When I was first interested in learning to solder silver, I was very intimidated by the scope of the endeavor not to mention the flame. So I started very small with few expectations about the results. My biggest tip for the novice is to not expect it to go the way you think it should. Take your time and learn what it will actually do and not do. Be prepared to melt things beyond repair. You learn your best lessons from your worst mistakes.
For my first modest foray into silver soldering, I bought: a butane powered mini-torch; a magnesia soldering block; easy solder in wire form; a few 18 gauge, open jump rings (8 or 9mm are easiest to handle at first); pickle; copper tongs and flux. You will also need a jar of water for quenching, safety goggles, a pair of heatless tweezers and a pair of wire cutters. Always wear safety goggles.
To begin, set your magnesia block (I prefer these to charcoal because of the lesser cost, they take less time to heat and they cool faster) in an open area with nothing flammable around it. Push back your sleeves if they are long and tie back your hair as well, if it is long. It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the operation of the torch before soldering your first jump ring. Turn it on and off several times until you can do it easily.
Take a clean jump ring and make certain that the ends line up exactly and that they are touching each other. Solder will make a join solid, but it will not fill gaps. Apply flux to the place you want to join. When the solder melts it will follow the flame and flow where the flux is. Do not put flux anywhere you do not want the solder to go.
A few words about fluxes are in order. There are a lot to choose from. I use either a paste flux or a liquid flux depending on what I want to do. Flux has two purposes; to help the solder flow and to help protect your silver from firescale. When you heat your sterling to soldering temperatures, you bring some of the copper in the alloy (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper) to the surface. The copper is essentially what makes sterling silver tarnish so rapidly and is responsible for the firescale. Firescale shows itself as a black coating on the surface of your sterling. A number of how-tos on silver soldering will tell you to flux the entire piece in order to limit the firescale. But this sometimes makes the solder go where you do not want it and it is not always fun trying to remove the solder later. Paste flux stays where you put it and liquid does not always stay put. But paste flux can become very hard and glassy after heating and requires more time in the pickle to eliminate it all. You really will not have a problem with your first jump ring soldering project and may use any type of flux that you like, but these are a few things to remember for later; if there is a later. I caught the bug right off and haven't regretted it.
Now, take your wire cutters and cut off a small piece of easy solder. About an 1/8 of an inch should be more than enough. Place the solder on the magnesia block. Place the join of the jump ring on top of the solder so that it forms a cross. Turn off any direct lighting on your work area and use only room lighting. Light your torch. Bring the torch slowly closer to the jump ring so as not to blow the jump ring off of the solder.
If you are using a paste flux and you set the jump ring quickly down upon the solder, you can let it dry a bit and the two will stick together. If you are using a liquid flux, do as I recommended in the previous paragraph.
By not brightly illuminating your work, you will be better able to see the changes in color of the flux and the metal as it heats. Learning about these color changes now will help you later when you make larger projects.
When the area of the magnesia block that the jump ring is resting on and the jump ring and solder reach the melting point of the solder, the solder will flow. Move the flame around the circumference of the jump ring. As you see it start to turn pinkish, concentrate the flame mostly on the join. You will see the jump ring drop level onto the surface of the block and you will see the solder become very shiny and flow up the join. You will have to look quick for that last part. Remove the flame as soon as you see those two things happen. Leave the flame too long and you will melt your jump ring into a nice ball. When I first made this error, I then had a lot of fun making balls from scrap silver. They can be useful in some designs. Also, remember that the solder will follow the flame, so take the flame away straight up; not sideways. Otherwise, the solder will follow the flame over the jump ring and coat part of your ring.
A quick word about heat sinks. Everything your work touches soaks up the heat of the flame and takes it away from your work; including the air in the room. Never try to solder anything large together by dangling it in the air. I know one person who tried this and failed. You can not (and do not want to) heat all the air in your work room to soldering temperatures. Small items like jump rings or finger rings work fairly well, though.
Pick up the jump ring with the heatless tweezers and dunk it in the quenching water. It will hiss and spit a bit. Dry the jump ring and inspect the join. A small lump at the join is acceptable. A large lump is not, unless you want to make it a design element. Ideally, the joined place should not be obvious. It will take some experimentation with the different gauges of wire and amounts of solder to get to the point where you can make a nearly invisible join.
