Soldering question

[Sushi]

Hi everyone I'm new here so I'm sorry if I'm doing anything wrong.

My aunt wanted me to make her some silver chain for one of her jewelry projects but I'm having a little bit of trouble.

Whenever I try soldering the silver, the solder does one of three things.

1. The solder just balls up; it won't stick to the silver.  If it at all helps, I can also feel it spark me sometimes.
2.  The silver gets too dirty before it gets to the soldering temperature
3.  The solder somewhat balls up, but sticks.  The joint on these is strong, but the obvious ball of solder on the chain isn't too attractive. 

Also, I've been fluxing everything and am using a butane torch (originally for creme brulee  )

Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?  Thanks SO much for any help! 

[Polly]

I only have a small amount of experience with soldering, so anyone else reading, feel free to add better advice!

I am assuming that your chain is made of links that are rather like jump rings, and that you have each link nicely closed and layed out in order before you start.

1. Apply the flux ONLY where you want your solder to flow. (Don't get it all over the link - just at the joint and a tiny bit past.)
2. Heat the area where you want the solder to flow, then apply just a small amount of solder to that spot.
3. Move to the next link and repeat.

Here is a tutorial that might help: http://jewelrymaking.allinfoabout.com/features/solderjring.html

Also there are some tips here at Art Jewelry Magazine's website, where they recommend purchasing a copy of Tim McCreight's The Complete MetalSmith.

[Sushi]

Alright, I'll try that  Thank you so much!  

Edit: Also, do you know if I should be putting the solder (I'm currently using stick form solder, which was suggested in the book "Creative Silver Chains" I bought at your store) directly into the flame?  Or just touch the hot metal?  Thanks!

[Russ Nobbs]

Heat the link, then touch the solder to the hot link. When it works right, the hot link draws the melting solder into the fluxed gap.

Are you using "easy flow" silver solder?

[Sushi]

I am using "metal work - premium solder (acid core)" from the bernzomatic brand.  Maybe this has something to do with it?  Thanks for your reply.

[Metalman]

Ahh... you are 'soft' soldering. The solder with the flux cores is hard to get going in chain , etc. I would recommend Stay Brite solder.  First it is made up of Tin and Silver - no lead, zinc, or cadmium which are not so good in jewelry applications. Second it comes with a bottle of flux.
You want to make sure the pieces are very clean - steel wool, a light sanding, freshly filed and fitting really close and tight. My old metalsmithing instructor called it shiny-bright. The Fit and Clean metal are really important. For chain you may need to make little tiny pieces of the solder so you don't get too much solder on your connection.
Now - there are 2 types of soldering - one is called 'soft' soldering - this is lower temperature and is the sort we just discussed above.  Then there is 'Hard' soldering - this is the jewelry and metalsmithing soldering done with silver and gold.etc. Hard soldering is more difficult - I would recommend a class in this if you can find one
Link to Stay Brite:
http://shop.rings-things.com/cart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=17764&idcategory=0
Links to forum answers on soldering:
http://www.rings-things.com/forum/index.php/topic,350.msg1216.html#msg1216
http://www.rings-things.com/forum/index.php/topic,465.msg1504.html#msg1504
http://www.rings-things.com/forum/index.php/topic,1470.msg19458.html#msg19458
there are more - search our forum for soldering or stay brite