I just soldered gallery wire bezels to a bunch of back plates, using
very thin iron binding wire.
In several places tiny bits of the binding wire managed to become
soldered to the gallery wire.
I think some of the spots are where the wire flaked as began to
disintegrate, but the wires were actually stuck in a couple places. I
thought I got it all off before pickling the bezels. But of course I
didn’t, with predictable pink results.
Two questions:
How do I get the nearly invisible bits of binding wire off/out of the
gallery wire?
And how do I prevent this from happening again? I always thought you
couldn’t solder iron wire to anything…
Kathy
and the temporarily pink spotted bezels of Feathered Gems
Kathy- Whenever I end up with binding wire that looks like it’s
soldered to the piece, I use round nose needle nose pliers. I gently
try to curl it away.
If that doesn’t work, try boiling in a mixture of alum and water. It
works with broken off drill bits, so…
Well, Ok I’ll admit I’ve only tried alum for drill and burr bits.
I’m just guessing ya know.
Normally, I just try to peel it out of the solder by grabbing a loose
end, and pulling back with pliers.
If that doesn’t work, use pickle.
I’ve tried very saturated alum solutions on steel, with no success
at all. Sparex #2 (or PhDown) in a very concentrated (fresh) batch,
works a treat. Just make sure it hasn’t got any copper in it to plate
out, and you’ll have no problems with it doing anything but munching
on the steel. Works best hot. Essentially: mix up a fresh batch of
very strong pickle, and dunk them.
I use a pair of round nosed pliers and grip an end close to the
metal, then rotating the pliers I wind the wire round one prong, go
to the other end of the wire if necessary and repeat.
If the wire is covered with solder, judicious filing will solve the
problem.
Make sure, however, that you don’t melt the filings with your lemel
as even the tiniest bit of iron can ruin a melt.
When using Alum: Make a concentrated solution of alum and boil the
article until the iron is eaten away. Good for removing broken drill
bits.
David Cruickshank
jewellerydavidcruickshank.com.au