Soldering patchbox hinge tabs

[DFHicks]

I am working on a rifle and have now reached the stage of making the patchbox.  The last one I made was in 1983 and only remember that soldering the tabs (filial & lid) before bending it to the stock contour was difficult.  Solder ran everywhere around the edges and it is a mess.  I saw the post recently about using water based white-out to prevent solder from sticking off-target.  That will help.  My question now is what is a good way to squeeze the tabs together as the solder begins to flow?  I recently saw a pair of heavy duty jumper cable clips at Nothern Hyd. store.  Would these work as clamps for this purpose?  Would appreciate your advice since my ideas often turn out to be Rube Goldberg, long way around methods that don't really work.  Also should I use lead solder or the low temp. silver solder?  I have both.
Thanks

[flintriflesmith]

Very few original boxes that I have examined were soldered and on those that were it was sometimes a later repair.

If you feel you must, just put flux in the space and touch the solder to the edge after heating. The flux seems to suck the solder in and only to where you want it.

[DFHicks]

Thanks for the information; I had assumed that they were all soldered.  This is what I meant about my ideas being off;  in this case no clamping is needed even if I decide to use solder.