- Joined
- Feb 12, 2007
- Messages
- 2
Alright boys and girls,
I figured it is time for me to make a meaningful contribution to the world. Last night i had an epiphany of sorts about soldering guards onto blades. Many people are detered by the fear that the solder will make their work ugly and be difficult to clean up.
While in my shop preparing to solder a guard on, i got a 'crazy' idea. Plumbers Putty. If you have never had any dealings with plumbers putty, it is grey, has the consistancy of hard playdough, and smells like stale (insert explative here) . It's also dirt cheap. Its what plumbers use to seal the drain assembly into your bathtub or sink.
Before i go any further, let me state that this process is dangerous and you could possably die or sustain serious injury if you don't know what you are doing. follow all good safety practices and if you don't know what you are doing, DONT DO IT. I will not be held liable if you get hurt doing this. Wear eye, ear, nose, mouth, skin, breathing, and any other protection. Do not EVER wear synthetic fabric while soldering, brazing, welding or any other activity involving fire risk.
Anyway, you only need two things to make a completely professional strong solder joint with zero effort. 1) you need Stay Bright solder (ok something else might work too but i haven't tried it so if you want to try something else go for it, but don't blame me if it doesn't work). 2) Plumbers putty
Method:
1) Clean, clean, clean. Seriously, cleanliness is the single most important thing you can do to ensure your joint is rock solid. use around 320 grit to get everything clean and give the metal some 'teeth' to grip the solder. (please dont sand your finished blade, only where the guard will cover. Masking tape helps avoid unwanted scratches.
2)clean some more
3)wipe it down with CLEAN acetone (don't use your wife's nail polish remover, be a man and buy the real stuff)
4) make sure the guard and blade fit tightly. solder WILL NOT fill large gaps.
5) make a 1/4" thick 'snake' out of plumbers putty and put it around the front of the guard (the idea is the solder will stop where the putty starts)
6) lightly press the putty into the square contour to make sure there are no gaps. dont press so hard that it squeezes up into the space between the guard and blade (if it does, your gap is too large anyway)
7)apply a little bit of the stay brite flux from the tang side and start soldering (I am assuming you know how to solder so i will not go into that here). SAFETY NOTE: DO THIS OUTSIDE IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA. I DON'T KNOW WHAT STUFF IS REALEASED BY PLUMBERS PUTTY WHEN IT'S HEATED BUT IT IS PROBABLY BAD FOR YOU. DONT BREATH IT AND WEAR A RESPIRATOR AND EYE PROTECTION. DON'T OVERHEAT THE PUTTY, THE WHOLE SOLDERING PROCESS SHOULD TAKE LESS THAN 20 SECONDS. LONGER THAN THAT AND YOU ARE HEATING TOO MUCH
8)After it's cooled down, wipe off the plumbers putty and inspect your work
As a side note, i woud suggest practicing this on something non-important before you actually do it on a knife so you are comfortable with the process.
Sorry, I don't have pictures, but it came out perfect and did not require ANY solder cleanup. For the record, i was soldering a brass guard to a L6 steel blade. YMMV.
Let me know how it works out for ya. Oh, and maybe a method like this already exists. if it does, sorry to the guy who came up with it before i did, but if it does exist, i didn't know about it
I figured it is time for me to make a meaningful contribution to the world. Last night i had an epiphany of sorts about soldering guards onto blades. Many people are detered by the fear that the solder will make their work ugly and be difficult to clean up.
While in my shop preparing to solder a guard on, i got a 'crazy' idea. Plumbers Putty. If you have never had any dealings with plumbers putty, it is grey, has the consistancy of hard playdough, and smells like stale (insert explative here) . It's also dirt cheap. Its what plumbers use to seal the drain assembly into your bathtub or sink.
Before i go any further, let me state that this process is dangerous and you could possably die or sustain serious injury if you don't know what you are doing. follow all good safety practices and if you don't know what you are doing, DONT DO IT. I will not be held liable if you get hurt doing this. Wear eye, ear, nose, mouth, skin, breathing, and any other protection. Do not EVER wear synthetic fabric while soldering, brazing, welding or any other activity involving fire risk.
Anyway, you only need two things to make a completely professional strong solder joint with zero effort. 1) you need Stay Bright solder (ok something else might work too but i haven't tried it so if you want to try something else go for it, but don't blame me if it doesn't work). 2) Plumbers putty
Method:
1) Clean, clean, clean. Seriously, cleanliness is the single most important thing you can do to ensure your joint is rock solid. use around 320 grit to get everything clean and give the metal some 'teeth' to grip the solder. (please dont sand your finished blade, only where the guard will cover. Masking tape helps avoid unwanted scratches.
2)clean some more
3)wipe it down with CLEAN acetone (don't use your wife's nail polish remover, be a man and buy the real stuff)
4) make sure the guard and blade fit tightly. solder WILL NOT fill large gaps.
5) make a 1/4" thick 'snake' out of plumbers putty and put it around the front of the guard (the idea is the solder will stop where the putty starts)
6) lightly press the putty into the square contour to make sure there are no gaps. dont press so hard that it squeezes up into the space between the guard and blade (if it does, your gap is too large anyway)
7)apply a little bit of the stay brite flux from the tang side and start soldering (I am assuming you know how to solder so i will not go into that here). SAFETY NOTE: DO THIS OUTSIDE IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA. I DON'T KNOW WHAT STUFF IS REALEASED BY PLUMBERS PUTTY WHEN IT'S HEATED BUT IT IS PROBABLY BAD FOR YOU. DONT BREATH IT AND WEAR A RESPIRATOR AND EYE PROTECTION. DON'T OVERHEAT THE PUTTY, THE WHOLE SOLDERING PROCESS SHOULD TAKE LESS THAN 20 SECONDS. LONGER THAN THAT AND YOU ARE HEATING TOO MUCH
8)After it's cooled down, wipe off the plumbers putty and inspect your work
As a side note, i woud suggest practicing this on something non-important before you actually do it on a knife so you are comfortable with the process.
Sorry, I don't have pictures, but it came out perfect and did not require ANY solder cleanup. For the record, i was soldering a brass guard to a L6 steel blade. YMMV.
Let me know how it works out for ya. Oh, and maybe a method like this already exists. if it does, sorry to the guy who came up with it before i did, but if it does exist, i didn't know about it
