On 1 Jan 2006 14:24:21 -0800, "mj" wrote:

Hi Andrew,
I know what you are talking about for the silver solder. I used to get
this stuff for my dad at his radiator repair shop (many years ago). It
came in strips something like 6" long, 1/8" wide and maybe 1/16" or so
thick. Will my little butane torch melt this stuff? What about my
propane mini-torch? Or is this something for an O-X setup?

I am building the hitch for my model trailer. It is going to be about
10 pieces in the area of the size of a quarter.

Oops! That says oxy/acetylene and Smith Lil' Torch in big red
letters. It is capable of pinhead-size flames. You need very
localized heat to silverbraze (or even soft-solder) stuff that close
together so you can get in, make the joint, get out and quench before
the neighboring joints even knew you were there.

Butane and propane can do silversoldering, but they're so slow they
heat everything in the region at about the same rate.

I'd use silversolder shimstock. Cut out a preform with sissors, put
it between the (fluxed) pieces to be joined. Heat quickly, rapidly
playing the tiny but hot flame over the joint, until the solder
melts, then get outta there and squirt it with a spraybottle of
water. Joints like this can be nearly invisible.