Re: [Harp-L] solder on steel reeds

[Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I agree, but when in doubt, use a heat sink. That's what we electricians used to do. 

On May 11, 2012, at 12:18 AM, Vern wrote:

> You must get the steel much hotter that can a soldering iron to affect the temper. 
> 
> Vern
> 
> On May 10, 2012, at 9:00 PM, Joseph Leone wrote:
> 
>> Use a heat sink. An alligator clip with a chunk of metal OR a length of beaded chain around the 1/3rd mark will keep the 2/3rds you DON't want to de temper from being de tempered.
>> A minute drop on acid on the reed will take the sheen off of the steel, remove any oils, and leave a frosted, more porous surface. Use acid flux solder and tin the iron first..then only touch the tinning to the reed. That should be enough. 
>> 
>> On May 10, 2012, at 6:36 PM, David Payne wrote:
>> 
>>> It's a good question. Seydel makes it's superlow reeds by taking brass reeds and reshaping the profile with solder... There's a reason you can't get the steel diatonic reeds lower than C3 (low C). I have put solder on steel reeds before, but rarely. Maybe only a couple of times. I think the chromium (the stuff that makes steel stainless tends to not like the solder, but it can be soldered, I think. Usually folks use acid core solder for non-harmonica steel soldering. I would hate to use that. 
>>> I believe the main reason I don't solder steel reeds is this: you could put a soldering iron on brass all day and it will be, metallically the same reed you started with. You can't say the same for steel after you get it hot and cool it down. You could change the temper, this would affect how the reed behaves. I would think if you cool it too fast, it would get brittle, too slow and you would reduce its springiness. If you could get the solder to bond without heating up the bottom (rivet pad) half of the reed to much it would probably be OK, but that's the reason when I want to solder something, I do it with brass. 
>>> 
>>> David
>>> www.elkriverharmonicas.com