Intermediate
Metal Techniques
The Workspace
April 2013
The Workspace
April 2013
Welcome
to Intermediate Metal Techniques! This class requires that you have taken the
Beginning Metals class or have experience with several metal smithing
techniques such as sawing, filing, and knowledge of terms such as hardness,
gauge, annealing, etc. This class will
focus on Foldforming, Soldering, and Bezel Setting.
Foldforming is a fun technique that you can spend years learning and experimenting with.
It gives wonderful texture and depth to metal and can add life and a story to
your piece. Copper is wonderfully suited to foldforming. Copper can be folded
over and over again, almost infinately. It anneals beautifully and can be the
focus of your piece or an accent or it can be an entire sculpture. I recommend the book “Foldforming” by Charles
Lewton-Brain. There is also an active
Foldforming group on Facebook, and if you are serious about Foldforming they
will let you join J
Annealing – Anneal after every fold. You can pickle but it is
not necessary. Make sure you rinse well after pickling so you don’t have pickle
trapped in the folds that could continue to damage your metal or your skin etc.
Hammers –
There are lots of different hammers and mallets around. To begin, you can use
your basic chasing hammer, ball peen hammer or even a mallet if there is a
texture on your copper you want to protect. As you practice and learn how the
metal moves with your hammers, you can begin to practice with forging hammers
and raising hammers. Brainpress.com has
great information: http://www.brainpress.com/Foldformingtools.shtml.
Pliers –
You will sometimes need flat-nosed pliers or a knife to pry open your folds.
Usually you want to open them without leaving unwanted marks on your metal.
 |
| One of the most talented artists at The Workspace solders a ring |
Soldering is fun to learn but
takes practice. We will practice on scrap copper so you can get a feel for the heat of the flame, the different types of solder, and dealing with fire scale
and other tricks to creating successful solder joins. Safety first! Make sure you solder in a
ventilated area, know and understand your torch, tie back loose hair and
clothing, keep flammables away from torch area.
Solder – Solder comes in Hard, Medium
and Easy. Hard melts at the highest temperature and has the most silver in it,
easy melts at the lowest temperature and has a higher alloy content. Because
hard solder has more silver it will tarnish slower. Always use hard solder
first if you will be soldering more than once on a piece. For instance, use
hard solder to solder a bezel closed. Then use medium or easy to solder the
bezel to a back plate. Medium solder
melts at a slightly lower temperature so it will flow before the hard solder
will. That way, your first seam won’t melt!
Solder
will not fill gaps. The two items that will be soldered together must fit
tightly. When solder flows, it actually becomes part of the metal that is being
soldered together. So a tight fit is very important.
Your metal must also be very clean. Dirt, oil will prevent solder from working properly.
Your metal must also be very clean. Dirt, oil will prevent solder from working properly.
Solder
comes in wire and sheet. You can also buy solder that is in a syringe or
already in a paste. The kind you use depends on what you are making. For most
joins, wire or sheet solder can be cut into little pieces. Make sure you keep
the solder labeled and separate from silver wire or other silver that you can
confuse it with. Also don’t mix up hard, medium and easy solder. Keep the
solder labeled and packaged. You don’t want someone to use easy solder when
they need hard!
Flux – Flux prevents firescale by
protecting the solder and metal from oxygen. Too much flux can bubble in the
flame and cause your solder to bounce out of position. Prevent this by heating
very slowly until the flux dries and turns white. We use Handy Flux, if it is
dried out add some water so it is a paste and spread on your metal. You can
coat your whole piece to help keep your piece from discoloring from the flame
but is not necessary. Flux also needs to coat your solder.
When
flux turns clear you are approaching soldering temperature.
The Torch – We have a wonderful torch
at The Workspace with four torch heads. Usually one of the smaller torch heads
will produce enough heat for your jobs. If you are working with larger or thicker gauges of metal then you may need to use a larger torch head. However I am able to solder small rings with just a kitchen butane torch, but it took a lot of practice! Please learn all safety procedures with the torch. Tie up hair and loose
clothing. Keep paper and flammables away from the torch station. At the end of
the night help make sure the torch tank has been turned off and the torch hose
has been bled (emptied of gas). After bleeding the hose, make sure the torch
head has been closed.
The
hottest part of the flame is right in front of the bright blue cone. Also a
flame that is loud and hissy will have too much oxygen in it and cause
firescale problems. Too bushy of a flame may not have not enough oxygen and may
not be hot enough to have a successful solder.
Solder
flows toward heat! Heat your entire
piece so the metal that is farthest away from your join doesn’t continually
suck needed heat away from your join. As you approach solder temperature you
can focus the flame on the seam.
Remove
the flame as soon as the solder flows. Quench in water and place in the
pickle pot with copper tongs. Please make sure the crock pot gets unplugged
before the last person leaves!
·
Clean metal and
solder with scratchy pad or sandpaper
·
Join must be
tight and touch. Solder does not fill gaps!
·
Flux the piece
and solder
·
Heat slowly and
heat the entire piece, watch the changes in the flux
·
When flux turns
clear you can start to focus the flame on where the solder needs to flow
This is a great resource to have while learning how to solder: http://art.jewelrymakingmagazines.com/Projects/Subscriber%20Projects/2010/07/14%20Soldering%20Tips.aspx
http://art.jewelrymakingmagazines.com/ is a great website with lots of free tips and projects. They even have videos that are well produced.
