How do you remove solder?

KnifeHead

KnifeHead

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 5, 2006
Messages
5,575
I did a bad thing. I was soldering on bolsters and got excess solder where I didn't want it. I forgot to lube up the area I didn't want solder to sweat to. What the heck do I do now:rolleyes:
 
Desoldering tool.

It's like a vacuum bulb, you heat the solder it melts you slurp it up. or heat melt and wipe off with a rag.

If it's not on metal you might have a bigger problem
 
Unfortunately, solder actually penetrates the surface to some degree. You will have to use abrasives to remove it.
Bill
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Unfortunately, solder actually penetrates the surface to some degree. You will have to use abrasives to remove it.
Bill
Click to expand...

didnt want to hear that but I believe ya. Now, once I do that I will have to re-do the etching because my problem is with a damascus blade:o
 
Kerry
You may be able to sucessfully touch up the etching by using the etchant on a Q-tip, in the affected area only.
Bill
 
Bors and Bill....I will try those ideas and report back later how it all came out. I've used solder wick before in electronics applications so that just might work.
 
Tried the solder wick trick but DeShivs idea of light abrasives and buffing was the final solution. I didn't bother to try additional etching. Here's the finished knife and thanks for taking the time to look at my noob labors. This is my first effort at design/build and I gotta say, I should have picked something a bit less challenging for my first knife. But still, overall I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out.

OA Length - 6 3/8"
Blade - Craig Barr Gatorback Damascus
B Width - 1 1/8"
B Thickness - 1/8"
B Length - 2 3/4"
Handle - Nickel/Silver and Mammoth Ivory

Pics of completed knife
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3974-2.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/Dscn3979.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3976.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3978.jpg

I layed out the shape of the knife on the billet which is the same width as the knife so there was no room to do alot of playing with the handle shape. It may feel a bit small in the hand(about pocket knife size) but it seems to fit the blade shape well. I did the blade bevels with a new flat mill bastard before I got my KMG. I found it slow going but pretty satisfying to do that by hand. I put a 20 degree edge on the blade with a Lansky system.

Here's a pic of the knife before heat treating. The reason there are so many holes in the blade is I changed my mind on how I would attach bolsters and handle.
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3884.jpg

Here's a couple of pics of my tribal forge I used to do the heat n quench.
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3890.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3886.jpg

I didn't take any pics of the uncleaned blade before HT but here are two pics showing the tempering colors afterwords. I layed the knife on the fire brick with the back and handle exposed overhanging the brick and heated with a torch till I was happy with the colors.
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3892.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3891.jpg

Final pics of blade showing the billet I used and the rear bolsters soldered on.
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3900.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3899.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/kdhbucket/1st Stock Removal Blade - Damascus/DSCN3895.jpg

Since this was my first attempt at soldering bolsters onto blade, I learned my first lesson about solder wicking. I didnt think about the solder creeping out onto the blade so had to clean that up and ended up buffing the blade so the pattern doesn't show as well.
 
Big thanks to Spark for moving this thread.
 
Kerry,
I think the knife looks great and you really did a great job on it. My question is after you soldered the bolsters on and cleaned up the excess solder, why didn't you re etch to show the pattern? Am I missing something:confused:
Once again, very nice.
Matt Doyle
 
mdoyle said:
Kerry,
I think the knife looks great and you really did a great job on it. My question is after you soldered the bolsters on and cleaned up the excess solder, why didn't you re etch to show the pattern? Am I missing something:confused:
Once again, very nice.
Matt Doyle
Click to expand...

I didn't want to take a chance in screwing up the ivory. I attempted it but got a tiny bit of the etchant on the ivory and it eats it pretty good. I tried just dabbing it on and that didn't work so well. I just stopped while I was relatively ahead.
 
Kerry , Why can't you put a couple of coats of clear nailpolish on the ivory handle, then re-etch & then remove nailpolish from ivory with acetone ?
 
joe sangster said:
Kerry , Why can't you put a couple of coats of clear nailpolish on the ivory handle, then re-etch & then remove nailpolish from ivory with acetone ?
Click to expand...

That actually sounds like a good idea. Or maybe better yet, spray laquer??? Has anyone else tried this before? I am willing to give it a shot and report back. I do hate to waste a good damascus pattern.
 
Kerry Hampton said:
That actually sounds like a good idea. Or maybe better yet, spray laquer??? Has anyone else tried this before? I am willing to give it a shot and report back. I do hate to waste a good damascus pattern.
Click to expand...

Lil help! Am I about to make a huge blunder by trying to etch a finished knife?
 
Kerry, I have done the nail polish trick several times on an entire knife and it works good but if you only need to touch up the places where you sanded around the guard I see no reason to etch the entire blade in fact that may etch too deeply in the area that is already etched. I suggest you use nail polish on just the guard and use a Q tip with a strong solution of ferric cloride (etchant) in those small areas and blend it in to match the rest of the blade.
 
Thanks for responding. If you look at the knife in the links above you'll notice that I did a bad thing on top of a bad thing. I hand sanded and buffed the whole dang blade after I cleaned up the solder. So, I'm going to be doing alot of dabbing with a Q-tip.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top