Heat Treating and Metallurgy Discussion of heat treatment and metallurgy in knife making. |
01-14-2013, 11:48 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 3
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Soldering guard troubles
I've made knives for years and have soft soldered brass guards to blades (440C. D2, 01) and I have always used Oatley non lead solder that melts at 430 degrees along with the flux sold for that solder. I've used the same solder to attach mild steel to mild steel.
I have made a large blade from ATS34 and as part of the heat treatment have the cyrogenic deep freeze. The guard on this project is mild steel. I think I am doing everything as I have always done, sand, clean with soap, alcohol, flux heat and solder. The solder is sticking to the guard but not the blade. I tried 3-4 times. Finally I decided if I could even tin the blade so again cleaned, washed fluxed an area on the tang, slowly heated until solder would flow but it isn't sticking to the blade. I have no idea what to do, all help on this one welcomed.
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01-14-2013, 11:57 AM
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Guru
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Branson, Mo
Posts: 1,129
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Stainless is always a little tricky to solder and requires an aggressive acid type flux. One that I have had good success with is Brownell's Comet Flux.
Also it may help to sand the surface to be soldered and NOT clean it afterwards. The freshly sanded surface is as clean as it can be and the rough surface will be easier to solder.
Gary
__________________
Gary
ABS,CKCA, ABKA,KGA
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01-14-2013, 11:59 AM
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Steel Addict
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Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Boone, NC USA
Posts: 293
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Try a mild acid etch or scuff the surface lightly with 300-500 grit, if it's worked every other time it might just be due to residue or other surface contamination.
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01-15-2013, 12:10 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 3
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Well I think I solved my problem, the flux was melting and running out before the solder would flow and I wasn't getting the flame in the joint- just painting the area. I got some flux that was was rated for a higher temperature and that worked. Maybe the heavy blade required it.
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01-15-2013, 12:44 PM
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Steel Addict
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Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Boone, NC USA
Posts: 293
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Ah, that would do it.
Any chance of a picture of the finished piece?
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01-16-2013, 01:23 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 3
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Will post when done, still have to put on the handle. I make mostly historic blades that date 1840 or earlier. I'll do some research and copy from old photos, etc.
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Tags
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acid, blade, brass, etch, guard, guards, handle, knife, knives, made, make, post, project, sand, solder, steel, surface, tang |
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