Name: kiryet elason
Email: @kiryet
Address: 1752 King Albert Ave.
Coquitlam, BC Canada
V3J 1Y9
Hi there! I’m a beginner jeweller and I’m quite enjoying
myself, even with the occasional frustration. Currently I am
working on a ring and the stone setting isn’t soldering to the
ring shank. Do you have any suggestions for me? I was thinking
that my torch may be too small for the heat that is needed. It
is a bernzomatic torch with a flexible head. I’m using easy pace
solder and I’ve tried it 3 times. The shank has a bit of fire
scale from trying to get the solder to melt and I don’t want to
try again until I have a better idea of what to do. Any
suggestions?
Hi Kiryet, The problem most people have when they start is that
they don’t clean the metal long enough between soldering. And
when the metal isn’t clean it won’t solder properly. So try
letting it sit in the pickle a little longer and give it another
try. It also may help if you wire brush the surface where you are
soldering.
Susan I have recently tried something on problem solder seams
that really seems to help. first I leave the silver in the
pickle until the silver turns a nice chalky white color. then
once the acid has been neutrualized and dried I dip the piece in
a solution of denatured alcohol and boric acid. Heat the piece
just enough to burn off the alcohol. this will help minimize
fire scale. I then flux the piece as normal and heat the work
until the flux goes just beyond white. Before the flux turns
clear I flux the metal a second time and continue the typical
soldering process with a neutral flame. It seems that the second
fluxing of the hot metal actually penetrates the surface of the
metal and has worked well in problem situations.