Grizz,
Thank you, on all accounts. These soldering threads have a tendency to get interesting all on their own. As far as my candor, I just like public shame. Ive found its more fun than private shame, lol.
When it comes to soldering, Ill be honest, I dont know much myself. Ive only been making knives for 8 months, so take all this with a grain of salt, but Ill be glad to share what I think I know. You bring up an interesting point about bead size. Ive seen more Randalls than anything else, and I always thought the bead was supposed to be a little more prominent. Personally, I much prefer that to a hairline bead, as it makes the knife look a little more robust, but thats just me.
As far as actually soldering, I do it two different ways, depending on what type of knife Im doing. If its a regular style knife (as opposed to hollow handle), I like to fit the guard, and put the knife in a vise, tip up. Then I apply a very thin line of flux to the top of the guard at the joint. I use one of those squeeze bottles with a thin metal tube on it. I heat from the bottom with a propane torch (I would use an acetylene with a very fine tip if I had one). When the flux starts bubbling, I apply solder from the bottom, and as the heat transfers up the blade, it draws the solder in a rather thin bead up through the guard, as others mentioned earlier. If its slow coming up, it can be coaxed lightly with a torch on the top of the guard.
If its a hollow handle knife, since I cant apply heat from the bottom, I heat the handle tube and guard till the flux is almost ready, then put the heat directly on the joint. Then I apply the solder on the top of the guard at the joint. Either way, I dont slather the solder on there. I touch it to the work a couple of times, and then draw it around with the torch. Less solder applied leaves less to be cleaned off later.
If I was careful with the flux, theres very little to clean up. I take a brass rod, 3/16 and 1/8, put a chisel edge on it with the grinder, and it will slice away any excess in ribbons. If the rod is really sharp and Im careful, thats it. If it skates on the solder a little, I tape the surfaces and hit it with some 320 to clean up the gouges in the solder, sharpen the brass rod properly this time, and slice away one last ribbon. This will leave the solder just as shiny as if it was buffed, without leaving a scratch pattern on the blade.
I hope thats helpful to you or someone else. Like I said, Im pretty new to this, so take all that with a grain of salt. Thank you again,
Sam :thumbup:
)