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i know nothing about this and i've never soldered anything in my life. i know you can buy jump rings with solder in them. do they work well? what kind of soldering iron do you need, is this easy to do? does it look clean and professional when done.

thanks for the info.

The jump rings that you buy from your local stained glass store are probably tin plated copper wire. You can make your own by coiling thin copper wire( 18ga.) around a pencil and then cutting the coil with a pair of dykes or old scissors. Hold the ring with a pair of needle-nose pliers, flux it and the area that you want it to solder to. Use 50/50 or 60/40 solder and a soldering iron (60 to 80 watt) with a narrow chisel tip. With a little practice it will look fine. Rich

You can solder the silver ones with a small butane torch. Be careful not to burn up the silver though! It can be tricky to solder close to glass, also. If you want to do a really professional job (for strength as well as craftsmanship) cut through the solder joint with a jeweler's saw and re-solder.

thanks, i'm wondering about the jump rings that have solder inside them. and how they work. i'm a total newbie to this so talk slow.

You're getting information from two angles here and that might confuse you. The torch and silver rings are a jeweler's approach to jump rings. The copper/plated rings using lead solder and a soldering iron are the stained glass approach. In the jewelers approach described you are actually just fusing the silver joins together (tricky as it's very easy to fry the silver. You can also add silver solder, but that's tricky, too). In the s.g. approach you are adding a drop of melted (base metal) solder to seal the join.
As to the wire that has solder in it.... I don't know of such a thing, but I suppose there could be some new product on the market. Has anyone heard of such a product? I can't quite envision it, or why someone would think to manufacture it to begin with.....

I guess I never thought of a stained glass approach, I've never done regular stained glass!

I have used solder-filled sterling jump rings for jewelry pieces, they're available from Rio Grande, but I think they're really expensive. Better off to do it the old fashioned way.

I'm ashamed to say that I've never used a soldering iron, either, except to cut mylar for a stenciling project.

this maybe a stupid question but if you've never used a soldering iron, how did you close the solder-filled sterling jump rings ???

mapgirlie wrote:this maybe a stupid question but if you've never used a soldering iron, how did you close the solder-filled sterling jump rings ???

I would presume the sterling rings are used in jewelry and most jewelers solder with a torch and not a soldering iron. Is that the right answer?? And they actually sell solder-filled sterling, eh? About a year ago, I attempted to make a chain and tried to fuse about 200 silver jump rings.... I'm ashamed to tell you what percentage of those rings are in the silver scrap for casting.

Yes, I used a torch- oxy/acetelene with a very fine tip. You can get special fusion welders for around $500 that will do precision jewelry joints, like jumprings in a matter of seconds. I've never used one of them, but for those who do lots of jumprings it would be a great thing.

the most inexpensive torch may be the best torch for jumprings,especially if you are only doing a few ... if you have a harbor freight store near you get a little butane torch ... bought one for 10 and the next time they were on sale for 5 ... you fill it with butane that comes in a refill kit for cigarette lighters [walmart or drug store] ... i've heard that butane is a heavier than air gas so i store my torch and refill kit in the garage rather than in the basement ... start with a small flame and hold flame right at the tip of the v [that's the hottest part of the flame] ... good luck

richard

thanks richard that sounds like a good way to go. this is gonna sound stupid but you heat up the ends of the jump rings and some how push them together without burning yourself? i'm a total newbie here.

thankya.

shasta,

probably best if we do this off board as it is sorta off topic ... will 'talk' you through this if you choose ...

sassafrasglassworks@yahoo.com

richard

kelly alge wrote:Yes, I used a torch- oxy/acetelene with a very fine tip. You can get special fusion welders for around $500 that will do precision jewelry joints, like jumprings in a matter of seconds. I've never used one of them, but for those who do lots of jumprings it would be a great thing.

I have a Little Torch that I bought (along with a fortune in other jewelry tools) a few years ago when I took numerous jewelry classes at the local college. Then I fell in love with chasing and repousse and haven't done any little stuff since! Oh, well..... the fusion thingie sounds great to me... alot better than spending countless hours practicing with the torch. You know what I really need to do? Design and have a big staff to make my stuff. LOL.

Kisses,

Martha Stewart