Soft solder

Jewelry Discussion
1

I’ve bought some ready made silver chains with unsoldered spring
rings. I’d like to solder the little connected ring closed since
they tend to open up with a little bit of weight from a pendant.
Upon trying to easy solder it with a torch the ring melted off the
spring part. Does anyone out there use the soft solder (I think it’s
something like Tix) with some sort of soldering
iron like they use for electronics? Net-

2 
  Does anyone out there use the soft solder (I think it's something
like Tix) with some sort of soldering iron like they use for
electronics?

Tix will work in the situation that you described. I think that it’s
melting temp. is 263 degrees F. You can use a small electric iron or a
Little Torch if you are careful.

Joel Schwalb
@schwalbstudio

3

I use tin solder, and my torch. Apply a TINY amount of tin flux with
a toothpick, warm it gently - so it looks liquied not greasy. Then
place a TINY piece of tin solder (with your tweezers) on the seam.
Heat carefully, I use very little oxygen in the flame. karen in
vancouver

4

Greetings! For small work like that I do use Tix solder, as it is
fairly strong and will work well on jumprings and such. I then polish
off any excess with a small piece of fine sandpaper then polish. I use
the Tix flux with it, and a simple soldering iron (available almost
anywhere)

Charlie

5 
   I'd like to solder the little connected ring closed ...Does
anyone out there use the soft solder ... like Tix)

You could, if you wish. Generally, trying to solder the split rings
shut on a spring ring is a poor idea if you use higher temp solders
like silver or gold solder with a torch. It’s difficult to solder
that little ring without annealing the steel spring that makes the
spring ring work in the first place, though you aught to be able to
solder it without it coming off the main tube of the clasp… However
I prefer to think of the split ring’s tendancy to open with tension as
a safety net for the chain. Usually that little ring will fail only a
small bit of tension before the chain itself is going to fail.
Better the easily replaced spring ring than having to repair the
chain. But if you wish a soldered ring, go ahead. Tix with a small
electronics soldering iron is probably a good enough way to do it. Or
attache a heavy piece of copper (say an inch long section of quarter
inch round rod, for example) to a piece of coat hanger wire or a
soldering poker, or whatever. File one end ot a point or small chisel
tip. Now you’ve got a small version of a classic soldering iron.
Heat it with a torch until the tix solder melts on it. Since it’s
fairly massive, it will let you solder that small ring. If you’re
doing more than one, then the electric soldering iron is the way to
go. For only one, the torch heated one is a lot faster, and in it’s
own way, almost more controllable. A useful tool if you ever are in
the unfortunate (to some folks way of thinking, challenging to others)
position of having to repair substantial amounts of costume jewelry.
If you have a tescom/smith “little torch”, you can also manage such
soldering with the very small tips, which normally are too small for
any real utility when used with propane or natural gas. Even with
acetylene, the number one tip is almost more a curiosity than a useful
tool, but tix soldering your spring rings shut is a task it’s well
suited for.

Also, if you do a lot of this, you might just consider buying some
spring rings where the connecting ring is not split. For these, you
attach to the chain with a seperate jump ring, which of course is then
easy to solder together conventionally.

Peter Rowe

6

Hello,

I don’t now what Tix solder is but I advise a tin /silver solder. It
should be available at a good hardware store. This is a solder
containing 99% tin and 1 % silver. The melting point is 221 degrees
Celcius. Do not use plumbing or electrical wire solder This is often a
mixture of tin and lead.

Martin Niemeijer

7

Charlie, Do you mean a soldering iron like I could buy at an
electronics store? Do you heat the solder then by itself, or do you
heat the little ring to melt the solder? Does the tip of the
soldering iron have to be made of anything specific? I’ve seen
copper tips and brass tips I think. Thanks for helping.

NET