"Peter W. Rowe"

Ted's post does have some good starting points....

As a probably unintended point, I was not even aware of the term holloware
so that enhanced my search greatly.

But I'll disagree with him that it's so hard to learn.

There is the old joke about rocket science and sausage making. It's all
sausage making if you know how to do it.

Please don't consider using any solder that melts low enough for an
iron.....

Perhaps, I have a reason that did not occur even to me as I get into this.

I can not find and am not ready to make a silver chalice of the sort I want
at a price that I can justify, at least for a practice piece. So, I am sort
of forced to consider plated brass or some other material.

From my experience so far with a plated pewter cup, the silver beads up and
the finding melted half way through the cup before I realized what was
happening. I was using a torch that was too big for the job and thought the
material was brass.

It now seems intuitive that I will have to use low temp solder, make a mess
and gold plate the finished cup.

Even the silver bearing ones are just not good strong joints.....

From my experience with solder, one would have to get rather violent to
knock off a finding soldered this way. Surely, it or the stone would be
damaged before the joint would fail and it's gotta be better than super
glue.

Even with these solders, you'll have the best luch using a small torch to
put the pieces
on.to the goblet.

Well, that is the way I am headed but one of my unasked questions is dealing
with the problem of heating only the area to be soldered so all the previous
joints don't fall off. I noticed in a McMaster catalog some sort of heat
sink paste that I guess I could surround the setting with. Is this a
useful approach?

One web site you can go to for some reasearch is the Ganoksin.com
site.....

Been there.

the home of the Orchid mail list, a far busier discussion site for jewelry
makers........

Didn't notice the list.

And if you like feel free to contact me via private email for any
additional
pointers or questions you might run into. I'll be happy to help you
figure this
out.

Thanks but I presume aside from Ted, there might be other beginners
interested in the discussion.

By the way, your web site is inspiring indeed. How do you find the time
for
quite so many projects and interests?

That's one of the reasons I "retired" at age 40. I don't have time for a
real job.

js


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