Torchwork: Soft Soldering, Silver Soldering, Brazing and Copper Brazing

Being able to use a torch is a valuable skill for craftspeople and particularly gunmakers. Torches can be used for a number of chores from soldering on a front sight, or even a barrel rib, to heating a spring to form it and harden it. A good torch can be used for a lot of things around the home and shop. What was once done with a small coal forge or a gas blow pipe, can now be done with ease with a small hand-held torch. They range from little refillable butane jewelry torches and plumber's torches to large industrial rigs using acetylene and oxygen.

Soft soldering is easy to learn and can be used for a number of bonding tasks. Silver soldering is also easy to do, and creates a stronger bond. Brazing creates a union that is an even stronger, higher temperature bond, and the brass can be built up in layers. Copper brazing is done in a similar fashion to brazing, but with pure copper.

Some notes on terminology. Soldering is done at temperatures below 840 degrees F (450 degrees C). Brazing, the higher temperature of the two, is done at temperatures ranging from 900 to 2200 degrees F. Welding occurs at whatever temperature the base alloys melt and fuse together. Based on this welding society scale, "silver soldering" is actually brazing. Making a joint with copper, which has a 1984-degree Fahrenheit melting point, would also be a form of brazing. For the sake of clarity, in this book we are going to continue calling the process of bonding with silver, silver soldering. Copper brazing, though done with copper and not brass, will be called copper brazing.

To the Beginner

Some of these tasks in this book seem hard, and some of them do take a measure of skill, but don't let that intimidate you. When you look at the work of others, no matter how nice the work or fancy a solder job, no matter what you see, the person that did that at one point in their life had never done it. They were new, just like you. They had to start with no experience. Maybe a little instruction up front on how to light the torch and some basics, but that's all they had. This was a time when they didn't know how to solder, or braze. Just like you. Through practice they learned the skill of torchwork, just like you can.

Practice is all it really takes. When I was 19 and first learning to be a professional welder, my boss told me to go to the scrap yard and bring home a bunch of small pieces of steel, take my torch and braze them all together, then take the mass back to the scrap yard. Repeat until you get good with a torch. Repetition teaches your arms and hands what to do, and helps focus your mind on the job at hand. Like playing an instrument, but much easier, practice will make you better at torchwork.