Posted by Krys on August 21, 2003 at 12:30:47:
Thought I'd post a few notes about using the lead free solder yesterday. I used Lead Free Solder By Canfield with a Pewter Finish
It will take supreme patience to use this product. It sets up fast. Which was great for the edges of my project. Instead of using a cooler iron I found that my iron needed to be as hot as when I use Ultimate Solder (62% tin); any cooler and it simply would not melt. It was very much like piping icing on a cake for lettering. As long as I went slowly feeding the tip constantly with solder it went smoothly. However, going back over seams tended to be difficult, especially at junctions. My seams weren't as smooth as I normally shoot for but the effect was not too entirely unfortunate. It gave a sort of 'rustic' appeal to it. It also took more time to work with but that may be because it is the first time I've used LF solder.
I don't think this stuff will patina. I rubbed a bit of patina on a piece of solder (not part of the project) and it looked, for a lack of better words, GROSS! Not really copper, and spotty with greyish tinges.
My iron tip definetely needed retinning when I was through.
What I'll need this stuff for, edges on nightlights for children, it will work just fine. I don't know if I will want to use it for my stained glass weather vanes or other sundry projects as I love patina-ing everying copper. Plus, I think if I were to use this for my stained glass eagle weathervane, with 100 small pieces, I would lose my mind! ;-)
What I really, really liked about it was that it didn't seem fumey at all. I didn't feel like I was running the risk of lead poisoning. (A side note: I met a nice man from Denmark a few months ago and when he found out I did stained glass he got very serious and said, "Be very careful with that stuff. My best friend was a stained glass artist and died of lead poioning." So, even though I do have a fume trap, and wash up and try to be very careful that little piece of information is always rattling around in my head when I solder.....and I'll admit it, soldering had been the hardest part for me to learn with this art. I am self taught, and if anything will bring me to cursing it is soldering!)