Solder 
Solder (pronounced sodder) is used to join components together to produce a finished product. Jewelry solder is considered hard or brazing as the temperatures used reach above 450C (842F). The solder flows through capillary action into the metal on either side of the join. Solder flows at temperatures at least 20 degrees lower than the melting temperature of the metal being soldered. If you are soldering gold, the solder you use will be composed of gold and other alloys. Gold solder comes in carat form – ie: 8 K, 14 K, 22K, etc. Gold solder generally comes in sheet form and small pallions (pieces) are cut off when needed. Most gold solders are stamped with the carat, on the sheet, so that identification is easier. It is also available in paste and wire forms.
Solder for Silver comes in Eutectic (also called IT), Hard, Medium, Easy and Extra Easy. Silver solder comes in paste, sheet and wire forms. Paste and sheet solder can be marked on their surfaces as to the type of solder it is but, wire solder is difficult to write on so, a bending system has been devised to mark the wire. Generally, there are only three commonly used bends for hard, medium and easy. I’ve added my own markings for extra easy and IT.
Below are the markings for wire solder:
IT HARD MED EASY EXTRA EASY
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I always bend the ends of my solder wire, as soon as I cut off a piece, to avoid confusion.
I stumbled across your YouTube video on Soldering and was thankful for it. I had no idead there was as much to soldering as there was. Thank you for sharing your info and experience with everyone.
Hi Pauline, I would suggest a two part epoxy like 3M™ Scotch-Weld™ Two-Part Epoxy Adhesive. As you are not sure what type of metal you are working with, and you don’t know its melting point, you need to watch out for anything that generates heat. If you use a soldering iron (see my website for info on that: http://www.nancylthamilton.com/techniques/soldering/), the “gems” – which are probably glass or plastic – may crack or melt. So, just to be safe try the epoxy. Good Luck and thanks for writing! N
Hello Nancy, I like to wear what I call hair jewelry, the bobby pins with some type of decoration on the tip. i collect a lot of old jewelry and would like to create my own. My question is what type of soldering and equipment would I use. Most of the pieces have a metal backing but I’m sure they are not precious medal. I sure can use your advice I’ve been wanting to this for a while now. I love your creations they are very inspiring. Thank you for your time.
I suppose my biggest issue here is I am trying to decide how I should connect particular metals so that they will last at heirloom quality. I don’t have much money to work with as far as tools, but I have some skill with a soldering iron already. I need to join oxidized sterling silver to oxidized silver-plated brass. I know that I cannot use glue for this project and I am uncertain if I would be ok with an epoxy, but this is why I considered soldering. I’ve tried soldering oxidized silver-plated brass before, but the solder wouldn’t adhere! Perhaps this is because I was using flux-core solder wire without liquid solder? I am so lost!
Hi Natasha, Sorry about the looooong delay. This website is new to me and I don’t have all of its bells and whistles down. I didn’t even know I had a comment page! So, if you’re still interested, I’ll try and answer some of your questions. Soldering and cold joining are the best and longest lasting methods for joining two pieces of metal together. On soldering: I recommend going with the hard soldering technique. Soldering with a soldering iron is great for stained glass windows but not jewelry – or at least jewelry that will survive. One of the big differences is that in hard soldering, the solder runs in between the silver molecules. In soft soldering, the solder lays on the surface of the metal. The molecular join is much stronger. It is also, at times, an invisible join whereas soft solder is always a big silver blob. Other choices are riveting, tabs, screws or some other form of cold join to connect various elements together. These can be used in a zillion different ways and can be made visible or invisible – depending on the technique used.
I discuss torches and setting up a soldering studio on my website. We are also going to do a riveting video soon and I’m trying to get a cold join page up on my site too. Someday!
Glues and Epoxies: Well, I do use them. I use them for gluing pearls to posts. I use a glue that is designed for gluing pearls. I get it at Rio Grande. I also use a glue stick to glue patterns to metal before I saw it out. I use super glues to glue sheets of metal together to saw out duplicate pieces and that’s about it. I don’t recommend using glue. Super glues don’t tolerate lateral movement – it gets hard and snaps. Epoxy can be eroded by sunlight, certain chemicals and will not hold up to constant wear. Rings and bracelets experience the greatest wear and tear and if a piece is going to break – it’ll be a ring or a bracelet.
I think that you need to make a decision about what type of jewelry you are interested in making. If you are selling it, you owe it to your customer to make a piece that will last – unless your prices are disposable too. A 10 dollar ring is not expected to last – a 250.00 one is. Are you wanting to create designs that glue and soft solder aren’t allowing you to do? Do you want cleaner joins, stronger pieces, better prices? Are you ready to commit to the time and money necessary to learn stone setting, soldering, riveting, sawing, etc.? If you are, then start out small. Take a class, start a small soldering area and practice on copper. I taught myself to solder, initially, I couldn’t wait for my jewelry class to get there. But, as I was in the jewelry program at our local college, I eventually learned many techniques that I hadn’t learned on my own. There are a gazillion books out there on jewelry making and they are a great way to learn. I use books all the time to learn new techniques.
Gotta run to the gym. I hope that this has been somewhat helpful. Happy Creating! I hope you have many happy years of jewelry creation in your future. If you have any other questions, I’d be very happy to help. Hopefully, I won’t take so long to reply. Nancy
Hello Nancy, Susan Street referred me to you, she says you would be able to set me straight on some of my questions. Here’s what I asked:
I’ve been wondering about this for a while, because I really want to start pulling away from adhesives in my work, but I am not sure where I should start, what tools I need, etc. I’ve tried using a soldering iron on oxidized, silver-plated brass before but it just didn’t stick. It was solder wire with a flux core, so maybe that’s where I went wrong? Should I be using a tiny butane torch instead? I really need something for precision work, and I’ve done soldering on computer chips before and was really good at that, I am just not sure what I am doing wrong. Perhaps I should be using the liquid flux instead? Also, any two-part epoxies that you recommend? Do you think I could use a dab of two-part resin as an adherent? I’m just starting to worry about the durability of my pieces and want to start maybe things that will last as long as possible. (I also need a way of adhering things so that they cannot, what so ever, peel off). Hope I’m making some sense.