Author Topic: Filling a casting void using brass colored solder  (Read 681 times)

Offline KShatwell

  • Starting Member
  • *
  • Posts: 22
Filling a casting void using brass colored solder
« on: March 25, 2024, 10:31:53 PM »
I have a casting of a coffin lid Patchbox with a fairly deep void on the top edge of the lid . It is too deep to file out so my thought was brass colored solder.  Has anyone used this successfully and if so how was the color match?

Offline Mike Brooks

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13269
    • Mike Brooks Gunmaker
Re: Filling a casting void using brass colored solder
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2024, 06:09:51 AM »
I've seen old pieces with voids filled with just plain solder and you can also solder in brass patches.  It all works.
NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Offline Frozen Run

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 801
Re: Filling a casting void using brass colored solder
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2024, 06:53:24 AM »
I've seen old pieces with voids filled with just plain solder

Do you need to clean up and prep the area, similar to how a dentist drills out a cavity, prior to filling with solder? Or do you heat up the part and let the solder flow into the rough void? Thank you.

Offline Mike Brooks

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13269
    • Mike Brooks Gunmaker
Re: Filling a casting void using brass colored solder
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2024, 12:35:44 PM »
Clean it up and Flux it first.
NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Offline davec2

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2807
    • The Lucky Bag
Re: Filling a casting void using brass colored solder
« Reply #4 on: March 29, 2024, 04:26:16 AM »
This old post of mine might be a help....as Mike says, clean and flux the $#*! out of the void before you use any solder....

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=24222.msg232336#msg232336
"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company."
Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1780