Soldering board question

Jewelry Discussion
21

Hi Linda,

Looking on the Internet, Celcon is a thermoplastic that was not
designed as a soldering surface, cheap though it may be. Have you
checked it out to find out if it emits any toxic fumes when
heated?

well I never! another different product with the same name.

I did say I was in the UK, I only ever recommend products I have
used, what would be the point of doing otherwise?

Put Celcon building blocks into Google and you will see what I mean.
I am only trying to be helpful.

kind regards,
Tim

22

Lowes or another builders supply also carry fire bricks so no need
to go to a ceramic supply they are used in building outdoor ovens.

Teri

23

There are other ceramic products that have been developed in our
modern age. Refractory cloth is one example. It can be placed on an
old firebrick or soldering screen. It can be cut with a pair of
regular scissors to the desired size. One such product is sold by
enamelworksupplycompany and is very cheap. Rio Grande has a thicker
version but I have not tried it. Both of these refractory cloths were
developed for enameling and space industry and who knows what else so
they can handle a very high temperature. Other products worth
mentioning are blanketed refractory cloth used for lining ceramic and
glass furnaces. The other product is castable refractory that is used
to cast a furnace. With this product you could custom make a
soldering surface. It sounds like a lot of work but I’m sure there
are people out there who may find a use for it. I have used all these
products at one time or anouther over the years and currently am
using the ceramic cloth for torch and kiln firing enamels and has
worked for soldering as well. Hope I have made my descriptions of
these products simple for the members interested in other options.

Chris Hierholzer

24

I wonder if those of you who do your soldering on a firebrick, back
your brick with anything or if you just set it on top of your desk
and call it macaroni?

I use “cement backerboard”

I went to the Homo Depot and got a small sample of each of the
various boards available, took the samples back to my shop and hit
'em with a torch to see if there was any reaction. Cement backerboard
fared better than anything else, so I bought a few sheets and lined
the desktop and the walls around my soldering station with it.

Paf Dvorak

25

A comment about ceramic cloth or fiber blankets: Just because it
isn’t asbestos doesn’t mean it’s safe.

I’m not saying it ISN’T safe-- I don’t know. What I do know is that
the problem with asbestos is a mechanical one-- the length/shape of
the fibers that can become airborne is such that it lodges in the
lungs and cannot be dislodged. In my estimation, any similar fiber
may have the same potential.

These fibers scare the bujeezus out of me (but then, both my parents
died of lung disease and my sister and one daughter are asthmatic).

So I don’t want them anywhere in my studio. I say, better safe than
sorry.

Admittedly, there are many risks in the studio, and this one is my
personal bugaboo while I dismiss things others get exercised about.

Maybe I’m paranoid, maybe I’m wrong. Can anyone tell me for sure?

Noel
Noel Yovovich

26

Hello Pat,

My soldering brick is stacked on another for height. Beneath
everything is an enameled metal tray - don’t remember where I found
it.

I think your cement backer board is an excellent cover for your
bench.

That’s what I’d use.

Judy in Kansas, where it’ll be a hot one today. Picked a nice mess
of beans while it was cool.

27 
I use "cement backerboard" http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep80ig

That’s out of the box! Very creative thanks, I’ll buy some next trip
to town! Thomas III

28

I teach a group of ladies in a metalworking guild, and quite a few
of them are in their 80’s, and some are in their 90’s (still driving
and making jewelry). I only hope I’m still functional at 80.
Anyways, one of them, who really is a drama queen, one day doing a
difficult solderingjob, said, oh, I’ll get my asbestos. She proceed
to pull out a small container, take out this fluffy white stuff, and
I’m backing away from her as far as I can. I was horrified and told
her that. She said, why not use it. She didn’t care. I figured,
she’s already in her 80’s, it hasn’t killed her yet. I’m not quite
50 yet and still want to stay healthy.

By the way, ceiling tiles are a no-no. Discovered how much they
stink and smoke after finding them being used at a college and I had
to get ridof them. I used to get sick twice a year from the
unventilated classroom. There was even a live gas line. Container of
acid which I was toldthe previous jewelry teacher used to pluck
silver out of the acid with her fingers. She’s dead now, full of
cancer from her unhealthy work habis. Now, it is up to code, proper
ventilation and a stainless steel soldering table.

