Steve B wrote:
I got some stainless steal lears. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls.
Basically, a lear is a T shaped piece of SS that holds a hook away from the
tensioned downline, as in a crappie rig, where one wants to tie the weight
on the end, and have that weight hold things taught, and keep the little
swimming minnow away from the tensioned downline to avoid tangles.

I want to solder a hook to the end of the T instead of placing a minnow,
facing the hook upward, so that it hooks the fish in the top of its mouth,
lessening the damage, and the need of taking small fish who would otherwise
die due to ingesting the hook too deeply. In my area of the world, they
don't sell minnows for bait, and transferring or capturing them is a royal
PITA. It works very well with a lead head jig, rigged to face upward, and
almost always hooking the fish on the roof of its mouth, improving the rate
of survivability of caught/released fish..

I guess I could go out and play with it, but what would be your first guess
as to how to join the two things together, the lear, and the hook? Solder
with electric rosin base solder? Acid base solder? Propane torch, and a
little solder?

The temperature would be the critical thing, as when the max temperature of
either the SS or the hook is reached, it is toast, and very weak, and
susceptible to bending, and on the second bend ............. BOINK!

I do not know the exact gauges of wire and hook, sorry, but you can imagine
bream hook to SS crappie lear.

It would seem more to be a melting of a third metal to just hold the thing
together rather than an actual melting of the three base metals for fusion.

Sorry to bother with an actual metal question, but .........

Steve



Solder on stainless isn't the easiest thing but it's not all that hard.
Basically you need to tin the stainless first, The easiest way would be
a solder pot. Or just a puddle of solder. Clean the stainless with some
sandpaper and dip it into the solder. Now solder the hook on.

OR you could use some fine wire and wrap the two pieces and then solder
the wrap. Or even easier, wrap with wire and epoxy like you would a guide.

--
Steve W.