Hi Guys,

I want to assemble the necessary equipment to be able to braze/solder stuff at home. I already bought a (very small) small torch that might be suitable for that purpose.

What else do I need?

I understand that in order to braze stuff together (in this case the two halves of scabbard shapes) I need to have them in contact. I would need flux also (now does it come in paste, it that liquid? is it intended to be put in the join between the two pieces of sheet?). Finally what do I use to make the weld itelf between two sheets of carbon steel, silver? And what if I want to braze brass sheets? what should I use then? As you can see I am remarquably ignorant of the process :)

Any infos and links to products would be much helpfull.

Thanks in advance.

J

Check YouTube. There are a couple million soldering/brazing videos there.

Yep I have seen a few. Any links to the gear I need to gather is welcome though, as well as practical advices on what/what not do would also be helpfull.

Hello, Gentlemen!
I had the chance to practice soldering during my little project, and altough I'm not an expert, I am happily sharing my little experience.
When you have the two (or more) pieces you want to connect, you should first attach them together firmly. This could be done with clamps, some wire, or with something else that you find convenient.
The second step is to heat the area of the brazing to red hot. This might be more difficult than you'd expect, since the pieces are going to consume mouch more heat than You... Well... than I have expected. :D (Especially if they are clamped in a vice.
After the pieces are red hot, you can use the flux. In Hungary we use borax for this purpose (you can buy it in shops dealing with welding equipment) wich looks just like salt. You can put some water in it, to help managing it. If you decide to use it dry, than throw it onto the red hot surface just like you use ordinary salt. If you mixed it with some water, use a little needle or a piece of wire to help the process. (In this case expect the flux to emit bubbles due to the steam.) Your brazing agent (if this is the correct word for the silver, brass, etc.) will take the place of the flux, wich was just put to the surface.
Now, you have to heat the area again, to apply the agent... Brass... Or Silver...
For this, I use a little welder, since it's easy to manage, quick and makes a nice job. A bigger propane torch will do the trick too in the case of 16 gauge (1,6mm) thick plates.
After this, you just have to file and polish the finished pieces! Well, I hope I was able to help! If you have any other question, please let me know! :) (I might send some pictures later, if you are interested.)
John

I'd check Rio Grande for supplies.
http://www.riogrande.com/Default.aspx

I'm a blacksmithing/jewelry major and that's where we get the vast majority of our small metals materials and supplies from.

Just some tips, remember that soldering bigger things is harder than smaller items simply due to the fact that you need to keep the entire object heated at the same rate or else your heat will just flow into the cooler areas, and on that note, solder tends to flow towards the hottest areas of your work. Clean your metal really well before any soldering (even the oil from your fingers can prevent your solder from flowing) and keep your flux only in the areas that you want the solder to flow in so there's less clean up towards the end.

I'd do some practice runs on making rings (or joining sheets at the seam) of varying lengths and thicknesses just to get a feel for how the materials will react under different circumstances.

Not to be stickler but as some one who has worked as a welder for many years I urge you to be careful with your terminology.

Welding is Fusion. You melt the base metals together.
Soldering and Brazing is Adhesion. You use a secondary metal to "stick" the two pieces together.

You can get brazing rod with flux on it alread. I prefer soldering. You don't need as much heat in soldering and you have a wide variety of solders to choose from that melt at different temps and have different holding strengths. Soldering is usally broken down in to two catagories, Silver Solder and "Lead"/Soft Solder. Silver solders are more expensive, require higher temps, and are stronger. "Lead"/Soft solders do not contain any lead nowadays but old terms die hard. They are far cheaper, require low temps, and are weaker. Even the weakest soft solder is stronge enough for sword parts. Other than that soldering and brazing is very similar.

You aked what do you use to make the weld between sheets of carbon steel. If you indeed intend to weld the two sheets then you will need a carbon steel filler rod. I can help you more with that if you indeed ment welding, but I think you ment to braze/solder. In that case either one will work fine. Brazing will leave a thin brass line and soldering will leave a thin silver line. Also depending on the time period you are working on, one process might be better than the other.

Allen