practice soldering

[rickmenefee]

Anyone got a tip on how they practice on stainless. Every time a set up a guard its a train wreck. Never soldered much and I suck- Lovelss style demand soldering.

 

[Bill Hoffman]

Clean, clean, clean. Use a flux designed for stainless steel. Try "tinning"
the parts to be soldered first, then assemble and solder.

 

[mete]

A 96% Sn/ 4% Ag solder with flux designed for stainless. Clean throroughly then DON"T TOUCH ! Heat part quickly. Let hot part melt solder , not torch.

 

[David Loukides]

This thread might give you some Ideas.
This is a 416 Stainless guard and a 1084 blade.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/929012-Solder-a-Guard
Dave

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Use Stay Clean flux and 4% "silver solder."
The joint needs to be bright metal- freshly filed/sanded.

 

[rickmenefee]

thanks I am going to try it again. I have made my mind up its time to learn to do it.

 

[elementfe]

My local welding shop has a little kit with Stay Brite solder and the liquid flux (stay clean?) that goes with it, works every time...well, it didn't work once on some sketchy wrought iron, but on stainless it's great.
I ended up buying the 1lb spool.

 

[kc custom]

Rick somewhere in shoptalk there is a good pic of the solder job on this knife before
I sold it. This comes directly from Loveless's book - as already mentioned clean city,
+ Bob L said to flood the joint with muriatic before applying the flux while hot. For godsakes
do this with good ventilation. Best luck I've had with ss to ss.
Ken.

 

[Smithy]

Cleanliness is next to Godliness when it comes to soldering anything. One thing that people often forget to clean is the solder itself. When soft-soldering, I will always take a piece of 180 grit sandpaper and clean the solder before I try to solder. Seems to help for me. ...Teddy

 

[timbit]

Heat the joint up with your torch, back your torch away a bit and let the metal melt the solder. If the metal isn't hot enough to melt the solder, it won't flow well and you'll end up with a cold joint.

You can get a HCl or muriatic solder paste that works beautifully with stainless. Use breathing gear,and eye protection in a well ventilated area. This stuff is nasty, you do NOT want the vapours in your eyes or nose. Make sure you apply a very small amount of flux, brush it on very thin. Your joints have to be bloody clean. Hot soapy water, scrubby pads, and freshly sanded is a must. Once you clean it, don't touch the join. The oils from your skin can mess with it. You'll want to use silver solder, or a solder with atleast 4% silver.

 

[leifjl]

Cleanliness is next to Godliness when it comes to soldering anything. One thing that people often forget to clean is the solder itself. When soft-soldering, I will always take a piece of 180 grit sandpaper and clean the solder before I try to solder. Seems to help for me. ...Teddy

This is absolutely true, particularly if your solders been sitting around the shop for a while. I use scotchbrite on it if it looks tarnished or just isn't flowing right.
Also 56% with cad in it will braze anything well. Expensive stuff though.

 

[argel55]

Get a piece of 1/16 brass rod and sharpen the end. Helps to drag the molten solder into place where it is not filling. Dip it in the flux also before you use it.