Because I know that to learn to solder correctly, to obtain the
correct feel for soldering, can only take place under an instructor.
I have checked and emailed all jewelers within a 200 mile radius from
northern idaho and NONE are inclined to do this. I have seen Youtube
videos and DVD’s and read books and I know that while soldering looks
easy, it’s actually one of the hardest things in the world for
creating a good sound joint free of firescale which would also hold
up under stress and additional soldering.
So I’m going to play to my strengths now and wait for a better day.
Master Surpin’s comments have convinced me I should buy my time.
I only said equal to not upset anyone. You must have better cutters
where you are.
In Australia many miners cut their own not are not that good. To be
blunt a good opal beats anything else. Now have we started a million
posts on what are the most amazing stones.
the soldering procedure is a matter of lot’s of practice. By all
means, not all on youtube is good! Sticking two pieces
together is not soldering.
One can read books and study video’s but the ONLY way to learn is to
take it into practice and learn from your own mistakes.
One can look as much as video’s or buy unentless books, the point is
that you will create your own way of soldering which fits you the
best taking bits and bytes from the theoretical material.
Find your way in the best solder and fluxes available on the market
and most of all by your own experions.
A simple torch in the hands of a good jeweller makes wonderfull
jewellry. After months (years) of practice, you will have your own
way of how to solder pieces.
Get your hands on to it is the big picture and start with basic
Read the signs during the soldering process given by the metal and
flame. Look at the discoloration of your flux and THEN soldering
becomes a second nature.
Trial and error are the best books and DVD’s.
Too much will take you nowhere and will only extend your
learning process. No one can solder with theory only not even a
teacher in this matter.
If you can fuse fine silver, you can solder. It’s not as hard as you
or others make it out to be. In fact, I find it easier to solder than
to fuse, so you’re a head of me in that way. The online videos and
other instructions, advice and tips found, work if you follow them.
Yes, I had a teacher teach me the basics (thanks, Don), but I could
have done it myself from all the info on the net. No teacher can do
more than give you the steps to follow and words of encouragement you
need. They would only show you what you’ve already seen in online
videos. My teacher didn’t even show me the first time, just told me
what to do, let me show him what I did in my prep (which is 90% of
soldering) and let me make my own mistakes. I melted the first bezel.
[chuckle] The second was lopsided. The third came out perfect,
because the teach soldered it for me. But the fourth, fifth and
subsequent one’s I did myself and came out quite nice. Patience and
Practice. That’s what makes all the difference and make sure your
join is perfect.
You can do it. But you never will if you don’t try.
Because I know that to learn to solder correctly, to obtain the
correct feel for soldering, can only take place under an
instructor. I have seen videos and read books and I know that while
soldering looks easy, it's actually one of the hardest things in
the world for creating a good sound joint free of firescale which
would also hold up under stress and additional soldering.
You’ve overestimated the difficulty of soldering. Understanding the
necessity of tight joins, the role of flux, how firescale occurs,
different types of solder, etc. is half the battle. Practice is the
other half. Just pick up a torch and start practicing.
You've overestimated the difficulty of soldering. Understanding
the necessity of tight joins, the role of flux, how firescale
occurs, different types of solder, etc. is half the battle.
Practice is the other half. Just pick up a torch and start
practicing.
I would say that it is impossible to overestimate difficulty of
soldering. Practice is an integral part of learning to solder, but
practice without goals is not going to be very helpful. When we
practice we have to know what are we practicing for? What are we
trying to achieve ? What is the scope of soldering knowledge ? There
are many soldering situation which would raise hair on the head of
experienced goldsmith. If someone doubts it, try to fabricate chain
from 0.2 mm wire; how about 0.1 mm ?
Soldering does not mean simply joining two pieces of metal together.
It means to joint them invisibly, strong, without the need of
cleaning because in many situation joins are unreachable, without
overheating other parts, and etc… It is also mean to be able to
solve problems of alignment, of holding pieces together, even to
fabricate joints the most appropriate for each situation. No, it is
not possible to overestimate difficulty of soldering. It is only
possible to be ignorant of what soldering truly is.
No, it is not possible to overestimate difficulty of soldering. It
is only possible to be ignorant of what soldering truly is.
For heavens sake, why try to frighten beginners into never picking
up a torch? What purpose does that serve? You could just as easily
say the same thing about cooking an egg, yet there is no need to be a
Master Chef to scramble one. Soldering is just not that difficult and
the only way to learn is to try, rest assured that it’s not that
complicated. When you have problems ask for help diagnosing the
error. Expect to make mistakes and learn from them. In metal work, as
in life, no matter how good you become you will continue to make
mistakes, hopefully they will become progressively smaller as time
goes on.
The trick is to move on to new mistakes and not repeat the old ones.
No, it is not possible to overestimate difficulty of soldering. It
is only possible to be ignorant of what soldering truly is.
It’s this kind of talk that can put somebody off even trying in the
first place. I didn’t have a teacher (apart from Orchid). I read
books then I bought my silver and solder and had a go. From the
books and photographs, I knew what I was aiming for, and knew the
possible pitfalls. Five years on and I am still learning (as I will
be for the rest of my life), but I manage to turn out some pretty
damned good solder joints. Soldering that is good enough for saleable
items is NOT that difficult and you don’t necessarily need a teacher.
If you have a scientific/analytical mind and are capable of careful
observation whilst learning, then you can indeed teach yourself to
solder. And from what I know of Jonathan, he does have a very
analytical mind and likes to learn things by himself.
For heavens sake, why try to frighten beginners into never picking
up a torch? What purpose does that serve?
I reread my post twice and could not find there anything
frightening. Soldering is complex. Practice without knowing this
fact is a waste of time. Practice must be structured exposure to
different aspects of soldering, starting with easy and proceeding to
more difficult. What beginners should be truly afraid of is the siren
song of how easy it is, but when faced with real world situation to
find themselves completely helpless. That should be terrifying for
anybody.
to me this is not fair. Choosing one sentence out of an article en
turning thatone into a negative way.
Everyone know’s that basic soldering is quiet easy to learn.
Soldering a small item to a bigger one seems more difficult.
Soldering different metals is the next steps. Resoldering the tip of
a 1/2 mm prong is the next challenge.
Like in most procedures there is always a next level and that’s the
point where -in this case- Leonid is reffering to without making it
harder for a beginner. Drawing the attention to what soldering can be
is reality. Making a good joint takes time to learn, filling gap’s
can be done but that is not soldering. By the way, lot’s of people
here are helping newby’s with excelent I don’t alway’s
agree with some of them but I still keep there way of thinking to
reprocess there thoughts and why they think that way. However, I
support them -despite there different way of approaching an issue-
when they are correct.
Helen, if soldering was so easy then you still wouldn’t be learning
after five years of soldering. Don’t take that as an insult but it
proves that soldering is much more then only joining two pieces and
that’s the big picture.
If one can solder pieces together in a way that you don’t see the
solder then you start to understand how difficult soldering can be.
Choosing the exact amount of solder to complete the job and the
correct (color) solder is sometimes tricky.
Dropping a bomp of solder and filing it down is a messy and lousy
soldering operations and THAT’S exactly the message I understand from
Leonid.
For the newby’s, go for it and train your soldering skill. Be aware
of he many faces a soldering process can have. Dick into it and don’t
go for the easy way. Stay sharp and try to improve yourself
everytime.
Because I know that to learn to solder correctly, to obtain the
correct feel for soldering, can only take place under an
instructor. I have seen videos and read books and I know that
while soldering looks easy, it's actually one of the hardest
things in the world for creating a good sound joint free of
firescale which would also hold up under stress and additional
soldering.
Jonathan, This is an absolutely erroneous assumptian. There are many
on this list who have leaned to solder, and solder well, without an
instructor. Jerry in Kodiak
You’ve overestimated the difficulty of soldering. Understanding the
necessity of tight joins, the role of flux, how firescale occurs,
different types of solder, etc. is half the battle. Practice is the
other half. Just pick up a torch and start practicing. Jamie
I agree whole-heartedly with both of these member’s posts; just get
in there and start soldering! I was in the place as you: I was scared
to death to start soldering because I thought it was some big,
magical skill that only a few people could do. I’d been working with
jewelry for about a year, and I pretty much had just worked with
precious metal clay and maybe some bezel wire that I could fire along
with the metal clay in the kiln. I come from the art world, and I do
have natural talent with drawing/painting/sculpting, so I gravitated
towards metal clay because you can make all sorts of frilly,
intricately-carved designs with it. But my metal skills were lacking.
And only working with the clay was limiting my designs. I had
actually fused some gold bezel wire, but it wasn’t a very predictable
process for me, and I was lucky not to have burned up a bunch of
gold. I finally came to a point in a piece where the only thing I
could do was to accept a design choice that was OK but not the
greatest, or to learn to solder a small section and get exactly what
I wanted for the design. So I got a simple book (Soldering Made
Simple), bought some basic soldering tools and supplies, called up
Rio Grande and harassed one of their technicians to give me some
advice (Thomas is amazing!), and I just jumped in and did it! That
was three months ago and I just finished my first ring, and it’s got
to have at least 8 different solder joints in it. I couldn’t have
done it without just biting the bullet and starting to solder. I
still love metal clay for all my sculptural/frilly parts, but now I
can solder those parts into a greater array of designs. So I suggest
to purchase some basic soldering supplies and just do it! It will NOT
work as smoothly as it does in the videos, and you’ll probably cuss a
lot. But I’m sure that’s normal for everyone. You just pickle the
darn thing and start all over again. And it’s way more predictable
than fusing. And the more you do it, the easier it gets and the less
you cuss…until you decide to push yourself and take on a harder
project with all it’s new opportunities to screw up! But that’s
how we learn. So just GO FOR IT! El in North Carolina And that ring
was my birthday present to myself.
I would imagine that if I were to begin with the most difficult
design of jewelry in the world, and soldering were necessary to
complete it, and I had zero, zip, nada experience, then I might find
everything difficult. Plus if I had the idea in my head that I had
to do everything perfectly even before I bean to learn, then I would
find learning almost impossible. Let’s not scare people; let’s
encourage them. Good heavens there are enough scary things in life -
we don’t have to create boogey men for people who are starting out
on a wonderful path of creating. Leonid has very high standards.
Barbara, on another breezy day on the island, and it’s a warm wind
from the south
I am now truly frightened. Think I may try the process with an insignificent non opal stone. May have bitten off more than I can chew, but will practice first. The opal is doing no good out away. PS learnt most if my soldering tricks, from books and video’s on u-tube. No problem. But do have problem with turning bezels over to hold stone. Weak hands. Like orongs but realize from above comments not good for opals. ‘Soldering made simple’ is well used in my house.
But that’s