Ring soldering experience

Hi all,

I wanted to share an experience with you. It happened when I tried
to close this ring shank:

Materials are 925 Sterling and 750 (18k) yellow gold. The 18k pieces
are hard-soldered onto the Sterling and rolled down afterwards. When
I tried to close the shank it happened that the seam opened up by
2mm. It seems that both materials have great differences in thermal
expansion. In cold state the seam was perfect, only when I heated it
up it opened. I tried again soldering after I had hammered the ends
so that they pressed very tight against each other - no way, it
opened up again. Finally I had to press the seam together to get it
soldered.

Maybe this helps others who like to work with mixed metals.

Matthias
Berlin/Germany

Your ring is beautiful! How did you successfully “press” it together
in order to get it soldered?

Thanks,
Cyndy

Hi Cyndy,

Your ring is beautiful! How did you successfully "press" it
together in order to get it soldered? 

Thanks a lot!

First I thought of binding wire, but as it was gone (bench trolls?)-
I simply used my soldering tweezers to keep the ring closed during
soldering.

Greetings,
Matthias

Cindy,

Your ring is beautiful! How did you successfully "press" it
together in order to get it soldered?

I don’t know how the original poster pressed it together but when I
run into that problem I use a couple of pieces of hard, pressed
asbestos pad to insulate the jaws of my bench vise, place the ring
between them insert a couple of paillons of solder into the open
joint and squeeze it until the seam closes.

Jerry in Kodiak

Hello,

How did you successfully "press" it together in order to get it
soldered? 

Use a stainless steel hose clamp from the automotive store. Get the
kind that uses a screw to tighten the clamp - they come in many
sizes. Put the ring inside and tighten just enough to firmly secure
the joint and solder away. It’ll take a little more heat to overcome
the heat sink of the clamp, but it works.

Judy in Kansas, where we are feeling the cold and the snow is really
“squeeky” - but wait a couple days and the temps will be in the 50s!