MTFCA Forum

Is there a major difference between the two?

Silver solders vary according to the silver content in the alloy, and thus the price also varies.

Allan from down under.

The “Silver Solder” I use is a form of brazing rod coated on the outside with flux and is quite strong. It also needs a fair amount of heat (compared to variations of plumbers solder). Typically I buy it at a welding supply. I hope this helps.
One further thing, to get a good result the joint needs to be CLEAN!! No metal oxides (rust etc) or grease etc!!

Not sure if you mean silver brazing versus silver soldering. In that case the following article is very helpful in distinguishing between the two. Enjoy https://www.lucasmilhaupt.com/EN/Resour ... dering.htm

The difference between Silver Solder and Silver Bearing Solder is in the Silver content.
Most if not all solders are a mix of metals that melt at relatively low temperatures, the mix is a determining factor in the melting temerature.
Silver solder as it is usualy called can contain up to 50% Silver or more, it needs a high temperature to melt and gives a very strong bond, it is mostly used in 'sticks' coated with flux.
Silver Bearing solder is a 'soft' solder containing from 0.5% to 5% silver, here the silver is added to raise or lower the melting temperature according to the use of the solder.
For instance if you are soldering an assembly that is built up of several parts that have to be soldered seperately, you need different melting temperatures for each subsequent soldering to prevent the previously soldered pieces falling apart when soldering the next piece on.
So for the first soldering you use the highest melting solder, with every next solder a little lower melting point (less silver content)
Hope this is clear..

Dunno what the cost is now but the last time I bought a one pound roll of Silver Solder it was right at a Hundred Bucks. But it's worth it. Get the good stuff. I had a roll I salvaged out of a box of Solder and related I bought at an auction probably 30 years ago. Must have been 2 or 3 pounds all wadded up. I used it for years. Finally got down to the last couple little pieces and had to break down and buy more. The old stuff was high silver content for sure.

Use good flux. Scour the garage sales and auctions for those old tins of Kester flux. The new solders and fluxes are crap. While you are at it, look for good old acid core Solder with high tin content that you can't buy any more. I have a roll of 70/30 that I've been hoarding for years for important projects. 70% tin, 30% lead. The tin is the expensive part that makes it work.

I worked at a commercial air conditioner factory as a copper, brass, valve and line fabricator in the 1970’s.
The owner was always trying to find ways to save on fabrication cost. We were using silver content brazing rods which were fairly expensive so he found a cadmium rod which worked and flowed well when brazing copper to brass or steel fittings.
Little did we know at the time cadmium is bad for your health as we found out later and since then it’s isn’t avaliable for use any more.
But it worked just as good as silver solder!

Not familiar with solder having cadmium as being the single component, it is usually alloyed with something (silver, zinc, etc). Clean the surface with acetone (avoid petroleum based solvents) wire brush with a clean stainless steel brush or grind with a grinding disc with a ceramic grit (or something other than an "oxide"), flux, use the correct flame and you should be good to go. A hot water rinse/scrub will remove the flux. I finished my working career as a general manager of a facility that would routinely silver braze 20' long copper/nickle (Cu/Ni) heat exchangers that were mounted to the keel of a ship. Enjoy

I use Easy Flow 45,it is 45 percent silver. There is a proper flux for this that you apply to the area that requires the solder to adhere to and the solder will not go any where else. The draw back is very high temp is required.

Henyford2——-
I meant to say cadmium content rod using cadmium instead of silver. Anyway the health dept. cited the company and we started silver content rods again. And do remember the rods were coated with a bluish colored flux,
I do remember the owner didn’t like it when he got the citation.