Soldering 416 stainless to D2

H

harrington

Joined
Dec 14, 2005
Messages
65
Is there any tricks to soldering a 416 s/s guard to a D2 blade? Do I need to "tin" the 416 first and if so how much gap do you guys have before soldering. My gap is next to nothing, you could not slip a piece of paper between them.
I have not had any troubles soldering brass to 01 but just can't get this to stick.
I would rather solder than use a 2 part metal epoxy seal.
I'm using stay brite solder and flux kit. Blade is finished to 600grit and 416 guard is a filed finish.
Knife will be like a Loveless style hunter for a good hunting buddy.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Jamie
 
Is the flux specifically made for stainless steel ? The gap for both solder and braze should be .003" for capillary action and strength. Abrasive paper followed by solvent , then keep your fingers off !Then solder.
 
As you have discovered, stainless can be a pain to solder. Over the years I have discovered a trick or two that has helped me:

- use a good solder and flux
- you will also need a 1/8" brass rod sharpened to a point and some acid
brushes.
- you need to "tin" the mating surfaces. You can do this by heating the
flux covered part until a ball of solder melts on it and then while keeping it
just hot enough to keep the solder melted, scratch the area with the brass
rod and the solder should flow and wet the area. When the area is
covered you can brush off the excess with an acid brush that is wet
with flux.
- assemble the tined parts and heat and add more solder as needed.
Brush off excess with brush and re-add to create fillet joint.

Jim
 
Get the eutectic 157 solder and flux kit. I believe that Koval carries it. This works better on stainless than anything I have tried to date.
 
I could not solder stainless untill I started tinning. I do use the staybrite solder and flux. My process is

clean with acetone
sand with 320 grit
clean with alcohol
apply flux
cut small piece (1/4" long per square inch) of solder and place on piece
heat slowly, heat, remove heat, flux will boil, solder will melt, flux will turn to ____ when to hot.
remove heat when solder melts, use brass brush to move solder to cover entire area, add flux and heat if needed
brush like crazy to get rid of all excess solder.

now the second piece.

I then flux both, put together, clamp with very light pressure, heat and touch with solder when tinned solder goes liquid.

its a pain, but it works.
 
Thanks for the replys.
I thought I was going to have to tin the stainless.Or do I need to do both the stainless and D2? I guess it's going to be trial and error for a bit.
Do you oversize the guard slot so that when it's tinned it will slot on to the knife. Or is it not an issue to get the guard to fit back on the knife when tinned.
Now off to get some solder bushes.
 
It goes from a snug push with hand fit to tap with a hammer after tinning. You may want to run a file inside to make sure there are not bumps. I do both, I dont think you have to do the D2 but I have not tried.
 
fitzo said:
Bill, I don't think Jantz-Koval carries it any more. K&G has a kit that says it's "same as Eutectic 157".
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. I wasn't aware of this. Do you know if they still carry the black magic blueing salts? I tried looking on their website but couldn't find it. I think that Pop's may carry the eutectic solder also.
 
You will need to tin both the d2 and the guard. You do not need much if any in the way of "extra" clearance as the tinning is very thin if you brush it off with an acid brush wet with flux.
note: you can get the acid brushes from Brownells for about $12.00 a gross.

Jim
 
Bill Burke said:
Thanks Mike. I wasn't aware of this. Do you know if they still carry the black magic blueing salts? I tried looking on their website but couldn't find it. I think that Pop's may carry the eutectic solder also.
Click to expand...

YW, Bill. Pop may very well carry it. Never know with him...he's got a lot that never shows up online. :)

Jantz has Black Magic
 
Use acid flux (liquid) to tin the parts, and rosin flux (paste) to
solder the parts together.
Clean all acid flux from parts before assembly.
This eliminates any chance of acid being trapped between
the tang and guard....to eat it's way out months or years later.

If the surfaces to be soldered are completely tinned, you're no
longer soldering stainless to whatever, you're soldering solder
to solder, which is why rosin flux works well in this process.
 
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