Hi, I used to be able to solder, but it has been some years. I now have to seriously learn to solder and solder well. I have about 7 different solders. The usual silver bearing ez, med, hard, I also have IT since I do enameling, I also have copper solder from Rawtreasures, and as well as these very thin rods of solder used here in Mexico that are both silver and bronze colored (I believe they are low temp ones)

I have Batterns Flux, but I am frustrated....I bought it a while back (not years) and I read online that it is supposed to be yellow colored, but mine is transparent. Can it go bad? Is this the problem, last night I tried the IT because I have a project to do that is a potential money maker for our small workshop (more on that later)anyway, I am trying to put a half ring on to a small plate for a key chain fob. This is all copper and I need IT solder for enameling. Copper being what it takes to enamel on. This potential project will go to Finland! I used the Batterns, and the IT just balled up, I thought I would try it by introducing it when it was hot enough, I have a piece of wire type, not pallions. The ball is now pretty big actually. It would not attach to my item.

I also have a bottle of flux I bought from Rawtreasures but I am not sure what type it is. I also have a bag a white powder (fundante in spanish, in english to melt or fuse) that I bought when I bought the Mexican soldering rods (this is what is used here by most workers doing tumbaga (similar to bronze), brass, alpaca soldering. and I assume silver.

I have a little smith torch, it is oxygen/propane mix.

I clean my metal, I flux it, both sides, and edge, I flux the ring, with Batterns. I heat it up, it gets flakey white, I have my palliones there already, and they just sorta ball up but don't flow. I heat the crap out of it, out of frustration and start over again! HA! I am frustrated needless to say. I used a big regular sized propane/oxygen torch in school, I could do it with that. But this little tiny torch has me frustrated, I have the tip #1 on it. HELP! hehe

Any advice would be good. I need a mentor....someone I can go to that will help me solve these problems. hehe anyone?

I run a small workshop (I say small, but I guess it is pretty big actually) here in Morelos, Mexico where women and men who have no options other than to work very long and hard days in the fields for an American Co (I am American), they work these people 7 days a week, up to 14 hours a day for about $50 US (you can't live on that here even), while the main gal in my workshop (the best student in our state who won a scholarship from President Fox back then and couldn't use it due to her being so poor that she couldn't pay room/board to make use of it) and the reason why I opened it in the first place makes about $100 US now a week and works 40 to 45 hours instead of close to 100 hours she was working before. She also was born with a cleft palate and wasn't treated very well out there.....anyway, I have 6 young women and 1 young man right now, who are the sole supporters of their families at this point here. I know concepts but many I have never put into use. We have learned to do enameling, and are advancing on that, I never learned to do that, but with books and the internet I can teach it. We do glasswork in the flame (Lampworking) and offhand work as well in the flame. We are rather stuck with what I can accomplish. We have rudimentary tools, I don't have an income, but we buy what we can with the money we make. We have a huge need for tools, and other equipment. Unfortunately I cannot just order it from the States, it is complicated. We get whammied with 27% tax if the order is caught, so we have to be prepared. Small orders (under $300 via regular mail do ok). We lost the inital order for the workshop because UPS Mexico dumped it into a warehouse and being it was mostly enamel powder they didn't understand what it was and we couldn't get any broker to broker it for us. So they made it disappear and we fought for 2 years to get a partial replacement from the vendor, and lost 2 years of the use of all of this wonderful material. UPS Mexico is not UPS USA. Lesson learned. We obtained a small rolling mill this year, and now need to learn to use it. I am always scrambling for saw blades, we only have two saw frames, bezel stock which is not sold here, or to learn to make it with our rolling mill, I need some good pitch, chasing tools, and chasing hammer because I do know how to do this ok, it would work well for enameling I think. Pattern rollers for our rolling mill would open up some more decorative avenues to the group. We have lots of copper, and can get bronze (tumbaga) and brass, alpaca easily. I have never seen silver sheet for sale here...and I have no idea where to get it, even though we are close to Taxco, they keep secrets very well. It is like a big deal to not tell you where to obtain it at for some reason. Well and I can't afford that right now anyway. I want to help more people and families, but I have to manage things very carefully. We have been doing this now for 5 years. They are wonderful people, never miss a day of work, and are very appreciative of anything I can accomplish for them. We just got a small sofa set for the workshop so we can have meeting and figure things out, it was broken but being a jack of all trades it seems I fixed it, and it is now like new! hehe. Our workshop measures 41 x 17 feet. I made a table out of 3 pieces of plywood, and the table measures 12 x 8 feet, we have a soldering station, enameling station, lampworking station, beading station and other areas. We have a big air compressor and a oxygen generator (my baby). We make alot of our own tools, I learned how in college, but we need a belt sander, here the craftsman belt sander what is sold in the US is like $159 US and here it is $600 US! and that is at Sears here. It makes no sense. People think Mexico is cheaper than the US, it is if you don't buy anything. Our electricity is double what you pay per watt. Carlos Slim is raping the country. Phone is so expensive here too. But some things are really pretty cheap, like copper, whole foods, help and workers. We just finally after 5 years got the bathroom done! This was a big deal, we had to build a septic tank, we don't have running water out there yet, but we use a barrel of water for that, works great! Thank god they are out of my house bathrooms! It is a relief for me to accomplish these things. Our work is well at times rustic, due to lack of knowledge, but we do what we can do, and we always learn something new, daily, and often we make a huge jump.....now if I can figure out what I am doing wrong soldering! ugg...hehe very frustrating. I wish I had my college torch! It was a hoke or something like that....loved that thing. It had a nice flame, and didn't feel so "small"...I have checked out youtube, online, read and read.....I just want to understand what am I doing wrong? hehe

So there is my project in a nutshell.

I am so enjoying being here, seeing what can be done, and I am very excited about things I have learned here! I just hope someone can help me understand what I am doing wrong with the soldering problem....I am hoping to make new friends! This is a wonderful group!

Thank you!
Laura