Saw, File, Solder: Tips to Improve Your Silver Jewellery Making
The three core techniques that underpin all pieces made by silver and gold jewellers is sawing, filing and soldering. In this live Q&A, experienced jeweller and tutor Hayley Kruger talks through her top tips and answers your questions.
Your questions answered
Do watch the whole masterclass or take a look below to see if there are any specific questions that you have. These are time-stamped below so you can skip straight to the answer.
5.48 What are the common mistakes students make with soldering?
10.48 Some soldering terminology for brand new jewellers
11.59 Do you prefer to pre-ball your solder before applying?
15.21 regarding flux: I use a borax cone, any tips on getting a good creamy flux paste when swirling the cone?
17.51 My projects are all copper based. Are the soldering techniques the same as for silver?
18.44 I bought some bezel wire and tried soldering it with both normal solder and easy silver solder but it just would not flow. Any suggestions?
21.48 Is there any way to get copper solder so you don’t get silver lines on your copper joins?
23.04 How do you avoid fire scale?
25.54 What safety issues do you need to consider with any fumes given off during soldering?
29.04 How often should you change your pickle solution?
31. 11 How do I keep my saw blade from breaking? Is it common for the blade to break? even if you are not a beginner?
33.30 Some tips for jewellery sawing
37.17 What is the best size of saw blade to use?
38.40 What is the benefit to the more expensive saw frames?
42.24 What is the secret to sawing straight?
55.10 If I'm making a ring where the band is silver but the bezel is gold, should I use gold or silver solder?
43.46 Common mistakes jewellers make with filing
48.55 Hayley's views on the Diploma in Silver Jewellery (Hayley is a mentor for the Diploma program)
56.04 How do you properly prepare new solder?
58.43 Does solder paste give the same strength as solid solder of the same grade?
If you would like to learn how to make silver and gold jewellery then take a look at our one year online Diploma in Silver Jewellery. This is a one day a week commitment to becoming a professional jeweller within a year. Click the button below to learn more