Metalsmith Society Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tips

When I’m soldering a clasp onto a chain, I protect the clasp with heat shield. It helps prevent the small elements of the machine made clasp from melting. This heat shield is also great for preventing chain from melting or accidentally getting... more

Love this #diy revolving solder chip holder from @leafandbadger - “Screw a watercolor pallet onto the underside of a surface to get a revolving solder chip holder. It usually has 12 cups which works great for easy, medium, and hard solders for silver,... more

Here is a simple solution to keep your liquid flux tips from getting clogged from @brandys_crowtotem “Cut an eraser off a pencil and use that as a stopper—it works great to keep it from getting blocked, as long as I remember to put it back on when I... more

When you need a little lift during a solder job @amyy50 has multiple options for you! T Pins, paper clips, and pieces of steel sheet she cut to suit her needs! “The solder won't stick once the lift is dirty with firescale.” Thank you so much for... more

Here is a tip that is super helpful for securing things when soldering from @auldmoon “Make horseshoe shapes out of binding wire and stick them into the brick to secure pieces when soldering!” Works great to secure wire pieces! This is awesome! I’d... more

When your flux is hard as a rock, use this tip from @tkiplinger - “Here’s a humble tip for my peers. It looks weirdly pharmaceutical, but I mix my dried up HandyFlux in a tiny mortar and pestle with distilled water. Then I store it in a small... more

Recently in my stories I asked for some solder storage solutions. Thank you to everyone who reached out! 🙏🏻😘 Here are a few solutions: 1️⃣ @meritmade shared these fun dishes by @artbyjenf to keep on the soldering table. 2️⃣ @meritmade also shared her... more

Here is a soldering tip from @kkbmetalstudio - “Use copper pennies (prior to 1982) when you need to hold things in place or as a lift, while soldering! I keep a stack of them around and pickle them when they get gross!” Love this!! Isn’t half the... more

Here is a great tip for when you are soldering multiple small pieces from @emilymarquisdesigns - “I use thick gauge copper wire to collect and keep together my small pieces after soldering. It's helpful when quenching or pickling to pick up a larger... more

Here is an amazing tip to help ensure your pieces are centered and aligned while soldering from @pyrus_designs - “On the flat side of a honeycomb soldering block, draw grid lines with a fine point sharpie marker to help you line up your pieces... more

Here is a tip to prevent solder flow from @nrjewellerydesign - “A pencil is all you need to stop messy solder overflow. It's perfect for when you need to solder bails - just gently 'colour in' either side of the piece (avoiding the edge where you want... more

Today I posted my first ever, step by step tutorial on the Society blog! In it I show you how to create this ring which has a gorgeous American Mined Turquoise cabochon from @riogrande 😍 For today’s tip I wanted to talk about some considerations for... more