damascus2302 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 i was wandering what is the best thing to use to stop the solder from showing on my blade and guard. i ordered some bloc-it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Jigging putty works very well, or you can go low tech and just shove the blade through a raw potato up to the point where you want the heat to stop running into the blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 What materials are the blade and guard made of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Apply the solder from the reverse side and use capilliary action to draw it into the guard/tang interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damascus2302 Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 i am trying to solder a brass guard on a damascus blade. jb weld works better but i like the look of solder. when i try to draw the solder it ends up on the blade and guard, then i cant get it off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Solder never looks good on a damascus blade as it follows the lines that are etched in and you cannot clean it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markb Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 If brass to 10xx what would be method? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damascus2302 Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 thank you very much, it seams when i started the blades were the hard part. now i got the blades down, the guards are giving me trouble. i will stop trying the solder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinbender Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 Hello, You don't have to give up on the solder if you still have some patience left Soft solder flows to very clean fluxed surfaces. As mentioned you can put a coat of masking oil to help stop the solder running and touch the solder on the handle side. Use very small diameter solder or cut what you have and use a very small flame if you can, small propane tip works fine. Solder follows heat so heat the brass first and apply very little solder when at the right heat, feather the torch so as not to overheat the brass and slowly feather the torch to the blade and back to the gaurd until the solder just flows the joint. You can always add a bit of solder but it's hard to take back. Not a Damascus guy but I hope this helps. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me miller Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Couple of different ideals is to use a carpenters pencil and mark where you do not want the solder. Solder will not stick to graphite. I also have some yellow ochre powder that you make a paste with and paint on areas you do not want the solder to go. it is available from Jantz Knife Supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hammer Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 (edited) This works..... 1. Fit the guard tightly. 2. Put a gel super glue on the blade side of the guard all the way around the blade (gel on the guard and the blade). 3. Let the super glue set. 4. Do your soldering, as usual, from the tang side. 5. Clean the super glue off with an appliance that doesn't mark the blade or guard. 6. Re-polish the blade and/or guard on the blade side as needed. The photo below shows the results I had with the very first knives I made. Not perfect, but there is no solder on the blade side of the guards. Edited April 15, 2009 by djhammerd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I have tried about everything and found nothing that blocks solder from ruining a damascus blade. Damascus waits in your shop for years to suck up solder as fast as it can, you just give it the opportunity. If someone has a method that they have used succesfully I would love to learn about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hammer Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Rich... Read the post prior to yours and give it a try. Worked for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I did read the post and unless it is a quirk of the photo process there appears to line on the middle and bottom blades that looks as if they were lightened a bit from cleaning up the solder and or super glue. If that is just a reflection then you have done a wonderful job on a tricky process. I hot blue some of my damascus blades and that would not work. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking-sword Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I have developed a way of cleaning up my blades and guards that works quite well, with very little disturbance to the finish of either the blade or guard. I've always been a little sloppy with my solder jobs but I use the cappillary draw method of soldering and when the solder starts, or even before it starts to show up at the face of the guard, I take a large very clean needle with only a soft point and dip it in the flux a little and start running that point along the guard/blade seam right after putting the heat to it and I can get the solder flowing after the needle point and I follow the point all the way around the seam working out any bubbles and flux inclusions, and once it's a solid solder line stop immedietly and let cool on its own. Once it's set up good but still hot, I'm impatient, cause I just gotta know if it's a good job or not, I take a tounge deppresor( I get them by the box from the local dentist)thats been sanded square and beveled to an edge on one end, and a small bit of fine bronze wool and I push the bronze wool into the seam with the edged stick and I can remove all but the finest hairline on solder at the seam leaving a nice appearance. Any runoff of solder can also be removed with this same method, and it will disturb even a high polish very little so that it's pretty easy to reestablish. Now on damascus this will work well too if the etch is not really really deep, and since I don't blue my damascus I cannot say what it will do but I know proffesional gun refinishers will use bronze wool to remove light corrosion on barrels and action without removing much of the bluing. hope this helps! Wes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hammer Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Rich Hale... I might have mis-understood the beginning of this thread, but I intrepreted it as asking if there was a way to keep solder from running onto the blade. I have almost zero experience with knife making, cleaning up or putting fine finishes on layered steel (or non-layered). I don't know all the methods that can be used to clean-up after something stains a guard or a knife, and I don't know at what point during the knifemaking process one would consider the finish finished. What I do know is.... using the gel super glue keeps the solder from running down onto (or into) the knife blade when I solder a brass guard on. There is.... indeed.... a very slight discoloration on the blade (and guard) where the super glue was. I'm assuming that it's there because I don't yet possess the skill or knowledge how to remove or polish it out. I doubt very much that the discoloration has permeated the metals far enough so that they cannot be removed by someone who has greater experience and skill than I. I have to believe that somewhere in this universe of skilled craftsmen, the proper cleaning and finishing techniques and "order of process" exists that will eliminate that 'ever so slight' imperfection. Hopefully they will be shared. In any case..... Using the super glue kept my solder from running down onto the blades. I learned the technique during a demonstration put on by Audra Draper, who is a nationally known bladesmith. I'm fairly sure acceptable blade finishes are compatible with using this technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yesteryearforge Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 If you need thinner or very thin solder just flatten it out with a hammer to as thin as you want / need . It will take a whole lot less heat to get it to flow. ( also works well with tig wire to weld really thin pieces ) I also would use the cappillary action method and draw it in from the backside. Mike Tanner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Anything I have seen from Audra was top notch...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me miller Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Sounds like something she was taught by Ed Fowler on his technique to solder guards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking-sword Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 In point of fact she was, and I was standind right next to her when he did. She was a ranch hand of his, of sorts, any time anyone went to visit ED more often than not we ended up bailing hay or herding cows. I never minded at all as that's what I grew up doing. The reason I never adopted the super glue technique is that the stuff always bothered the hell out of my eyes, no matter how far away from it I was. It still needs clean up afterwards anyway, and Ed, nor Audra for that matter, usually did not solder on a completly finished guard, theirs were most always just rough blocks of brass that were shaped, sanded and polished, after it was soldered to the tang. Not saying thats backwards, just not the way alot of makers are doing it nowadays. WES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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