The things I’ve seen, the stories I’ve heard, enough to make one
have nightmares. I’ve turned them into teaching stories. I even have
a big burn scar from a student weilding a Little Torch. I tell my
students, thiswill happen if you get burned by a torch.

Joy

29

My brick is on one of those little 3" x 3" metal turntables and then
on top of a Corning counter saver. It looks like the same kind of
material I saw on the space shuttle. I have at least 6 of them (made
in the 1970’s, I think). When I was teaching enameling classes I
used to put them down beside the kiln for receiving the hot trivets
out of the kiln. If you use a spray on flux, it is an easy surface to
clean up.

Donna in VA

30

Hi

my soldering bench is covered with galvanised tin sheet, cheap as.

My soldering blocks are placed in a stainless steel tray.

Look for stainless trays in op shops.

Richard
Xtines Jewels

31

At the art center where I teach jewelry making, we are ready to
replace the counters where we have the soldering area and also
nearby pickle area. We are open to any and all suggestions of
materials that are good for this. I wasfascinated to see your post,
Richard Hopkins. Where & what are “Op shops”?

Lynda Lou MacIntyre

32

Hello Lynda,

Many years ago, when I first soldered silver, the school lab
countertops were something like the concrete backer board used today
as underlayment for tiling. (Who knows, back then the stuff was
probably asbestos.) A metal strip was nailed around the edge of the
counter.

Considering the concrete backer board:

  1. It is resistant to fire - a good thing

  2. It may be prone to damage from careless hammering and other
    student misdeeds.

  3. However, a sheet is not expensive and you could regard it as
    expendable and simply replace it as needed.

You’d not be out much to buy a sheet at your local home improvement
store, lay it on top of the existing counter, and see if you like
it. The stuff scores and breaks like dry wall, so it is pretty easy
to fit in place.

Judy in Kansas, where last night’s rain brings cooler weather just
in time for the football games this weekend. Sooooo nice.

33

Hi Op shops (opportunity shops) are charity shops that sell all
kinds of second hand goods.

Usually they carry all sorts of kitchen things and are very cheap.

Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul aka vinnies in shop.

The idea for galvanised tin came from a bench I saw in a torch
supply shop.

It is great if you drop something hot on it does not burn or corrode
and is really cheap.

Also easy to clean up. The metal shop will cut to size the edges
needs sanding!

I also have stainless steel bowls with little black rocks in them
for heating hollow ware. Forgot what they are called decades old. You
can seem them on Leonid’s blog.

I have one mounted on a rotating chair assembly, buy a cheap chair
from the op shop and Frankenstein it, as in Frankenbench, don’t you
just love the technical terms we jewellers use. You can turn your
work around very easily. I put a soldering block on one to solder
large bezels easy to turn round and get the heat all over the piece.

Also I have an extraction fan on the soldering table and the fire
extinguisher on the door frame for easy access.

Never had to use it but you never know.

Also my soldering bench is next t a sink, burns are cooled with
running water. When I did not have a sink I had a bucket of water
close by.

Back in the days of no compensation/sick leave some jewellers who
had small second degree burns ran a torch over them to make them third
degree, no pain but nasty scar. That was back when some shops in
Northern Europe ran on beer, and the left overs went in the scratch
brush dip. Left over beer is something Australians cannot understand.

Positively Medieval, those were the days in Britain when you did not
marry women for their looks or personality but how well they could
brew the beer. The rich drank wine as water was not usually fit to
drink.

Beer, wine and lead hollow ware explain a lot of Medieval history.

Richard Hopkins

34

Joy, I learned on those same bricks. We had the white or light grey.
They were called refractory bricks and you can Google them. They are
great because you can shape them into special shapes with just a
coarse rasp file or cut in with a trusty old knife.

They can be found in some old furnaces, ceramic supply, kiln supply,
or just refractory bricks. The trick is trying to find a source close
to home.

Steve Ramsdell

35

Thank you, Richard. Some awesome and entertaining

Rick Powell

36

you can order a set of 6 fire bricks for $16 online and pick them up
in the store.

Thank you all for your contributions to this forum. You are awesome!
I have learned so much.

Note From Ganoksin Staff:
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