Common Soldering Problems & Solutions For Jewellers

Is Everything Clean?

Before getting started always ensure that your hands and metal, including solder is clean from any dirt, grease, dust and oxides. If your piece is dirty, this will create a barrier between your metal and solder and prevent the solder from flowing. Wash your hands before working and avoid touching your metal with your hands to prevent any remaining oil or dirt from contacting your piece. If your first soldering attempt didn't work properly, don't be tempted to add more solder and try again, clean everything back and then try again.

If you're worried your metal is dirty before soldering, pop it into pickle solution beforehand. We also recommend using our glass fibre scratch brush which is perfect for cleaning and preparing metals, removing any grease and dirt ready for soldering.

Your Joint Isn't Tight Enough

A tight joint where both ends of metal meet to be soldered is crucial in ensuring the solder flows and is secure. Your aim isn't to fill gaps with your solder, so ensure that the ends meet as tight as possible.

You Forgot To Use Flux Or The Correct Flux

Did you remember to use flux on your piece before soldering? Flux is an essential part of soldering, you apply it onto a joint before soldering to prevent oxides. It keeps your piece clean, allowing solder to flow easily once brought up to temperature. Some flux cannot be used at certain temperatures, therefore make sure you are choosing a suitable flux for your design. Argotect flux available at Kernowcraft can be used with all of our types of solder, simply mix with water to create a smooth paste and apply to a clean joint using a clean flux brush.

If you forgot to apply flux and started the soldering process, simply pop your piece into pickling solution to clean and start the process again.

Too Little Or Too Much Heat

Ideally, you want to only use heat for the quickest possible time needed. Using too little or too much heat can either cause fire stain or melt your work, so this is all down to practice and getting used to knowing how much heat is needed to allow the solder to flow as quick as possible.

If you're wondering why it isn't flowing, it could be that you're not using enough heat and are also not heating the metal around the solder join to bring it up to the correct temperature.

Consider whether you are using the most suitable torch for the job. If you are soldering something large like a bangle and using a small torch, you may want to use another torch at the same time to ensure the whole piece gets hot enough.

You're Not Heating The Metal

As mentioned in the previous point, it's important that you don't focus the heat on the solder joint but bring the metal surrounding the joint up to temperature. This will allow the solder to flow quickly, and you will minimise the need to overheat your piece which could result in fire stain. While heating your piece, be aware of anything that could also be absorbing the heat such as the tweezers you're using to support the piece, as this will affect the time it takes for your metal to be brought up to temperature.

The Solder Isn't Touching The Joint

Check that your solder is touching the joint, as this is needed to allow the solder to flow into the joint for a secure bond.

How To Prevent Solder Paste From Drying Out

Solder paste has a shorter shelf life than solder strip and a common problem is that you may find that your solder paste has dried out over time as it isn't being used up quickly. At Kernowcraft we sell a 5g syringe and this low amount will reduce and prevent the paste from drying out, depending on how much you use it. We recommend keeping your solder paste in an airtight bag when not in use and keeping the cap on to prevent it drying out.

You Don't Need To Add Flux

Many people make the mistake of applying flux to the solder joint before adding solder paste. Flux isn't needed as it is already mixed into the paste, which is great news as you can skip this step!

For Larger Jobs You Might Prefer Solder Strip

Although solder paste can be used for most soldering projects, it's most suited to smaller jobs such as soldering jump rings, chain and wire work. You may prefer to opt for solder strip for larger designs which will require longer to heat up and need multiple points of solder applied, mostly because these larger pieces take longer to heat up and you may run the risk of drying out the solder paste if you don’t use a suitably sized torch.

How Much Solder Paste To Use?

You won't need much solder paste on your join, a good rule is to use the same amount as the width of the piece you are soldering.

Heat The Metal Evenly & Quickly

If you are soldering a jump ring for example, ensure that you are heating all of the metal evenly to bring the metal up to temperature and ensure the solder flows as quick as possible. If you focus all of the heat on the paste, or take a long time to get the piece to the right temperature you may find the solder paste dries out and crumbles. Also make sure you use a suitably sized gas torch and flame for the item you are soldering too, you want to get the item up to heat quickly not slowly as you might if you are more used to using solder strip and a separate flux.

Ensure A Tight Joint

Just like any soldering job, you need to ensure your hands, metal and solder is clean as well as making sure the solder joint is tight.

Third Hand

Use a third hand to provide an extra hand in the workshop! Using the right set up and positioning for fiddly soldering jobs can make the world of difference between success and a lot of frustration. This has reverse action tweezers attached to a weighted base and an adjustable arm. Use it to grip your work and accurately position ready for soldering.

Watch our video on using a third hand and read more here.

Knew Concepts Titanium Soldering Strips

These sturdy 100mm long soldering strips help you solder awkward to hold pieces of jewellery. They can be easily personalised to suit your needs by bending or filing them into curves or points, to create customised clamps.

The best part about these strips is that they do not transfer heat nearly as quickly as steel and therefore interfere less with the area you are soldering.

Soldering Tools & Supplies

Shop our range of soldering tools and accessories for soldering your jewellery pieces. Whether you need silver solder in a range of grades, silver solder paste and 9ct gold solder as well as gas torches, flux and other soldering accessories.

Soldering & Jewellery Making Tutorials

There are a large array of tools and techniques that help to make different designs possible. In our soldering & metalsmithing advice section, you will find helpful information pages on products, techniques as well as some exciting tutorials to follow too.