Help! A customer wants me to solder a sterling silver piece to
stainless steel. Can this be done without hurting the stainless?
What kind of solder do I use? Need advice.
Julia
Depends what stainless. Some stainless steels will remain corrosion
resistant after they’ve been heated to brazing temperatures
(800C/1470F). Others will lose their resistance after such heating
and just rust like mild steel. Many stainless tweezers we buy are,
after heating, rendered susceptable to chemical corrosion, hence we
cannot use them for retrieving things in the pickle. On the other
hand a good quality s/steel is fine for that job.
If you know what s/steel you are dealing with and are able to get
one that will resist weld/braze temps, then you can solder it with
your usual jewellery solders AS LONG AS you use a high temp flux -
such as one called ‘black flux’ - which is rated so that at around
1000C/1830F it continues to function and prevent the steel oxides
forming.
Brian
B r i a n A d a m
e y e g l a s s e s j e w e l l e r y
www.adam.co.nz