Soldering- Lesson Learned

follow-up: I've had trouble (mentioned above) using medium silver solder to make a brass ferrule, then easy silver solder to attach /that/ to a much thicker brass guard. I experimented with JB Weld but it left a tell-tale line against the brass (might not show with steel fittings) so I went back to brazing (aka silver solder) - and maybe it was just getting in enough practice so I don't burn the solder into the brass or leave pinholes in the solder but:

SUCCESS! I also switched flux from commercial flux to what a jeweler-friend uses:

Brooke's awesome flux:

into 1 quart water add
16 grams borax
16 grams Trisodium Phosphate (TSP)
24 grams boric acid powder
heat to dissolve (with good ventilation - you have to almost boil it)
let cool & use. Works better than the flux I'd bought.
 
and yah - in my JB Weld tests the brass pieces could be popped apart by hand - I'd blamed that on my adding too much pigment to the JBW to try to hide the glue line but maybe it just doesn't like brass - - - JBW sure works great on steel!!
 
I thought maybe I had used too much JBW when the bolster just popped off, but there was literally NO adhesion to the brass. Talk about mentally ruining my day...
 
I use JB weld on brass or stainless guards one hidden tang knives where the guard is a press fit and can't go anywhere. You are basically just sealing the joint in this case.

I prefer to solder on full tang knives where I need strength.
 
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