Why are there different solders and how do you use them?
Hello there, jewelry-making enthusiasts! Soldering can open up a world of endless creative possibilities for you. Let's dive right into understanding the different types of solder and how they can be used in jewelry making.
Soldering silver, copper, and gold might seem a bit intimidating at first, especially with all those different terms being thrown around. For instance, solder comes in various forms like sheets, strips, wire, and even paste. And then there are the names - hard, medium, easy, and extra easy - which might sound a little confusing. But don't worry! These terms actually refer to the solder's melting points and silver content, with extra easy having the lowest melting point and silver content. We won't be discussing extra easy solder here, but it's always good to know.
Let's Decode the Names
Silver solder is a special metal alloy designed to match silver's color but melt at a temperature that's just a bit lower. This ensures that the solder melts before your precious workpiece does. You'll most commonly find solder wire in Hard, Medium, and Easy types. Don't worry, the names are just about the melting points and have nothing to do with the strength of the joint formed.
Why the Different Melting Temperatures, You Ask?
Often, you'll find yourself needing to solder more than one joint on a piece of work. Now, to avoid remelting the first joint when soldering the second one, it's quite helpful to have solders with different melting temperatures.
For example, when making a pendant, the bezel around the cabochon stone is soldered with hard solder. After it's shaped just perfectly, it's soldered onto the base plate with medium solder. The medium solder's melting temperature isn't high enough to remelt the hard solder join. The decoration and the bail are then soldered with easy solder. As long as you solder quickly and carefully, you can make several joins without affecting the previous ones.
The Art of Using Solder Wire
It's super important to mark your solder strips so you can tell them apart. Feel free to stamp H, M, or E on the strip or sheet, or color them with different colored sharpies, we like to curl the ends over on our wire solder. To help you remember which wire is which, you can bend the end of your wire or strip: one bend is Easy, two bends Medium, and three bends is Hard.
What's the Deal with Solder Paste?
Solder paste is a modern form of solder that typically comes in syringes. It's a mixture of ground-up solid solder, flux, and a binder. It's handy for jobs that require the solder to stay put in an awkward position, and it tends to be more expensive than other forms of solder and can get a little messy, for those reasons I don't use it very often.
Solder in Strip and Sheet Forms: A Closer Look
Solder can also be purchased in strip and sheet forms. These are especially useful for delicate soldering jobs as they allow you to cut tiny pallions. You can also find enameling solder and extra-easy solder with even higher and lower melting temperatures, respectively.
When it comes to soldering gold, remember to consider the solder's melting temperature, but more importantly, you want to match the karat of the solder to the karat of gold to ensure a perfect color match.
I hope this help you understand the differences in the different forms of solder, happy making!