Re: Brand of Solder

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: Angel, : I thought we were just going to give a simple answer to a simple question here, but since you've gone and stirred up the pot I've got to take issue with a couple of things here. : First<<<<The more lead present, the higher the melting point.>>>>> Only till you reach 63/37. As you add tin past this point the melting point goes up again. It's just that nobody uses higher tin solders for stained glass, (or much of anything else that I can think of), so your answer is true if limited to stained glass solders. : <<<<50/50 melts at a higher temp and stays liquid longer than the other 2, which is why it's good for flowing into lead came joints and not leaving a rounded solder spot. Because it stays liquid, it's not very good for foil work...producing a flat bead...and is much harder to get smooth seams because of the higher temp requirement.>>> : Actually technically 50/50 melts at the same temperature as 60/40 solder. If you check the info on the Canfield site you'll see that the melting point is not expressed as a single number, but as a temperature range. This range is called the "pasty range". It defines the range of temperatures between which the metal neither completely liquid nor completely solid, but rather pasty. In the olden days auto body shops used a product called body solder. Body solder was generally somewhere between 10/90 and 30/70. This gave the metal an enormous pasty range that allowed the workers to heat it up with a torch, then move the pasty metal around for quite a while with spatchulas, before it cooled and got too solid. Much the same way that folks work with "bondo" (the plastic body filler) now. : Because of both this pasty range and the fact that the metal is a bit more viscous (thicker) when fully melted than higher tin stained glass solders it is much easier to work with for many applications which include soldering seams in lamps without run-through, building a bead on the edge of a suncatcher, soldering seams on came projects without seeing the space between the cames, etc. : That said, I wouldn't give you two cents for most 50/50 solders on the market. Too much "gumbo" mixed in making them unusable. The only stuff I'll use is Canfield. : As for the "flat bead", what are you talking about? If you don't use enough solder you'll have a flat bead, if you use enough metal it simply can't be flat. Something to with "the conservation of matter". The metal can't just go away. : <<<<It IS good for filling cracks between pieces and preventing melt-through to the other side.>>>> : <<<<There are several good brands like Fry, Canfield, Hirsch.>>>> : I've tried the others, but only Canfield never seems to leave dull patches as it cools. : <<<<<The cheaper, generic brands often contain a lot of impurities the will gunk up your Iron tip. >>>>> : Agreed. : <<<<Canfield is about the easiest to find anywhere. Solder is only going to be as good in use as the flux and the quality of the soldering iron. In that group, it definitely runs third in importance.>>>> : I'd probably rate the solder and flux equal in importance with the iron (and temperature control) coming in second. : Finally, the big difference in everyday soldering between 50/50 and 60/40 solder is in the ability to do touch up work. Either one will give you a few imperfections in your line, no matter how good you are. 50/50 is very easy to do touch ups on. Just stick your iron into the flawed area, let it melt, then a shorter dab to melt solder just left, then just right of the affected area and the line is patched. Attempting to do patch ups with 60/40 is frustrating at best. Every touch-up seems to spawn a new problem just adjacent to the patched area. You can spend the rest of the day just chasing the flaw around your panel. : GaryD : : ----------------------------------------- : : : I was just wondering what brand and weight of solder do you all recommend? Thanks

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