Take your copper tongs and place the jump ring in the pickle solution. Pickle is basically a week acid that will turn the copper firescale into a white coating that can be easily polished off. Do not drop it into the pickle. Also, do not put it in the pickle if it is still quite hot. Even though it is a relatively weak acid, it will still burn you and put holes in your clothes. Not immediately, though. They tend to show up after you wash them. You must use copper tongs because any ferrous (iron bearing) metal that comes in contact with the solution will electrolyze it and you will end up plating copper onto your silver. Remove the jump ring with the copper tongs also. Rinse it well in your quenching water. Or have a jar of water with baking soda added to it standing by to completely neutralize the acid.
If you do not want a hard, bright, shiny polish on your jump rings, you can use a brass brush to remove the white coating. Dip a soft brass brush in a solution of dish soap and water and thoroughly rub the jump ring. The soap keeps brass from depositing on the silver. If you want a bright shine, you will have to use a buffing wheel of some sort charged with a polishing compound. Only a very aggressive polishing compound will remove firescale. If you do not pickle your silver long enough, then you can try a bobbing compound. But remember, this will remove more of the silver and if you have surface detail you will lose some or all of it. It really is best to pickle your item long enough that no hint (a yellowish color) of firescale remains.
Even someone who has been soldering silver for a long time can learn something new; usually the hard way. Recently, I learned that you can not solder brass to sterling silver. I did some research and learned why. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Silver solder is an alloy of fine silver, copper and zinc. So, if you are trying to solder brass to sterling, the zinc and copper in the brass turn the sterling silver to solder, basically. And it just looks like a mess. (Author's Note: It looked like a mess when I tried it the first couple of times. But if you will take a moment and read the comments below, you will see that a couple of Reader's have figured out how to do it with a good result.) You can, however, solder copper to sterling silver as I have done, without this problem. Also, you can solder copper to brass. I was trying to combine copper, sterling and brass with no luck at all.
So have some fun. Get out there and light that torch! In no time you will be moving on to bigger and better things.
Dianne Lehmann is a jewelry designer who has been in business since January of 2000. Her interest in designing and manufacturing jewelry goes back beyond that to 1994. It took her many years of trying various creative outlets to finally figure out that making jewelry is where she could really shine. Dianne began with simply stringing beads onto cable and has progressed from there. She is now an accomplished lapidary (cuts and polishes stones) and silversmith. Dianne and her husband, Bernd, live in northern Arizona and both love to hike. Dianne can not help but pick up rocks (they are her first love) and some of these find their way into her jewelry. Dianne makes one-of-a-kind pieces that she hopes give people as much joy to view as she gets from the making of them.If you like, you may view her work at http://www.syzygyjewelry.com
» left by Jean from Spencer, NY (363 days 15 hours ago.)
This is one of the best explanation I have read yet for the beginner solderer. I had the concept but did not have it all together, this wording was great!! I have less fear now and more excitmet unlike the other way around before I read this, thanks Jean
I am so glad to have been able to help you! It's my goal to share my love of my craft and inspire others as well. Have fun. Make mistakes. Make beautiful things.
» left by Cynthia Cameron from Syracuse, NY (352 days 3 hours ago.)
Dear Diane, Thank you for this well written article. I can't wait to start, however, I have a question. I have a charm bracelet that has charms that are not only sterling, but crystal , some are hand painted metal, and other materials. They have to be soldered on because I now see that nothing else works. I have tried various attachments and have lost many charms. My question is, how can you solder a charm bracelet like this if the components can't go in the pickle? Thank you again. Best Regards, Cynthia Cameron
If you can't pickle it, then you shouldn't solder it. At any rate, polishing a charm bracelet is a real pain and if you pickle it, then you will have to polish it. Or at least use a brass brush on it to remove the white coating and brighten the silver. But this creates a dull finish.
Also, if the charms are hand painted, the heat will most likely destroy the paint. If they are enameled, you have a chance they could withstand the heat.
Your best best is to affix all your charms with wrapped loops. It is a wire wrapping technique that allows you to permanently attach elements without soldering.
I have an article on Search Warp (with photos) that shows you how to make a basic wrapped loop. With a little modification, you can turn it into a double wrapped loop. There is also an excellent book by Mark Lareau, "All Wired Up," that could help you with this. My article is titled, "Making Jewelry: Wire Wrapping 101."
Charm bracelets are kind of a special case and most jewelers will not work on them unless all the charms are also sterling. Or if they have a torch tip that will allow them to use a very, very tiny flame; the kind that many goldsmiths use. If you have a butane, acetylene or oxy-acetylene torch, I recommend you use the wire wrapping method.
If you have any further questions, feel free to send me an e-mail. Just click on the envelop symbol next to my name.
