like
can – not as tasty though) while soldering? What have you used
them for – soldering with stones in place?

Hi,

For gold rings I use a china cup filled with very wet fine sand,
into which I bury the ring heads. As long as the sand is wet,
temperature doesn’t rise above boiling point, so even pearls or
amber will not get damaged (at least this didn’t happen to me
for the last 10 years). This works best with a sharp hot flame
and with the joint in the middle of the shank opposite the head,
to be farthest away from the water.
With silver rings, it’s another thing, silver is too conductive,
and with massive rings you will not get the metal hot enough,
with smaller rings, it works. I’ve used those heat shields
occasionally, but if you have to heat the item for a comparably
long time, they “dry out” and loose some of their protecting
properties. Markus