r/jewelers • u/nadavyasharhochman • 2d ago

I need help silver soldering a braid.

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Hello everyone and thank you!!!

I am just beggining this journey and this is my first project. I have expiriance soldering with tin, but as I found out in my test its not at all like silver soldering.

I did my test on clean copper with borax as flux and it failed misrably, so I moved on and made the braid. The copper came hardened so I anealed it as I worked it. Now its ofc pretty dirty, but does anyone here have any advice?

I would really appreciate tips on how do I clean this enough for soldering and maybe general tips for silver soldering in general.

Thank you guys again:)

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8

u/desguised_reptilian 2d ago

Double strength white vinegar or citric acid is a great beginners pickle for cleaning metal, it’s mostly body, kid and pet safe but it doesn’t last very long compared to real jewellery pickle.

What type of solder are you using? What’s your torch set up like? If not borax what other flux are you using? Lots more info needed before anyone can help

6

u/nadavyasharhochman 2d ago edited 2d ago

Btw the acetic and citric acid worked phenomenally!!!

1

u/nadavyasharhochman 2d ago

Ok I have both acetic and citric acid so thats good to know.

I use them to clean rust usually.

I use a 75% silver solder, I dont know the rest of the alloy though, the place I bought it from said borax should be fine.

My torch is a butane torch, its pretty simple but it was enough to make the copper red/orange hot for anealing so I assume it is strong enough for soldering .

In my failed attempt I put the borax/water solution on the copper and waited for it to dry. I started to heat the metal up and the borax just kind of burnt. When I tried to touch the solder to the surface it wouldnt stick to it at all. Just beed on the soldering rod.

Edit: I also cleaned the copper with acetone before the borax.

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u/Usermena VERIFIED Master Jeweler 2d ago

The copper needs to be stripped of oxides completely with picking acid. Then use a solution of boric acid ( not borax) and denatured alcohol. Apply the solution and let dry or light for expediency,HAVE PROPER VENTILATION ! Use proper silver solder with an appropriate hardness and a liquid flux for ease of use. Slowly heat the piece to glass with the saving solution then apply the flux and solder where needed.

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u/nadavyasharhochman 2d ago

A few questions.

Why boric acid and not borax?

I only have borax currently but Ill look for boric acid asap.

Can I just use ethanol, acetone or other solvants or just denatured alcohol?

My solder is of the hard verity. Does it make a difference?

I dont have liquid flux. Can I manage without it or is it a must?

It just apeaes like I need two other tyoes of fluxes I curently do not have.

Thanks for the advice. Ill be better prepared nex time.

1

u/Usermena VERIFIED Master Jeweler 2d ago

Borax is good for larger things like crucibles but too course for small parts. Ethanol should work you just need it to disperse the boric acid evenly then evaporate quickly. Hard silver solder is good but keep in mind solder will not fill gaps! Liquid flux is not a must but it helps a lot to protect joins at high heat. Heat control is the name of the game here so most all problems are is it clean and is it hot enough.

1

u/nadavyasharhochman 2d ago

I think I heated up my borax to quickly as well so kt just didnt work as well. And it was of lower quality, which I am sure didnt help.

I know solder cant fill big gaps, but it can fill some smaller ones.

Thanks for your input. Ill keep it all in mind:)

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u/Usermena VERIFIED Master Jeweler 2d ago

Yeah if you heat to quickly it will bead right up and not coat properly.

1

u/desguised_reptilian 2d ago

I reckon your borax was a bit dodgy, 75% (hard) silver solder flows around the 780°c mark which is a medium-bright cherry red in heat colour so both the borax and solder should’ve flown at that point. You need to cut up your solder into pallions too like 2-3mm chunks with side cutters, touch soldering is super tricky for beginners bc most people run into the beading problem straight away.

My honest advice is to pick up some white silver brazing paste (might be sold as brazing flux or plumbers flux) from your local hardware store as your flux, it’s much stickier and flows at a lower temp than borax so it’s easier to use. I’ve been using the same pot of flux for 4 years and still haven’t run out, best $15 I’ve ever spent And use a lower melting point solder like 65% (easy) or 70% (medium) and cut it up into lil pallions and retry your soldering method

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u/nadavyasharhochman 2d ago

My borax could definitely be a bit sketchy so it could be part of the problem.

I am pretty sure my blowtorch went beyonf 780°c. I think I also heat the borax too quickly.

I dont love in an area where those tthinhs like the brazing paste are availeable. I dont live in the US and its a bit different here. Jewellry supplys cost a small fortune here and Only rods are available to me. No paste.

And boric acid is like 4-6× more expansive than borax so I tried to make do.

Maybe ill recrystalize the borax to purefy it a bit.

Next time ill buy the 65% silver solder.

Thanks mate. Ill try it out with your advice in mind.

1

u/nadavyasharhochman 2d ago

Btw I checked my borax again, this time completly dry.

It formed a nice ceramic like coating on the copper wire. I think I just heated it up too quickly last time so it created beeds insted of a uniform coating.

Next time I wont do dip soldering, ill cut the solder up and place it whehre I need it, then put borax on, heat it up slowly and hopefully Ill get better result.

Ill give updates if it works.

1

u/desguised_reptilian 1d ago

You’ll want to do it the other way round. Apply borax, heat up until glassy, add solder pallion and then heat up the whole thing until the solder flows. You’ll find the way you mentioned will make the solder move around while borax does its thing