» left by Cynthia Cameron from Syracuse, NY (342 days 1 hour ago.)
Thank you so much Dianne. I followed your advice. I hand wrapped all my charms. I have decided I will not do charm bracelets to sell! It took me a long time, but it looks great. Thank you so much for your advice. Cynthia Cameron
I am a hobby silver solderer. I have some 18 guage dead soft silver that melted before the solder flowed. The bezel was fine silver, but it did not melt. I applied heat from beneath the piece. The piece was about 1x1.5 ". I fluxed properly. I tried to create a bezel again later but the hard solder would not melt. That time the bezel melted. What is wrong when the solder does not melt? About an hour earlier the same solder melted just fine and fastened a bezel to a 20 ga. back piece. What am I doing wrong?
Wow. It's going to be really hard to figure out what happened and why.
The temper of the silver shouldn't change its melting point. But as I am sure you know, silver melts at about 1761 degrees F. and sterling silver melts at about 1640 degrees F., which is most likely why your bezel did not melt the first time around.
I have the most success in soldering a fine silver bezel to sheet silver when heating it from above while the piece is laying on a soldering pad or block. Move the flame fairly quickly around the outside of the bezel until you see the solder melt and move all the way around the bezel following the heat of the flame. Remove the torch immediately or you risk melting your bezel.
When heating from beneath (I assume you were using a tripod with screen) it is easier to heat some spots more than others. Also, you have to apply the flame longer because you are losing some of the heat to the air. The screens just don't hold as much heat as the pads and blocks. There are times when a tripod is useful, but 99% of the time, maybe more, I use pads and blocks.
Basically, if the solder is not melting, you are not applying enough heat. Hard solder melts at about 1425 degrees F which should give you plenty of room to not melt your sheet or bezel.
20 gauge sheet is thinner than 18 gauge sheet and requires less heat and time (for a similar sized piece) to bring the whole construction up to a temperature where the solder will melt. It's been my experience that it's not just about reaching a certain temperature, but it is also about time spent heating it and how good you are at keeping your torch moving and heating the whole thing evenly.
You're not doing anything wrong, except from the standpoint that it's not doing what you want it to, you are learning what it will and won't do. I can still manage to fail at something I've done a hundred times.
All I can say is that I learned what I know by making mistakes and a lot of trial and error. Just keep at it and I am sure you will succeed.
By the way, I've had pieces in my shop that have frustrated me so much that I had to put them away for a time and come back to them later.
Thanks for reading and I hope this helped a little bit.
» left by Helen from Atlanta (70 days 2 hours ago.)
This article was very helpful. Am just learning how to solder sterling to sterling and have a question. How do you go about soldering one small piece of sterling to a bigger piece? I am a hand stamper and want to jazz up the blanks I decorate with words.
First I would like to thank you for joining my fan club. Thanks so much.
It can be a bit tricky to solder a small piece of silver to a larger one, especially if the difference is quite extreme as in a delicate jump ring to a large cabochon bezel. The chance that you might completely melt the jump ring is always there.
Essentially, you need to focus the flame on the larger piece and bring it closer to the melting point of the solder first. Then move the flame briefly onto the smaller piece and back to the larger piece. Continue the back and forth until you see the solder become shiny and flow.
Because the area of the join will likely be small, do not quench the piece immediately in the water. Let it air cool a bit first (this is even more important if you are working with Argentium Sterling Silver). After quenching, be sure to test the join by pulling hard on it.
I'm glad that my article was helpful to you and I hope that this also helps.
I would just like to say that I recently was successful soldering brass to sterling. I first applied the silver solder to the areas on the brass to be joined, then placed the brass on the silver, heated the entire piece until the solder flowed, and used a soldering pick to make sure the joint was flush. I made a set of earrings and pendant with no problems. Liz Carrabassett Valley Jewelry
You can solder brass to sterling silver- I've done it a couple of times- it's called marriage of metals. I learned it in my jewelry I class. I basically cut a triangular piece of silver to sit inside a brass piece and used silver solder in the cracks- but cut as close as possible. I then took that piece and riveted it onto a larger copper triangle and put a silver stone setting with a large amethyst in it. I still have the project.
That sounds really pretty! And I do love to use a mixture of metals in my projects ... it's all about color, after all. :)
Since I wrote this article, over two years ago, I too have soldered brass and sterling, but I thank you for the tip. But my initial difficulties lead me to embrace riveting and that has been a blessing ... dark cloud, silver lining and all that.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my article and for sending me your tip.
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(362 days 22 hours ago.)