As we demonstate on our Silver Clay Jewellery Making Courses, Silver Soldering is an important part of the Jewellery making process. But we are often asked: What is soldering? How do you Solder Cufflinks? How do you Solder Jump-ring? We aim to answer these questions, with some step-by-step tips below.
What is Soldering?
Soldering involves joining two pieces of metal with another metal alloy (called solder) by using heat and flux. Whether you wish to solder sterling silver cufflink Posts onto Silver Clay Cufflinks or solder sterling silver jump rings, onto bracelets or chains, to secure your designs, it will involve placing a small piece of solder on the join and heating it to it's flow point, which when cooled, results in a strong bond between the join of two pieces that you are soldering.
Whether you are soldering cufflinks or jump rings, I would recommend using Paste Solder. Paste Solder is a mixture of solder, flux and carrier. It is extremely easy to work with and comes in syringe form, which makes it easy to apply with precision.
How to Solder Silver Cufflinks?
Please follow the instructions on our Silver Clay Jewellery Making Courses for video tutorials on how to Solder Cufflinks, with these additional, step-by-step instructions:
- Before Polishing or Tumbling, remove the Silver Clay Cufflink face from the Jewellery Kiln, using Tweezers and immerse in water to quench.
- Dry the Silver Clay Cufflink face and then burnish with a Soft Brass Brush.
- Sand the back of the Cufflink face with a Sanding Sponge.
- Place the Cufflink face side down on a firing brick.
- Sand or file the sterling silver finding (cufflink post) where the soldered joint will take place.
- Place the Cufflink finding in 3rd Hand Clamp.
- Squeeze a small amount of Silver Solder Paste in the centre of the cufflink back.
- Bring the cufflink finding down to rest on the silver solder, so that it is making good contact with the solder.
- Heat with a Butane Torch, holding a pointy blue flame. Keep moving the flame gently, around the joint, in a circular motion, evenly distributing the heat. If you keep the flame in one place, you will risk melting your silver.
- After approximately 60 seconds the solder should begin to flow. You will see the solder turn liquid and shiny. At this point, soldering has occurred and you can switch off the flame.
- Remove from the heat and immerse in cold water, along with the crocodile clip to quench.
- Mix 1 teaspoon of safety pickles salts into a cup of boiling water.
- Using a pair of tweezers, place the cufflink into the pickling solution for approximately 5 minutes. This will remove the blackening (oxidisation) around the joint.
- Remove the cufflink with tweezers and rinse under cold water.
- Dry and brass brush
- To antique or patina, hold the cufflink face down into liver of sulphur. Best results are achieved if you warm the cufflink first, or use boiling water.
- To finish the piece sand down and Polish or Tumble, as usual.
For further help: Please download our illustative guide on How to Solder Silver Cufflinks.
How to Solder Sterling Silver Jump Rings
When soldering any item, make sure that you are working in a well ventilated area. Avoiding contact with eyes and skin. Before you begin, clean the jump rings, that you wish to solder, so they are free of oil, grease or polish.
- Close, all of the jump rings that you wish to solder, so that their edges are flush with each other. The joint shold be flat, smooth and flush. Solder cannot bridge gaps, but will flow down the joint, between the jump ring edges.
- Apply a small amount of Solder Paste to the joint, on the inside of the jump-ring. It is important that the solder contacs the joints on both sides of the jump ring. You will only need a small amount of solder, around the thickness of the jump-ring, but enough that it makes contact with both ends of the jump ring.
- Place the jump ring that you wish to solder onto a Soldering Block, but position the chain upon which the jump-ring will be attached, away from the heat.
- Apply the heat, moving the gastorch from side to side, so that both the left and right sides of the joints are evenly heated. Direct the heat on the jump-ring, not the solder, allowing the metal of the jump-ring to heat the paste solder, until it flows.
- You should be able to see the solder flow through the joint, at which point remove the flame immediately after the solder flow.
- Allow the jump rings to cool, then pickle with pickling solution, to remove any oxidisation and fire-scale.
- If you wish, you can neutralise the pickle by rinsing the jump-rings in water with a teaspoon of baking soda. (Sodium bicarbonate)
