Steel soldering

Jewelry Discussion
1

hello everybody, is it possible to solder steel? am curious because
rio advertised some steel cable in their catalogue and said findings
could be soldered to it. given all the times i’ve added a pick or
tweezers to my projects, i’m wondering how this would be done.

also, does anyone have instructions for making friction clasps? the
ones rio has won’t work for what i need.

thank you,
susannah

2

I regularly solder Steel to copper or brass using a 45% silver. Any
solder with at least that much silver content should do the job. use
Flux and don’t overheat. The High silver content is critical as
silver ahs a high elongation factor (it stretches) and will withstand
the differing rates of expansion and contraction. ( I do Air
Conditioning and Refrigeration work) Dan Wellman

3

Susannah; Sure. You can either silver or gold solder steel. Brazing
is a standard procedure in iron and steel joining and is basically
silver soldering. Just uses brass instead of silver. I use Handi-
flux or frazing flux from the welding supply. Just get some pieces
of scrap steel and go for it. You need to use the same kind of care
in cleaning and surface prep that you use in precious metal
soldering.
Tom

1 Like
4 
    hello everybody, is it possible to solder steel?

Hi Susannah;

Steel is fairly easy to solder on, even most grades of stainless.
You can get a special “black” paste flux from Rio Grande, but I have
success using Handy Paste Flux, that thick, white, gritty stuff. If
the steel get’s black from heating, the solder won’t stick and you
have to physically abraid away the discoloration. Don’t put it in
your regular pickle or all your silver and gold articles will come
out with a light coating of copper. Silver braize (silver solder,
sheet or wire) works fine, so do the gold solders.

David L. Huffman

5 
 is it possible to solder steel? am curious because
rio advertised some steel cable in their catalogue and said findings
could be soldered to it. given all the times i've added a pick or
tweezers to my projects, i'm wondering how this would be done.

G’day Susannah; Yes you can solder steel and it isn’t all that
difficult so long as you start with surfaces completely free from
oxide and use plenty of a good flux; I have even silver soldered
steel with just plain borax as a flux. Use an ordinary air propane
torch for small work. You can braze steel using a special brass
brazing rod from a welding supplier, (I used to make angle iron
aquaria with it) and you can buy a special flux for use with it; ask
at the shop. I use Johnson Mattheys Easi-flo brazing flux for
silver soldering but the other flux for brazing, but they both work
well. The difference between brazing and silver soldering is that
you can build up a thickness or filet with brazing, but you can’t
with silver solder; it flows like water as soon as it comes up to
temperature. PS For a pick use a bit of 14 gauge titanium wire - it
won’t solder – Cheers for now, John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of
Mapua Nelson NZ