Sid Smith wrote:
"per PocketRef, 2nd Ed.
"Silver solder" for electrical applications (soft solder) has no silver, it is 67% tin, 33% lead.
Silver solder (hard) is 10% zinc, 20% copper, 70% silver.
True silver solder is difficult to bend and is sold as rodstock. Soft "silver" solder is easily bent and is sold wound or in spool form. Silver electrical solder melts at a low temperature, it can be tinned with a tinning iron. Hard silver solder melts at a much higher temperature and must be brazed, commonly with an oxy-acetylene torch." ----------------------------- Good try, and I appreciate your going to the references. Maybe some other info will help: (1) Common electrical solder (also called "soft solder") is generally 60:40 lead:tin (or vice-versa), again no silver. (2) I have bunches of silver solder around the house for brazing. typically, as noted by others, 22% - 46% silver. Mine comes in wire form that is readily bent, but somewhat springy. (3) I certainly use oxy-acetylene now, but... In desperation, I think I remember being able to concentrate enough heat from two little propane torches to "de-braze" tiddly bits on bike frames. I suspect that MAPP-air would work ok on small things (somewhat hotter than propane, but also portable canisters). I have long wondered if anyone uses natural gas/oxygen, which ought to be hot enough and much cheaper than acytelene... Do I remember seeing this in production environments, or is age taking its toll?
harvey sachs
mcLean va