After I have soldered the half of the jump rings, pickled and
assembled them, what do I have to do to solder the other jump
rings without soldering the first ones?
Sorry,
I hold them vertical and suspended with the little 3rd hand type
tweezers setup (self-locking) and solder in a like fashion to
creation of the first rings. It is ok if the completed rings touch on
your soldering block, youâre trying to get as much distance between
the new soldering operation and the old as you can. Be sure you put
the rings already soldered as far from the heat as possible and roll
the solder joints of the ones already done away also, if you can tell
where they are at. If the rings are very small, and the flame covers
everything I use a solder stop to prevent them bonding together. I
use Griffith Anti-flux, but there are others, and the archive is full
of suggestions for making your own, I bought a 16oz bottle 7 years
ago and it is only down a 1/4 inch. To apply, I use a small brush
like for fluxing, and wipe it over the area of concern, it cleans
off easily. Remember that the solder will follow the heat and
gravity, so keep your snippet directly on the joint, and use the heat
of your torch to guide its dissolution through the joint. With the
heat from the torch you will find that some movement is available,
but where ever you pull the solder, it will leave a trail that has to
be cleaned up at least with easy and medium solder as they discolor
at different rates than regular sterling and to me, the metals look
different.
Now for the reason you make extra jump rings, occasionally on very
small jump rings or rings that leave little room in the hole, I
mistake a discoloration or a dent in the metal for the solder joint
and wind up with a couple of links bonded together, it happens, at
least to me. Donât try to fix it, just cut them out and replace with
new ones. (The reason not to fix is that soldering is very close to
the melting point of the base metal and at this temperature the metal
is in a eutectic state that will break in the most amazing manner. It
looks like a crumbled piece of cheddar cheese.)
Ok, now I think I have it all, at least, for my approach.
I've seen this written many times and never seen it challenged, so
I assumed I was dense or missing something, but I might as well ask
- why don't you just start at the 6 o'clock position?
Itâs much easier to apply the solder to the inside of the rings when
the joint is in the 12 oâclock position than any other. Then when the
brick is turned so the joints are at 6 oâclock, the heat can be
applied to the outside of the ring & draw the solder through the
joint. This way any excess solder is apt to stay on the inside of the
ring where itâs less noticeable.
My firebrick is on a turntable so turning it to any position isnât a
problem. You can make a turntable easily. I used a burner cover (10"
diameter) for a large burner on an electric stove. Someone turned
the burner on without removing the cover & scorched it. I got a
small, 3 inch lazy susan bearing at the hardware store. I drilled a
hole in the center of the burner cover & attached it to the lazy
susan bearing. The whole thing is mounted on a bracket that goes on
the GRS Benchmate mntg block.
After I have soldered the half of the jump rings, pickled and
assembled them, what do I have to do to solder the other jump
rings without soldering the first ones?
How the unsoldered rings are soldered after assembly depends
somewhat on the chain pattern. But basically, you position the joint
to be soldered as far away from the rest of the chain as possible &
in a position so the tip of the flame will not be directed at the
rest of the chain. It also may help to position the already soldered
links so their joints are as far from the flame as possible.
I use a Proxxon MicroFlam butane fueled torch for most of the silver
chain.
It takes a little practice & experience, but itâs not impossible.
It seems this topic is a really long lasting so at this point I
really feel like I must say my opinion as well. Not sure if anybody
mention it yet butâŚ
In Italy, which is the largest producer of gold chains in the world,
the law order to stamp gold, silver and platinum items with the
producer ID and the parts of pure gold per 1.000. In the case of a
chain the stamps are usually applied on a small oval pierced plate,
this plate is valid to all the chain ONLY if all the links are
soldered (I remember seeing some old british silver watch chain with
all the links stamped and soldered, that is a statement!). For this
reason usually the clasp has stamps as well, usually on the tong. I
believe a chain with the unsoldered clasp ring safer.
Beside the safety I think there is a technical reason for this
unsoldered ring. When I started working some 25 years ago there was
still some leftover hand production of chains in Italy. The chains
where made using pre soldered wire, so all the chain was solderd,
pikled, polished and at that point the clasp was applied. Because the
production was made mostly using blow torches (am I the only one left
using it?) and nitric acid as pickle the jump ring was not soldered.
The jump ring was made with hardened gold and that was considered to
be safe enough to keep the chain, more than often until it was time
to change it all.
Poor quality product have always existed, but recently I have seen
clasp without rivet, with anneald jump ringsâŚ
I found really interesting the Indian tradition, I found it romantic
and ecoing of ancient traditions. In Italy when I was born I was
given as for tradition a small gold chain bracialet and a silver
spoon, the toddlers bracelets used to have two jump rings to be
adapted around the growing wrist, I am sure my mother still keeps
mine in some secret box of hers. Often girls have their ears pierced
around one year old and, sure enough, they are wearing unsafe
necklaces and bracelets. Every culture has different traditions and
perceptions of safety and security, passing from the romance of a
mother listening to the sound of a bracelet hitting against objects,
to the soon to be toddlers going to daycare with bullet proof
jackets.
particular culture, and therefore not made a big deal of. To a
family that cares about the health and well-being of their
children, there are NO age-appropriate jewelry items for babies or
toddlers. Non-removable bangles or a pair of discrete ear studs, if
fastened by
Could you please specify the age brackets for baby and toddler. I
think it would be helpful for us nonamericans in understanding the
different views.
Could you please specify the age brackets for baby and toddler. I
think it would be helpful for us nonamericans in understanding the
different views.
In general, âbabyâ refers to those who can not yet walk, while
âtoddlerâ refers to those who can walk, but appear to be unsteady
while doing so, holding their arms out to steady themselves, and
shift from side-to side while walking. The ages vary from child to
child. Neither one of them understands safety, or the need to keep
small objects out of their mouth.
After I have soldered the half of the jump rings, pickled and
assembled them, what do I have to do to solder the other jump rings
without soldering the first ones?
I highly recommend the book, Making Silver Chains, by Glen F.
Waszek.
The technique of holding the jump ring up above the rest of the
chain with cross lock tweezers to solder it never worked well for me
especially because the tweezers are a heat sink that needed to be
overcome by a higher heat than desirable on the link.
The Waszek method involves placing the jump ring joint over the edge
of the soldering board, fluxing only that joint, and heating the
joint from below the soldering board edge. This method masks the
rest of the chain (or bracelet) from direct heat and minimizes the
chance of solder flowing to another link. I use cross lock tweezers
to hold the next link back from the link being soldered. This
protects the next link back from overheating but allows the link
being soldered to heat up quickly.
Thank you for your responses for soldering chains. Now I have made
my first soldered simple link chain and made it for my wife. Now I
need to buy the Making Silver Chains book to learn more about,
because I cant imagine how to solder a double link chain.
Orchid is a beautiful community. Thanks Hanuman and all form this
community for shearing your knowledge you are in my heart.
