Hi
Could anyone give me some advice please, on how to end stainless
steel cable necklaces with sterling silver endcaps? Glue doesn’t seem
strong enough, and I don’t think I can rivet through the cable, nor
solder the cable to the endcap. Any advice much appreciated!
Anna M Williams
www.annamwilliamsjewellery.com
Could anyone give me some advice please, on how to end stainless
steel cable necklaces with sterling silver endcaps? Glue doesn’t seem
strong enough, and I don’t think I can rivet through the cable, nor
solder the cable to the endcapAnna - I usually use a crimp end cap so
you can crimp the wire into the cap. You can make these yourself out
of thin walled tubing or you can buy them commerically in all ranges
of diameter. The ones I purchase I always alter in some way because I
add my own clasp and chain extension. The commercially bought ones
usually have some little tiny hook on them and it is hard for
customers to use it. I just buy the crimp end caps in sterling with
just a ring at the end. I solder on a chain extension and add my own
clasp. You could try using an expoy but what a mess and it takes
forever and in the long run still won’t hold up. If you really want
to use the end caps you have you could drill a hole in them and use
them like cones.
Don’t know if this is possilbe not knowing the style of the end cap.
Chop of the jumpring on the end and file it pretty. Drill a hole in
the center. Crimp all of your stainless wires to a closed loop on the
end of a piece of wire and insert the wire into the cap and through
the hole. Make another nice solid loop on top of the cap - attach
clasp/chain before you completely close the loop. Hope this helps and
have a great day making stuff 
joy
Anna- I’ve soldered stainless to silver. Use lots of paste flux and
silver solder. Be prepared for some discoloring on the stainless.
Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com
I would recommend JB Weld. It’s available at Home Depot etc. Two
part epoxy with lots of strength. It’s a grey color when mixed.
Reba
Could anyone give me some advice please, on how to end stainless steel cable necklaces with sterling silver endcaps?
It actually is possible to solder them if you use black flux. But
most of the cables I’ve bought have clasps (tubes, more than really
end-caps) that are crimped on. Most stay on, some don’t.
Noel
Hi Anna,
Stainless will bond with silver solder. If the cable is plastic
coated see 2&3. The main thing is to never overheat the stainless
because once it blackens you need to clean it and start again. Use
plenty of paste flux and concentrate the heat on the silver more
than the stainless. The stainless will most likely be annealed in
the heated zone but the bond will be permanent.
Lead-free tin solder will also work. (Sold as “lead free silver
solder” in electronics stores on account of it having 3% silver in
the tin Don’t rely on the resin flux found in cored solder, use
plumber’s zinc chloride flux or proprietory stainless flux. Remove
all plastic coating from the area of the cable being soldered. Tin
solder melts with the first lick of a flame, or a hot soldering
iron. Clean and neutralize the flux with a dab of baking soda.
Crimping or physically squeezing the silver tube onto the cable
will work but there’s a right and a wrong way. The right way is to
have a thick-walled silver tube closely fitting over the cable, and
the tube is crushed with extreme force onto the cable using proper
crimping pliers. The wrong way is a thin tube loosely fitted over the
cable, followed by one or two squishes of flat pliers or nippers 
Alastair
There is another method, known as dove-tailing. Start with attaching
to the ends of cable, cylinders of any metal you wish, since
hallmarking is not the issue. The cylinders must be split, but not
completely. let’s say 5/6 of the length, and they should be the same
diameter as cable. Prepare your end-caps. For this method they must
be somewhat conical, and the narrowest part been the entrance.
Entrance also should fit over cylinders snugly.
Insert into each split a small wedge of the same metal as cylinders,
but do not force it in yet. Slide the end-cap over the cylinder and
with mallet tap it in place. The tapping will drive wedge into the
split and at the same time advance end-cap along the cylinder length.
By the time end-cap completely covers the cylinder, the wedge will
spread cylinder inside the cap and firmly secure it.
A warning. This is no second chances method. Dimensions of cylinders,
caps, wedges, must be precise. Once you start tapping cap in place,
there is no way back, so verify you dimensions several time before
starting.
Leonid Surpin
www.studioarete.com
Could anyone give me some advice please, on how to end stainless steel cable necklaces with sterling silver endcaps?
Chris Darway taught a workshop for the Florida Society of Goldsmiths
and he recommended filing a very small hole at the clasp end of the
tube, using a triangular file as small as reasonably possible. You
need to use Handy Flux (read the label, it is for stainless steel
too), and place the solder ball on the hole.
Heat the cable and watch the solder get sucked down into the hole.
Very easy cleanup and polish, with no solder showing on the cable.
Hard solder is the closest color match to sterling, so use it if
possible.
Chris will be teaching how to create cutting dies for the hydraulic
press to create production lines in October for FSG, in North
Carolina. Check out our website,
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/fsg4u for more details.
Jean Marie DeSpiegler
Executive Director, FSG