Glass Cutting - Soldering - Leading - Glass Creation/Selection - Tools
Supplies/Equipment - Puttying- Misc
Supplies & Equipment:
Foil-----Flux-----Lead-----Nails-----Paper-----Patina-----WorkBoard
Foil-Copper foil comes in a 36 yard length roll of thin
foil with adhesive on the back. Widths range from 5/32"
to 1/2". Most commonly used are 3/16", 7/32" and
1/4". The size used depends on the thickness of the glass.
In addition to bare copper, there are foils that are colored
silver or black on the adhesive side. These would be use on transparent
glasses in conjunction with the type of patina being used. You
should match the visible inside edge of the foil with the patina
being used.
Flux-Used to remove oxidation and act as a wetting agent
to break down the surface tension of the solder, flux is necessary
to get solder to stick to the metal. While there are several
types of flux, I prefer liquid oleic acid for soldering lead
and zinc chloride based flux for foiled projects. Return
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Lead-(Often called Came) There are two basis types of
lead: hard lead and soft lead. Soft lead is 100% pure lead with
nothing added. Soft lead strips need to be stretched in order
to remove the propensity to stretch and sag. Hard lead has antimony
added which stiffens the lead and is in effect pre-stretched.
This results in a stronger finished panel. The advantage of soft
lead is being easier to bend and shape to curves and that stretching
removes any kinks in the strip. The advantage of hard lead is
the added strength and not having to stretch it. It will, however,
need to be kept straight until use. It is still malleable enough
to conform to most curves. Here at Cradle of the Sun, we only
sell hard lead. Lead is either H or U shaped and is sold in 6'
strips. U shaped lead would only be used on the outside of a
panel. H shaped lead could be used either on the interior or
edge of a panel. The lead top and bottom are the flanges and
the width of the flange is the nominal size of the lead. Most
commonly used sizes are H shaped 3/16", 1/4" and 3/8".
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Nails-Horseshoe nails are normally used to temporarily
hold glass and lead in place while assembling the panel. The
flat side of the nail goes against the lead. If the final lead
is in place, try to put nails where there will be a solder joint.
This will hide any "dings" in the lead. If no lead
is yet in place, use a piece of scrap lead to protect the glass
from chipping and to raise the glass to a common level before
placing the nail. When pulling a nail, rock it in the narrow,
side-to-side direction in order to prevent bending the tip. An
even more convenient nail is the round German nail which is hardened
steel and sharply pointed. This nail can be started with one
hand which is handy when your other hand is busy holding everything
together. Use a twisting motion to pull the nail. They are more
expensive but worth it in my opinion. Return
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Paper-Needed for drawing your design and for making necessary
copies, paper comes in several types. For drawing the original
design white paper (with or without grid lines) is used. Copies
of the original are made on oiled paper and brown paper. The
oiled paper is heavy weight and oiled to keep water from the
grinder from distorting the paper. The brown paper is used to
make two additional copies. One is used to assemble the project,
the other is used as a holding pattern to place the cut pieces
of paper and then the cut pieces of glass. This eliminates the
need to number all the pieces if the project can stay on the
same board from start to finish. Return
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Patina-There are three options for final solder color in
a foiled piece. The solder can be left silver by doing nothing.
It can be colored copper or black by applying a chemical patina
to the solder. Wetting a rag with the patina then wiping it on
the solder changes the color right away. This is only a surface
treatment so abrading the solder with steel wool would remove
the patina. The solder must be clean for the patina to work properly.
It is best to clean the project immediately after soldering it
and applying the patina right away. If it is blotchy, the solder
is not clean and using fine steel wool to clean the metal before
reapplying the patina should improve the appearance. Normally
lead projects will not need a patina. The puttying process automatically
darkens the lead to a nice black finish. Copper patina will not
work on lead.Solder-The solder used with stained glass
is normally tin/lead solder between 50/50 and 63/37. These numbers
refer to the ratio of tin to lead. The mixture of tin and lead
melt at a lower temperature than tin or lead alone. The lowest
melting point is the 63/37 mixture. The highest practical melting
point is the 50/50 mixture. Remember, you're soldering lead and
don't want your iron to be melting it. The 50/50 solder is normally
used for leaded projects as it is the least expensive of the
group. Some claim the 60/40 and 63/37 solder make a smoother
bead and prefer to use those solders when doing copper foil or
decorative soldering. Solder come as solid core (no flux in the
solder) 1/8" wire. Flux would need to be used in the soldering
process to get the solder to stick. Return
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WorkBoard-Ideally made of 3/4" plywood that has two 3/4"
high strips of wood at right angles to each other in one corner.
I use a "base" board about 2 1/2" wide (in order
to have a little work area to cut leads, etc) and a vertical
side (to the left for right-handers) about 1 3/4" wide.
They need to be longer than the dimensions of the pattern you
are assembling. Return to top:
