Friday, December 30, 2011

A Soldering Copper

No, you haven't misread, and I haven't miswritten -- it's a soldering 'copper', not a soldering 'iron'; there's no 'iron' to it.

This is the smallest one I've ever seen. The solid copper tip is about 3/8" in diameter by 1 1/4" long. It's heated by a flame. Does this ever bring back memories.

In my junior high school's metalworking shop, we used similar coppers, but they were huge compared to this one. Attendant to each copper was a little cast iron, natural gas fired 'oven' in which the copper was kept hot.

One of our sheet metal projects was a holder/dispenser for paper table napkins. The material was light gauge, tin plated steel. (The tin plating made it readily solderable.) Final assembly of the box-like construction involved soldering two seams at its base. I can still hear Mr. Makings, the teacher, saying, "Hold the work so that gravity works with you." [I've been itching to quote Mr. Makings[1] in a post.]

It may seem like a clumsy way to solder, but it's not. Remarkably fine work can be done with such tools.

Note:

[1] Mr. Makings was a big, barrel-chested Scotsman who brooked no nonsense in his shop. His grasp of the subject matter and ability to communicate it were superb. (The woodworking shop's teacher was excellent as well, although I can't recall that man's name.)

Those two years of formal metalworking and woodworking instruction are about all that I treasure of my 'education'. That it's no longer provided to kids at that age is a crime. Those responsible for that ought to be in Guantanamo, or perhaps someplace similar, but with a less benign climate.

Anyway, this can go in the small toolbox where I keep solder and flux and a similar-sized electric soldering iron.

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