BASIC GROUND RULES

There are several fundamental rules of soldering that you must understand before you can develop a successful soldering technique. One can try to cut corners on these rules, but at the risk of frustration and/or failure of the soldering job.

CLEAN - It is very important that the area to be soldered is clean. It should not have tarnish, fingerprints, polishing compound or any other foreign substance present where the solder is expected to flow. A quick clean up with (depending on the situation) steel wool, sandpaper, a file or pickle bath can all be appropriate preparation. At times, you can also use this rule to your advantage. If you want to prevent solder from flowing somewhere, dirty it. A commercial compound, yellow ochre, is often used for this purpose. I've found that water-based White Out (liquid paper) works very well, and comes with a brush built in.

Getting a Good FIT - The pieces to be joined must fit well. Solder will rarely fill gaps... unless you're really using too much. This is where the "art" can be more important that the "science". After you have done your best to bend, file, coax and cajole the pieces into perfect cooperation with each other, you can still have a less-than-perfect fit. There is no single "right way" to resolve the problem, but ingenuity comes into play.

If its a close fit, some people might try it anyway. The perfectionist would not. Iron binding wire can be used to hold pieces in place, or even provide some pressure. On a tangent, NEVER pickle your work (after soldering) with any form or iron wire attached. Another technique one might employ is to apply pressure with a pair of tweezers at the opportune moment, just before the solder flows. I have various "helpers" on my bench that are used to improvise solutions at a time like this. Paper clips of various sizes, cotter pins, alligator clips (i.e., third hand), etc., can all come in handy for those tough soldering situations. These are called soldering jigs. Jigs are frequently created and used for a specific task, and are often only be used once. The bottom line is that investing the extra time setting up the soldering job can save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run.

HEAT CONTROL- One of the toughest things about soldering is learning to control the torch, and the heat, for ideal soldering. This takes a bit of experience to do well, but when mastered, you can solder almost anything. The ground rule is that solder flows toward the greatest heat. Therefore, if you want solder to flow into a joint, the heat should be applied to the back side of the joint, opposite from the solder. The challenge, especially with silver, is that the whole piece has to reach uniform temperature at the same time.

This can be tricky at times, because you might be soldering something small onto a larger piece. The bigger piece should receive the majority of the attention while the pieces are being brought to soldering temperature. The smaller piece will pick up heat transferred from the larger piece, as well as indirect flame heat. When the larger piece is almost there, balance the flame between the two pieces , and just as the solder flows, put the flame on the back side of the joint to draw the solder through. Sounds easy enough... and it's not that hard. It just takes a little experience and practice.

This isn't as much of an issue with gold; you can usually concentrate the heat in the area to be soldered without having to heat the whole piece uniformly. The solder still flows toward the heat, though.

One last note on heat control: be careful if you're soldering something small or delicate. Without proper heat control, you could end up melting something fine (like an ear post) while trying to get the whole piece up to temperature. Occasionally, you might want to create a "heat sink" to protect a small item. For example, a pair of tweezers attached to the upper end of an ear post will draw some of the heat away from the post and allow the base piece to come to temperature with reduced risk to the post. This can also help hold the post in place if you've set up your soldering job effectively. Heating from the underside while the work is supported by a tripod can also help improve heat control. This is especially true for large or flat pieces.