no one is soldering; that's an industry misnomer. joining above 700-800 degrees is brazing, irrespective of the filler metal. also, the term "silver brazing" is misleading. what content of the alloy rod is silver? 22%? 45%? 56%? it all matters. additionally, the quality of the join is dependent on the joiner, not the filler metal. so, let's not debate brass versus silver. to cut to the chase, all things being equal, it takes more time, and more time 'at temperature', to braze an ornate lug compared to an austere lug. hence my statement about filigree-ed lugs not REALLY helping by also serving as stress-relievers. there's just too much else too consider. e-RICHIE chester, ct
"Dale B. Phelps" <losgatos@ix.netcom.com> writes: Many years ago I gained the impression that very close-tolerance lugwork used "silver soldering" as the bonding technique, sometimes combined with match-drilled pinning? My understanding is that silver-solder bonding in very-well-fitted joints required much lower temperatures, thus less thermal stress to the jointwork. Today e-Ritchie mentioned his assessment of any strees-riser-relief benefit of fancy-filigreed lugwork as offset by all the extra thermal stress of flowing brazing into all the nooks and crannies.
My questions: Are these terms used interchange-ably? Is brazing a term applied to brass as well as "silver solder", or is the silver-soldering technique as I've described it different from what is (or may be) predominant practice today?