On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:48:25 -0500, "Karl Townsend"
wrote:

Staybrite comes in two forms, Staybrite and Staybrite 8. Staybrite
is very fluid when it melts, doesn't bridge gaps well. Staybrite 8
with more silver has a plastic range (430 to 535F) and bridges gaps
(and pinholes) better. It can be hard to find so I'm going to mail
you about 8" of 1/8" dia Staybrite 8 in an envelope.

Clean up the joint with scotchbrite or something, use some tinner's
fluid, heat gently with propane torch while dabbing or scratching the

Thank you for the very kind offer. I appreciate it. The nearest welder's
store is St. Cloud. I'd just as soon not make a special trip for the
tinner's fluid. Will any of the silver solder flux products on page 3287 of
http://www.mcmaster.com/ work? They deliver to my door in under 24 hours.

Karl

No. Those are high-temperature fluxes used in silver brazing. One of
the soft solder fluxes would work better. If there's a hardware
store or Home Depot anywhere nearby, they'll have some kinda flux. I
think Oatey makes a paste flux that's used with silver-bearing
plumbing solder.

I see one flux for soft-soldering stainless that says "not for use
with SS water piping". I expect (but don't know for sure) that they
refer to potable water there, don't see why there'd be a problem with
irrigation water if you clean off any excess after soldering.

Staybrite often works OK no flux, just brighten the work up good with
scotchbrite, steel wool, sandpaper or a wire brush.

If you have any muriatic acid and zinc metal, you can make your own
tinner's fluid. Just put a small amount (an ounce or so) of muriatic
acid in a jar, put in some zinc and let it work a while. When the
acid won't dissolve any more zinc, you have tinner's fluid. With a
small amount of muriatic, a few heavily-galvanized bits would probably
supply enough zinc -- but remove them when the zinc is gone because
you don't want to make ferric chloride.