Soldering brass

Hi,
What sort of solder and flux do I use for soldering brass please?
I’d like it to colour match and can’t really find anything so I must be looking in the wrong place.

Thankyou

There was a short discussion of this topic earlier in the year. I treat jewelers brass like silver. If the solder color becomes a problem, you can use gold solder, but that changes the cost. I also have a large roll of copper solder that was the smallest amount that I could buy from Rio. It works, but is a bit tricky and doesn’t always seem to be the right color. Use lots of flux and extra pickle time to get rid of the dark red deposits. I use Handy flux. Brass is fun to work with and I think beautiful right after it is polished. There has also been a recent discussion about surface treatments to keep brass from tarnishing. I use Everbright. Good luck…Rob

There’s also a brass paste solder, but I still haven’t gotten it to flow and have stuck to hard silver solder instead (like Rob mentioned).

Thankyou both! I really appreciate it :slight_smile:

I guess I do not see the problem. I have been brazing/welding brass for over 40 years. I generally just use brass brazing rod (search Amazon), you can pick up coated brazing rod at most hardware stores. I might be a bit thick (often 3/32") but you can use uncoated brass brazing rod and roll it or draw it down and use regular silver solder flux. I also bought a pound or so of a copper/silver allow brazing wire from the welding store that melts a bit lower, but has a very good color match, might be a bit pricey now with the cost of silver. If I get a chance I will dig out the name/number of the alloy.
Marlin

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Typo correction, I said " I might be a bit thick". That is probably true, but I meant to say “IT” might be a bit thick to use on small solder jobs.

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I looked around a bit in the past and the few options I came across didn’t have good reviews. I’ve used silver solder and as long as you’re keeping your joints tidy and don’t have excess solder where it doesn’t belong it’s not an eyesore. Remember to undercut edges a little to prevent the solder from flowing out from behind the piece, it’s a fussy little detail that makes a surprising difference when I can remember to do it! If a joint really bothers you, you might be able to disguise it with strategic patination. Honestly I tend to use brass in combination with silver, and that also helps the silver solder not look out of place in the rare case that it’s actually visible.

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It’s hard to find a good color match for brass and solder. I tried 9K gold solder, which worked fine, except that if the brass begins to tarnish, the gold solder does not, and it leaves a bright gold line. My favorite is to buy 1/16" brazing rods, hammer them flat and cut pieces to the size you need. The color match is decent; the drawback is that its melting point is close to that of brass, so you have to be careful of heat flow. The brand I’m using at the moment is Lincoln Bare Low Fuming Bronze. I use that black paste flux with it.

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