Greetings to all the fine folk of Ganoksin,
I read on this forum to try Ronda Coryell’s Masking Mud instead of ochre to prevent solder flowing where you don’t want it. My question is how do I remove it?? It is advertised as easy to remove with water and a soft brush. I have tried that, soap, pickle, reheating, wire brushing, and ammonia and still find bits of it on my piece. Any suggestions? Thank you. Another question. If there is still a little Mud on my piece when I put it in the pickle am I contaminating the pickle? And finally, anyone have the experience of using it, washing it off and then having trouble getting solder to flow?
I am working on a 22 karat gold ring, I heat the gold and dip in Batterns flux, heat that a little then brush on the Masking Mud. Thank you.
Best,
Lois
I do not see a barrier flux used in her videos, and the metal stays cold during the entire preparation. Flux is applied where she will solder and it air dries. Then the mud is applied in the solder-free zone.
This thread might help: What are best ways to remove yellow ochre?
Ronda’s Mud works great to stop solder flow, but I have had times when it is hard to remove unless I put the piece in pickle or boil it in water+baking soda. Since many of my pieces are hollow, I need to use the baking soda bath anyway, to neutralize the pickle. Many times, though, I do not need to use that bath because I haven’t pickled the piece. In those cases, I just boil it in water for a few minutes and that removes the Mud. In answer to the question about contamination of pickle, the Mud will not contaminate the pickle, as it is not iron-based (yellow ochre is iron-based).
Greetings,
Thank you for responding to my questions.
I have tried the boiling water and baking soda method and more of the Mud washed off. Thank you for the tip.
I will also put the Mud on before heating and let it air dry, then solder.
Much appreciated,
Lois
Thanks so much for mentioning that yellow ocher has iron in it and can contaminate pickle. This answers a puzzle l had get for a few years. My pickle got contaminated frequently and metal came out dirtier than when the pieces went in the pot. I was using yellow ocher liberally and putting pieces right in the pickle.