On Sat, 14 Jan 2006 22:59:24 -0800, "Harold and Susan Vordos"
wrote:


"John Hofstad-Parkhill" wrote in message
...
snip----

As far as solder -vs- brazing, I believe I understand the semantics. I
was using terminology that I find common in nearly all the literature I
read about live steam model building, it's nearly universally called
"silver soldering", and that's what I meant.


And I feel you used the term correctly. I'm far from a weldor, but I get
the impression that there's a serious difference between silver soldering
and brazing. Silver solder will follow a heat source, and flows like
water. I'm not convinced that brazing works similarly.

I've been in the machine trade since the late 50's, and have always heard
the process referenced as "silver soldering".

Works for me.

Harold

You've been working with metal longer than I have, and I'm an amateur
at metal while you are a pro. I'll bet I could learn a lot as an
apprentice in your shop and I bet I'd enjoy doing so though I strongly
doubt you'd tolerate my retired-ass appetite for work or hours.

I'll still brashly note what I've learned, or think I've learned,
about the subject at hand.

Silversoldering is generally the same as silverbrazing, Harold --
which can be quite different from brazing with "brazing rod" like
bronze or nickel-bronze. My experience is that the latter materials
don't follow the heat worth a damn, though do not profess to be a
pro. I seldom use them for that reason. I haven't done a bronze or
nickle-bronze joint in half a decade. Pennies of cost per joint
don't concern me a bit. I'm an amateur. I don't make my living
working with metal.

Many if not most or all silverbrazing alloys do follow the heat
source. I use that property routinely as a matter of technique.
The follow is a matter of fluidity of the melted alloy and it's
abilty to wet the parent metal in both brazing and soldering.

The low-temp materials are not regarded as silversolder but rather as
silver-bearing solder May seem like a nit, but big difference.
Sticking stuff together with silver-bearing solders at below 800 F is
definitely soldering, but silver-brazing at temps above 800F is also
often referred to as silversoldering -- and the materials used to do
that are often referred to as silversolders.

Brazing and soldering are similar and differentiated from welding,
in that the parent metal is never melted but is alloyed at lower temp
with the joining material. The primary or only difference between
brazing and soldering, as I understand it, is a matter of temperatu
soldering is below 800F, brazing is above. I know of no basis for
this apparently arbitrary boundary, but it seems to be accepted -- if
confused by the common practice of referring to what is
silverbrazing by this definition as silversoldering.

The remaining sanity in this mishmash is that soldering with
lower-temp silver-bearing solders is very seldom regarded as
silversoldering. It's just soldering with an alloy that contains a
bit of silver.