gold solder
Dean Brown
I would like to know what the difference between 14k plumb solder and 14k repair solder.
If anyone could fill me in I would certainly appreciate it.
Thanks, Dean
PeterWRowe
In article <5264lk$b08...@news.bctel.ca>, diamo...@bc.sympatico.ca
(Dean Brown) writes:
Plumb solder means that it's gold content is the same as it's label. Thus
14K plumb solder is actually 14K as well, only with the lower melting
point required for a solder. Repair solders, on the other hand, are
actually a couple of karats lower than their label. A 14K repair solder
is usually somewhere around 10 to 12 K in its actual gold content. Doing
this saves money, and allows the solder to be an easier flowing
formulation, so repairs can be done with less risk to perhaps delicate and
worn old jewelry. Sometimes it can allow a better color match as well, as
with a plumb gold solder the alloying metals have to be in a different
ratio to get the lower melting points, where a repair solder can get that
lower melting point, to a degree, just by using less gold. And since
stamping laws only apply to the gold content of materials used to make new
jewelry, there are no legal restrictions to suggest that repairs should be
done with plumb gold solders. And thats one reason why so many repairs
look as crappy as they do, since they are all too often done by
inexperienced hurried and less trained benchworkers, working with lower
quality solders...
There are legitimate places for these solders, of course. If you've got
repairs to do on a piece where the higher melting points of plumb solders
might pose a danger to the piece, then use what you have to. But please
don't use repair solder to make new jewelry, or to do repairs and
modifications where it's reasonable and possible to use the better
materials.
Peter Rowe
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Peter W. Rowe M.F.A., G.G.
Commercial and custom jeweler and metalsmith
Graduate Gemologist and Lapidary
Opinions expressed here are solely my own....... and subject to change
according to my mood and the state of my art ....
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