Jewelry Making with Brad Simon

Soldering Platinum & Gold Together

When soldering platinum to gold always use cadmium free gold solder.  For health reasons, this is the only solder you should be using anyway.  However, for platinum it is especially important.  Cadmium can migrate into the grain structure and cause brittleness.

Before joining platinum and gold together ALWAYS finish and polish the platinum piece.  Platinum requires a longer polishing time than gold.  If they are polished after joining the gold would wear away before a final polish could be applied to the platinum.  As platinum does not oxidize when heated, the polished finish will remain after soldering.

Platinum and gold contract while cooling at different rates.  Because of this, if you have a long solder seam between gold and platinum the seam may crack as it cools.  To minimize this try to design your jewelry creations with a short seam where the gold and platinum touch.  If a long seam cannot be avoided, after soldering cover the piece to allow it to cool slower.  A used tuna fish can make an ideal cover.  After soldering place the can over the item you soldered and warm with your torch, then allow to air cool slowly.

Brad

In A Pickle

When I began in the jewelry industry in the mid 70’s we used a mixture of sulfuric acid and water for our pickle.  This mixture is a fantastic pickle solution, however, if you splashed any on cloth, it would deteriorate the fibers of the cloth and any vigorous rubbing or washing of the cloth would produce holes in the fabric.  Towels, cloth aprons, and even your clothes were vulnerable to the pickle solution.

One night after we were first married, I came home from work to a dimly lit house with a candle lit romantic dinner on the table.  My wife greeted me saying that she knew this would not make up for it, but she hoped that I would forgive her because she had ruined my new work clothes.  She did not know what she did, but somehow while washing my clothes she caused a bunch of little holes all over them.

I enjoyed the evening, and waited until morning to explain the real reason for the holes.

I’ve since stopped using pickle in my shop all together.  Let’s face it.  For those of us who work mostly in gold and coat the jewelry with Boric Acid or some other fire coat, there is no oxidation on the jewelry from the soldering process (or at least there should not be any).  The only reason to pickle the jewelry is to remove the boric acid and other flux.  That is easily done in a detergent solution and we do not have to subject the jewelry to the harsh chemicals of Sparex or what ever pickle solution you use.

I keep a small container on my bench of water mixed with the same cleaning solution I use in my Ultrasonic cleaner, just mixed a little stronger.  When the jewelry has cooled after soldering, I place the jewelry in this container to remove the boric acid coating and fluxes.

Brad