Hi guys, first time on this forum and straight to Problem Solving. I need an advice on reconnecting a thicker steel wire in a vintage masher, specifically a way to solder it back while retaining most of its strength so it's still functional. I know it's not exactly a forging problem, however, all strictly soldering forums only deal with electronics, so I decided to save myself the fuss and head straight for the forge guys since I'm sure some of you guys have experience with this kind of work. Like I said, my options are right now limited to soldering and I'm curious what's the best way to go about it, as simply as possible.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

tig weld it

What is the parent stock? We need to know what we are working with before we can make recommendations. Do you have overall photos of the project?

I have TIG welded an old Foley fork for my Mom. If you cannot get it TIG welded, look at silver soldering it, but TIG would be the best option. 

If it's an emergency or one off, you can grind a tig tungsten to fit in the mig contact tip and use it as a scratch start tig torch. Please don't make me tell you to pull the welding wire!

Sure you won't have control of the power or any of the snazzy features of a proper tig torch but it WILL work if.

Frosty The Lucky.

bring it over,  I might be able to fix it in a few minutes.

Hard to beat an old school potato masher, make short work of reducing ground meat for sauces. Something one of those new punched ones won't do. 

You may want to start trying to source a replacement---some of the scratches on the rest of it look a bit like stress concentrators.  Never a bad idea to have backup(s) for beloved tools!

TP, I was thinking that might be a neat  project to reproduce...

Easy enough with annealed stainless but you probably want some work hardening to stiffen it up; I see them at junk stores fairly often and fairly reasonable. I have one in my kitchen myself, (along with several other versions of a masher---each one is good for certain tasks.)

Tig is the way to go as other's have said.  You need to be able to turn it down to low amps and still be stable which some of the really cheap units don't like to do.  We rejoin stainless wires down to .035" dia with a GOOD tig machine daily...but for the really small stuff you need some serious practice.

You could theoretically silver solder it but that stuff is expensive now and you'd probably spend more on a single rod than the masher would cost to replace (with leftovers for the next project).  

Look into a good potato ricer.  I personally like lumpy mashed potatoes but for those who like smooth, you won't do better than a ricer.  

I have a friend who tig welds razor blades together as a demonstration.  Uses top end equipment though.

If it were me, ... and history were "repeating itself" ( as it so often does  ) ... I would shamelessly "over Engineer" the repair.

Yes, ... TIG weld the break, ... and since the break occurred on the 90 degree bend, ... weld in a little gusset, diagonally, to reinforce that point, ... on BOTH sides of the masher.

 

I too like lumps and skin in my mashed potatoes, ... and lots of roasted garlic.

And not just because I'm too lazy to peel the potatoes.

 

I like lumps and skin in mine. Let's see you rice an unpealed potato, a food processor trumps a ricer. A neighbor and I tried golf clubs on raw potatoes and they came out lumpy. Our britches came out a little tanned and nobody thought the neighbor lady should go to jail for spanking a 7 yr. old. Worse nobody thought MY mother should go to jail for spanking me when she heard. She didn't break out the wooden spoon though. WHEW!

Frosty The Lucky.

Hmm I have a falconette that some potatoes will fit down the smooth bore.  Hard boiled eggs vapourised when we tried them )and were a large pain to clean the barrel afterwards...)

LN2 eggs are fair to middlin armor piercing. . . . HARD boiled,

Frosty The Lucky.

forge a new one out of SS steel Gee or TIG it !