In this Series of Posts, we are setting the stage for success in our soldered Jewelry projects. 

 “Setting Up A Home Solder Station“
reviewed Safety Equipment and requirements, the Basic Butane Torches and a few basic Soldering Surfaces. 

The next post “Solder Station Essentials” we covered the incidental supplies.

  • Forms of Solder
  • Solder Varieties
  • Flux
  • Sparex Pickle and Pickle Pot
  • Copper Tongs
  • Solder Picks
  • Soldering Tweezers

 

In today’s post we are going to talk about Wire Solder. 

Wire Solder in available for Copper, Bronze, Brass, Gold and Silver. It comes in different Gauges or thicknesses and with the various melting points (Types) we discussed on our last post. 

For purposes of this article, I will focus on Silver Solder. 

Part One ~ Getting Organized

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I have been using the soldering technique for jewelry making for a little over a year now. And I  can adamantly say that getting the solder to flow is not always as simple as you might think.

Over time, I have discovered a few neat tricks and tips that help the process to go more smoothly and without the frustrating hitches.

I will share them with you here. 

As with most techniques, there are a few supplies and tools that will help get the solder to the desired state and to organize our station for ease of use. 

Tools and Supplies

  1. Closable Containers – 1 for each type of solder
  2. Labels that fit the container
  3. Permanent marker
  4. Scotch Tape
  5. Chasing Hammer
  6. Metal Bench Block to hammer on
  7. Wire Gauge tool or Jeweler’s Caliper and Gauge Chart
  8. Wire cutters
  9. Small box 
  10. Your Wire Solders

Recently I ordered myself some fresh new 22 gauge Silver wire solder in the following types:

  • Extra Easy
  • Easy
  • Medium 
  • Hard

Labeling the Solder Containers

I have chosen the little plastic stack containers you can find in the bead store. 

On each label, write the solder type and then cover the label with Scotch Tape.

 

 

 

Affix the label to each container and set aside. 

Now that the containers are ready, it is time to make our Pallions. 

A pallion is defined as a small piece or pellet (as of solder) by Webster. Typically the pallion is between 26-30 gauges thick and measures from 1 to  3 mm in length. 

You can purchase premade pallions online, but unless you are soldering a lot and everyday, I do not recommend this option. I can not imagine how hard it would be to clean all those tiny bits should they tarnish or gather dirt of any kind. 

So I will show you how I make them from my wire solder. 

In the demo below, I will be working with the extra easy Solder but the process is exactly the same for the remaining types. 

Making the Pallions

It is very Important that you only work with One Type of Solder at a time.

 

As you can see by my wire gauge tool, my new solder measures 22 gauge.

I need to bring the gauge down to 26-30.

For this step, I will be using my chasing hammer, my metal bench block and the wire gauge tool.

 

 

Snip a section of solder that you want to work with. 

I am making approx a 4 inch section.

I return the remaining wire to the proper baggie the solder came in so that I don’t run the risk of mixing my types. 

 

Beginning in the middle of the section, I used the chasing hammer to flatten and thin out one side of my solder.

Remember to flip the wire over occasionally to keep the wire from curving as you work. 

Turn the wire around and repeat the process for the opposite end of the section. 


Use the wire gauge tool often to check the thickness all along your section, until it measures 28 or the desired thickness from end to end. 

I discovered recently that 28 gauge works very well for my projects, but you can got thinner if you prefer, especially for the medium and hard solder types.

Once the wire is the desired gauge uniformly, it is time to cut the pallions. I like to use a small box to cut the pallions into so that I can keep them from flying all over my workspace. 

I like these sewing rulers for tasks like this because they are metric on one side. 

I use if for the first few snips until my muscle memory kicks in to get the same size pallions. 

I snip the majority of the pallions round the 1 mm mark, but towards the end, I snip a 15 or 20 at the 2-3 mm mark.

 

 

Turn the blades downward and place your finger over the gulley as you snip, to keep the pallions from going air-born. 

 

 

Try to keep the pallions as uniform in size, except for the larger ones for larger jobs. 

Place the pallions in the properly labeled container. 

Check the corners of your box to make sure your got them all. 

Repeat all the Steps for the each Solder Type but make sure to work with only one Type at a time. 

 

 

If you make a mistake here and there, and you can not figure out what type of solder is laying around your work area, It Is Not All Bad…

Grab a small baggie and dump in in. 

I keep my goof up solder for projects that only need one solder join. 

Just remember to Label the Baggier Scrap Solder or something similar. (I used a red Sharpie.)

I have my four types of Solder ready to go for my next projects. 

Quick Tip: Do not prepare more pallions than you need for a few weeks. They can get dirty, and once cut are extremely difficult to clean and will most likely end up in the trash. 

 I hope that you have found this article useful. Make sure to subscribe to my blog so you will be notified of new and updated posts. Feel free to comment and share.Â