I do stained glass and have alittle knowledge about solder & soldering irons . The one thing I haven't been able to solder is stainless steel . I know it can be done . I'm trying to incorporate stainless steel (such as silverware ) with my leaded panels. St.S. needs so much heat - it melts the lead . I've tried acid core solder , 95% tin - no luck . I've tried filing the area to be soldered and wire brushing it - no luck . The tip of my iron gets up to 600° to 700°... torches discolor & melt everything . I have a website bookmarked that shows stained glass wrapped with lead soldered onto stainless steel . I'm at a loss as how to do it. Is there a simple way ?
Kathy, see link. You must be doing soft solder?? I always use silver solder, have done stainless... I guess the color of silver is not what you're after. Konrad
Ok ..... I'll probably get deleted for showing you the website of the soldering I want to copy ... but you can see how this is what I'm looking for ..... http://designsbydeann.com/ She solders lead to stainless ..... it's mystery to me .
Hm..this looks nice and prices are right...for the work that goes in!
Have you tried following instructions on the website?...it should be possible but then, you don't know what grade stainless she is using, this could make a difference too. I would think that she is using the most common stainless out there, the best stainless material is the 316, all stainless in the 3 series like 316, 304 and so on are none magnetic stainless, [check with magnet]. Allot of stainless are in the 4 series like 410 or 416...these are slightly magnetic, over time they can rost a little and I think it would solder better. I have silver soldered both. You can always ask her, what type of stainless it is...then follow instruction on website. Konrad
I don't know if it was silver solder, but I used to have a roll of solder touted to work with dissimilar metals. You could do a broader search and see, but maybe silver solder is the way to go.
Could you use an epoxy adhesive for just that part? Something like JB weld for example?
