Lesson: Marriage of Metals and Sweat Soldering

Lesson: Marriage of Metals

    Puzzle Inlay

• Trace the shape you want to fit on 2 separate sheets of metal.
• Cut outside the line for one piece, inside the line for the other
• File down to the line on both pieces, fit together
• Solder

    Wire and Solder Inlay

• Form wire into the shapes you want- use hard wire (brass or nickel rather than copper)
• Emboss the wire shape onto an annealed sheet.
• Use either the rolling mill or goldsmiths hammer. Softer metals make a better impression (copper and sterling)
• Flow solder into the groove left by the wire- Solder inlay
• Using the third hands clamp wire to sheet. Solder or fuse. – Wire inlay

Other options:

• Drill holes in sheet. Clip of wire to fit through the holes- solder.- Wire inlay

• Use chasing tools or stamps to create patterns. Flow solder into the grooves.- Solder inlay
• You can also run a sweat soldered piece through the rolling mill to flatten it out. Make sure to begin with a thick bottom layer- 18 or thicker- as it will thin out a lot getting flat.

Tips and tricks:

• You want the pieces to fit TIGHT! The tighter the fit, the easier the soldering and cleanup- file carefully!!
• Use the same gauge of metal for both pieces in puzzle inlay
• Make sure to heat both pieces to soldering temperature- copper heats up quicker than brass!
• Use flat sheet, and do any forming after cleaning up.
• Work on a slightly larger sheet than you think you will need for hollow constructions.
• Do any piercing after doing marriage of metals.
• Make sure to use hard solder if you are going to be doing more soldering later!
• Use the half-round side of your file to clean up- sometimes the edges of the flat side leave gouges in your sheet. Alternatively, bend the piece slightly to avoid gouges, flatten after filing.
• Be careful when annealing married sheet not to overheat and run the solder.
• Don’t combine brass and silver. It is difficult to see.
• Use a thicker gauge than you think you will need as cleanup will remove some of the thickness.
• Remember that since the different metals take patinas uniquely you can bring out the pattern that way.

Lesson: Sweat Soldering

Sweat soldering is the term for soldering 2 sheets together on the surfaces. Soldering the ends of sheet together is called a butt seam, Overlapped edges are called a lap seam.

Tips:

• Sweat soldering takes a lot more solder than you think it will- remember that the entire area needs to have solder on it.
• Leave a small area that you can cut off afterwards as a place to feed any additional solder into.
• Place sweat soldering piece on grates or tripods to allow for quickest heating of the pieces. The soldering boards absorb heat.
• The entire piece(s) need to get hot all around in order for the solder to fully flow.
• Sweat soldering is easiest when the pieces are flat. Once soldered, form with plastic mallet.

Sweat Soldering- Laminate method

• If one of your pieces has piercing or a smaller area than the other, this is your top piece.
• Clean both surfaces to be soldered well- no dirt or oils on the metal.
• Both surfaces should be clean and fit together well.
• Lay your top piece on the soldering board face down so that the side that will be soldered is up.
• Flux and heat your flux until clear.
• Place chips of solder all over the piece.
• Heat until the solder begins to slump and flow. Do not let it flow completely!
• Pickle and brass brush.
• Reflux the piece and lay with the solder side down on top of your bottom piece.
• Use cotter pins, cross tweezers, or third hands to apply a small amount of pressure- holding the 2 sides together.
• Heat until the solder flows.

Sweat soldering- Sandwich method

• Clean both surfaces to be soldered well- no dirt or oils on the metal.
• Flux both surfaces to be soldered.
• Heat top piece until the flux is clear.
• Place solder chips all over the top piece.
• Place the bottom piece over the top piece and clamp together.
• Heat until the solder flows.

Sweat soldering- feeder method

• Clean both surfaces to be soldered well- no dirt or oils on the metal.
• Clamp top and bottom pieces together
• Flux.
• Heat both pieces up to soldering temperature.
• Using wire solder, hold the end of the wire to the seam. It should melt and flow into the seam. If it balls up and drops off, the piece isn’t quite hot enough.
• Feed the solder into the seam until you see the solder line all the way around the seam

You should be able to see your solder line around every edge of the piece.

If you do not see that solder line, you need more solder.

Feed in any additional solder from the easiest area to clean up afterwards.