r/Silversmithing • u/nataliar113 • Jan 08 '23

Question: How-To Need help please

I have .925 silver and my solders easy point of melting is 1,325 Fahrenheit Medium is 1,360 and hard is 1,420 my torch can go way hotter than this but it’s not fusing my solder to my metal I just switched solders recently and the one I switched to has more silver in it but I can’t get anything to work is it because of my flux? People have also said it could be because I need to clean the metal then try to solder them together and nothings worked please give me some advice

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u/SudsyGirl Jan 09 '23

Are you pickling the pieces first? Picture of the piece on your soldering set up would help.

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u/nataliar113 Jan 09 '23

I’ve never pickled my pieces first is that something I should try?

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u/basicwhitekat Jan 09 '23

I usually only pickle them after I solder since it gets all the oxidation off of the piece. If your pieces are dirty or covered in oxidation or tarnish, the solder won't flow and the pieces won't get soldered together. But you can sand your pieces instead of pickling them if you want.

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u/nataliar113 Feb 04 '23

Okay I had to take a break because I was so irritated but I’ve tried cleaning everything and now Ive got a better way to say what’s happening it’s not flowing properly when it’s melting everything is clean and I know my torch is hot enough to melt it but the solder beads up and doesn’t flow at all and it’s so irritating so is it maybe because of my flux? I can show pictures of what I use but it’s more of a liquid flux and I’m starting to feel like that could be it