I’m feeling the need to ask, why complicate one of the simplest
tools in our studio arsenal of tools. A soldering pick is designed
to: push stuff around while soldering; pick up paillons of solder;
place a dot of flux on a small joint; even lift a small piece of
metal to place it where it will be soldered.
All you need is sharp, pointy tool: a commercial steel or niobium or
titanium solder pick; a homemade iron soldering pick (my first one
was a re-purposed clothes hanger); a free titanium spoke from a
bicycle shop (thank you, Charles for that idea). Yes, the graphite
from pencils seems like a great idea, but there also seems to be a
lot of things you have to do to make it usable. Unless you’re stuck
on a desert island without access to anything else to use for
soldering, you could use the pencil you brought with you on the boat
over (oh, right, you wouldn’t be soldering on that desert isle).
As I mentioned previously, my titanium pick from Anchor Tool has
lasted me several decades plus a few years. When it gets gunky, I
just grind off the gunk or stick it in my pickle pot, and voila,
good as new. I can grind the tip fairly fine.
Recently I acquired a wire-fine titanium pick and, although it’s
thinner than the one above, which is a good thing, it tends to
’anneal’ under the heat of the torch. Don’t like it as much as the
old one.
I am puzzled why anyone would want to use a fragile pencil lead for
a soldering pick. The available metal picks through most suppliers,
with wooden handles are quite strong, and relatively inexpensive. I
have had times when a hefty shove with the pick saved the day in a
tricky (for me) situation. I can’t imagine a pencil lead’s ability to
do that.
I use an titanium soldering pick, bought it years ago for maybe 10
us$, why bothering with home made ones? When I look at the titanium
pick it still looks as new, it will outlive me and probably the next
generation of two, maybe the wooden handhold has to be replaced in
the future but that is it
I agree with Linda k. M. I have been using my old titanium pick for
eons. I made it myself by pushing a piece of titanian wire into a
dowl, used my grinding wheel to make a sharp point. When it gets
gunky, I grind off the gunk, and it is as good as new. Why, may I
ask, should I hunt around for a special holder for a piece of
graphite? What are the advantagese? Alma
I'm feeling the need to ask, why complicate one of the simplest
tools in our studio arsenal of tools.
While I am not sure that I need a new type of soldering pick, I am
quite sure that this discussion and other similar ones we have on
Orchid are valuable. Discussions like this one help to feed
creativity and innovation.
We may not have ended up with a better soldering pick through this
thread, but who knows what new innovations might grow out of the next
similar conversation we have on Orchid.
After all, I never knew I needed a Knew type of jeweller’s saw until
recently when someone invented one and made it available to me!
It’s sort of like having a set of golf clubs: different tools for
different jobs. I’ve got a tungsten rod that I’ve been using
since… well, a while. I use that for jobs where I’m expecting to
need to push on things, but I use the pencils for gold or platinum,
(especially platinum. No contamination.) The gold pieces fit
tightly enough that all I’m doing is just putting solder into place.
If I need to push, I didn’t set it up right first. The pencils are
nice because they don’t suck heat, and the solder just won’t stick
to them. It’ll ride them around, but won’t stick.
To be honest, it’s a trick one of my early employers showed me. I
liked it for gold, and I’ve been using it ever since. For no better
reason than I prefer it. Not too fond of titanium as a pick. Too
bendy at heat, and eventually it’ll get brittle. For that, tungsten
TIG electrodes work much better.
(For the record, my first solder pick was, like most of us, a chunk
of coat-hanger.)
Titanium soldering piks work well for me. I re-engineered one that
is made from beefy flat stock, rectangular in shape with at twist at
the end. It holds up well if you need to press down on a pesky wire,
and long if you need to reach way in. Ive been making the for years
and have a new batch available. Ping me if you are interested. Ther
is something kind of magical in floating a tiny sphere of solder in
a river of flux and heating your work just enough that the solder
jumps from one place to another.
I find the discussion about soldering pick choices quite
interesting. As I tell my daughter who is currently apprenticing at
the bench there is always more than one workable solution to any job
or problem.
The more you learn, the more “tools” you have available to you. Only
by trying different techniques and tools out to see which is most
effective for you, in particular circumstances, can you decide which
will work best for you in THIS situation.
If you only have a hammer, all jobs are nails. A well developed
jeweler’s “tool box”, to me includes a great deal of possible
techniques and tools. Some you try once and put aside possibly
forever, while others you decide have value either daily or just
occasionally for specific situations.
That is why I enjoy these Orchid discussions. I never stop looking
to learn more.
