Soldering for Jewellers E-Book

Rebecca Skeels

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Soldering is one of the most commonly used processes in jewellery, but its potential is often overlooked. This practical book explains the basics of the method but goes on to suggest ways in which soldering can be used to explore ideas and produce unique pieces. Topics covered include further applications such as silver soldering; sweat soldering; soldering small items, attaching fixings and findings, stick feeding and advanced techniques. Written both for beginners and for those wishing to extend their knowledge, Soldering for Jewellers will inspire a more creative use of this key process. This new and invaluable reference work is aimed at all jewellers and metalsmiths, and is superbly illustrated with 253 colour photographs.

Leseprobe

Soldering

for

Jewellers

Rebecca Skeels

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2017 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2017

© Rebecca Skeels 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 275 5

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Paul Kenny for all his support, checking, patience, ideas, photography and advice. Andrew Wilgress and H.S. Walsh for supplying many of the images and enthusiasm.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1 PREPARATION

2 SETTING UP THE WORK TO BE SOLDERED

3 BASIC EDGE TO EDGE JOINT

4 SWEAT SOLDERING

5 SOLDERING SMALL ITEMS

6 ATTACHING FIXINGS AND FINDINGS

7 STICK FEEDING

8 OTHER METALS AND TECHNIQUES

9 PROBLEM SOLVING

FURTHER INFORMATION AND SUPPLIERS

INDEX

INTRODUCTION

Soldering is a process used to join two pieces of metal together by melting another metal with a slightly lower melting temperature between them. It is thought that soldering was developed to allow a larger variety of metals to be joined; it replaced the process of fusing and welding, in which jewellers used to melt two metals together. Fusing and welding is still appropriate for some techniques such as granulation and when working with metals such as steel. There is evidence of the use of soldering in jewellery thousands of years BC and we still use it today.

A typical working jeweller’s bench.

Soldering is one of the most utilized processes in jewellery making, however it is also one of the least highlighted processes when a piece is finished and ready to be displayed or worn. So it is unlikely to be discussed or even asked about unless you are learning. The main aim of soldering is to give work rigidity and strength, and it allows jewellers to push their ideas much further than making work without it. When beginners have practised soldering a few times they will start to use it in nearly everything they make and it becomes a familiar process to many jewellers and metalsmiths.

There are two types of soldering, one for the metals and solders that melt at low temperatures, such as pewter, lead and tin, known as soft soldering and one for the metals that melt at much higher temperatures such as copper, brass, silver, gold and platinum, known as hard soldering. Hard soldering is also known as brazing but most jewellers use the term ‘soldering’.

Solder is made by mixing metal with other metal alloys. Metals mix a little like glass enamels; for example the colours stay separate instead of mixing like paint. Different metals have different sized molecules, so when they are mixed the little molecules fit in the gaps between the big molecules. Gold has much bigger molecules than silver, so when the big gold molecules are stacked the small silver molecules can hide in the gaps so much that there can be a higher percentage of silver and the gold stays as the dominant colour. The melting temperature of the solder is controlled by the amount of metal alloys added to the metal. With practice, it is worth keeping this in mind, as it will help you understand the process and take advantage of this knowledge. Most UK suppliers sell solders at set melting temperatures, but in the US and Japan it is worth asking the supplier for the melting temperature when you make your purchase. Remember that the melting temperature is when the metal melts, not the temperature at which the metal flows; this will be a higher temperature.

This book introduces soldering basics for jewellers. Basic techniques are explained to help you get started and allow you to explore soldering fully, giving yourself confidence to explore and challenge yourself further once you have undertaken a few experiments. The focus will be on silver soldering, which can be used for most non-ferrous metals such as silver. A similar process is used for other metals such as pewter, gold and platinum. It is advisable to try all the processes in this book in the order that they are written to enable you to have a full understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each and to allow you to select the correct one for your own designs.

There are alternative joining processes such as rivets, tabs, setting, stitches, gluing, welding, fusing and so on. Rivets, tabs, setting and stitching can be used in conjunction with soldering and are ideal for including other materials in your work. For example, tabs can be soldered on to a ring and when the piece is finished they can be folded down over an object to hold it on to the ring securely. This is the same principle as claw or rub over setting used for including stones on a piece. However, it is a good idea to think more broadly, to allow designs to be more unique.

Welding and fusing are usually used for metals that are not commonly used in jewellery, such as steel, aluminium and titanium, although they are coming back into fashion again. There are books focusing on these materials or you may want to start by attaching them to your work using the rivets, tabs or stitches as mentioned above. If you find yourself using titanium and steel more and more, you may want to look at the section on laser and PUK welding near the end of Chapter 1.

A variety of rivets.

Traditional welding is similar to soldering in that it uses a similar type of metal to help it join, but it is used more as a filler to bridge a gap or fuse two edges together. The problem with this is that the joint can be weak and messy, especially on smaller items such as jewellery. The filler metal can become porous as heat is only used in spot locations rather than over the whole piece, causing uneven cooling.

This book is here to motivate the beginner, with practice and play you will become confident fairly quickly. There are several projects to help you choose the best way to construct your own design and push the boundaries to produce unique ideas and pieces. You will find you are better at some processes than others, and with lots of practice you may adopt slight alternatives to some of the techniques that suit you and your designs better.

Jeweller’s bench in the School of Craft and Design at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham.

CHAPTER ONE

PREPARATION

It is important to plan the space you wish to use for designing and making jewellery. Most processes can take place in a relatively small area, enabling the set-up to be in a spare room or even part of a room. The priority when starting up is to think about health and safety and ensure you have organized and planned how and where to work safely. In this chapter health and safety issues will be discussed, followed by an explanation of the tools you will need for each step of the soldering process.