Has anyone said this yet…sorry if I am being repetitive.
You wouldn’t want to buy pre chipped silver solder. Because of
the oxidation involved with silver you want to take the time to
lightly steel wool the sheet of solder to clean it before you cut
the “chips” right before each use. When I was a beginner I
thought the very strict instructor was just being over cautious
about cleaning the pallions of solder. I cut some extra and stored
them with an anti tarnish sheet in a film container overnight.
The next day I couldn’t get them to flow for the life of me. I
quickly developed a firm respect for Dr. McKays advise.
So buy the sheet…hit it with a fine steel wool to clean it where
you will cut and go at it with a very small tin snips.
I respect your opinion and your Dr.'s, but personally, I would
just simply just pickle the solder to remove this oxidation ( a
lot easier than steel wool ) as is often the case when I use
silver solder. But then, maybe this is because I learned in a
manufacturing environment instead of a school. :-)Regards-Rl
So buy the sheet…hit it with a fine steel wool to clean it where
you will cut and go at it with a very small tin snips.
Karen, I don’t want any little “hairs” from the steel wool to
land on my silver. If the silver is heated, the steel wool bits
will burn little holes in the silver. I keep steel wool out of my
studio.
Yep, it’s probably the difference in quantity we want.
For instance, I do one of a kind pieces…sometimes one at a
time. If I only need 20 little pieces it takes less time to hit
that tiny area of sheet solder with fine steel wool (it doesn’t
get that dirty) and snip it than it would to pickle it and rinse
before snipping. If I was doing many many pieces or serious
production pickle would probably be easier. But I am probably
old fashioned or paranoid…I try and limit my pickle use. As a
female of child bearing age I try to keep the lid closed on all
hot chemicals as much as I can. Coming from a different
perspective…
Oh, and I steel wool off to the side to try and keep the fine
hairs down…I havn’t ever really had a problem with them
floating into my pieces and damaging them, luck?
Karen, I don't want any little "hairs" from the steel wool to
land on my silver. If the silver is heated, the steel wool
bits will burn little holes in the silver. I keep steel wool
out of my studio.
I work with Sterling, and have never had a problem with using
steel wool. Are you using fine silver? Wondering . . .
Has anyone said this yet…sorry if I am being repetitive.
You wouldn’t want to buy pre chipped silver solder. Because of
the oxidation involved with silver
Hmmm, I hadn’t even thought about that. So now I’d like to ask
another question. What are the reasons you choose sheet solder
or wire solder? Are there any advantages for each? Thanks.
When I was a beginner I thought the very strict instructor was
just being over cautious about cleaning the pallions of solder.
I cut some extra and stored them with an anti tarnish sheet in
a film container overnight. The next day I couldn't get them to
flow for the life of me. I quickly developed a firm respect
for Dr. McKays advise.
Hmmmmm, I learned to snip sheet solder, but have graduated to
wire. Anyway, I have found, that if I dip solder (either sheet
snips or wire) into the flux, I have no problem with flow. You
may want to think about storing your snipped pieces in flux -
that should prevent tarnish . . .
At any rate, it sounds like you may not have gotten your piece
HOT enough for the solder to flow properly. I haven’t
experienced any problems with “tarnished” or “untarnished”
solder.
Hmmm, I hadn't even thought about that. So now I'd like to
ask another question. What are the reasons you choose sheet
solder or wire solder? Are there any advantages for each?
Thanks.
I’ve never used any wire solder, but the reason I prefer the
sheet solder is so I can cut the solder to the exact sizes I want
according to the job I am working on. I tried the precut solder
and found that for my taste, it was too large. Ken
I used to do silver work when I was younger, I got tired of
laying chip solder all around say under a silver bezel. So I
tried the wire solder, and after a while of getting used to it.
I found that I could control it fairly well. So much to the
point that I stopped buying sheet solder. Now we are talking
silver work, work that must almost be totally heated up to a dull
red. I made a stand that kept the work up on a wire grid so as
to be able to heat from underneath. Now I find after working in
gold for a while I have a trying time doing silver. and have
never tried using wire solder. Now it is titanium solder picks
and I cut my solder in strips and break off what I need just
before I solder.