Linda Sandeman Jewellery

19/09/2026

This one’s for the person who asked me what solder to use on copper.

You hated how the join was showing, and honestly, it’s the exact question I asked when I was learning.

The instinct makes sense, copper piece, copper solder, should blend right in. But every experienced solderer I asked gave the same answer, silver solder, even on copper and brass.

Copper solder runs at a much higher melting temperature, and it’s brittle once it’s set. Silver solder melts well below the piece you’re joining, and that’s exactly what lets it come in different grades, hard, medium, easy, so you can build a piece in stages without undoing the join you already made.

I make mixed metal pieces myself, brass and silver together, for that contrast. Silver solder is what I reach for, every time.

Curious why I don’t use medium solder? Go back to Day 10.

That’s not a colour problem. That’s the metal telling you which solder was actually built for the job.

19/09/2026

17/09/2026

Flush ends aren’t enough if your metal has run out of give. 💡✨

When your seam won’t spring closed no matter how much you push, the problem isn’t your torch or your filing. it’s work hardening. Metal needs flex to click into place, and repeated shaping strips that spring right out of it.

Think of annealing like a hot bath after a heavy workout: it relaxes the metal so it can actually move again. Soften the metal, restore the spring, and get that seamless join.

Save this for the next time your metal refuses to cooperate mid-flow! 👇

17/09/2026

If your flush joints aren’t coming out perfectly every time, it’s not a torch problem, it’s an invisible gap problem. Your eye can’t always catch the tiny space preventing the solder from flowing, but these two simple tricks will fix it:

• The Zoom Test: Take a quick photo of your joint on your phone and zoom in to spot gaps your eyes miss.

• The Fixed Angle File: File your metal at a fixed angle with one smooth motion for a flat, seamless fit before you ever apply heat.

Day 4 of the Invisible Signal series with jewelry soldering coach Linda. Save this post for the next time you’re at the bench! 🛠️✨

16/09/2026

We’ve all had those pieces that fall apart. Soldered, pickled, shaping it on the mandrel, and it splits. Or you get to the final polish and it just comes away, right at the seam.

You look at it beforehand and think, job done. There’s a hairline running up the join, looks completely soldered.

Here’s the part nobody tells you. That hairline only proves the solder flowed on the side you can see. It doesn’t prove it went all the way through the seam, front to back.

Flip the ring onto its side once that first side’s flowed, and pull the solder through to the other side.

If it’s gone all the way through, you’ll see it actually flowing through, and the seam will run continuous the whole length of the join, not just where you started.

That’s the proof. Not the first line you saw, the second one.

I’ve put together a free guide walking through five signals like this one. Link in bio if you’d like it.

15/09/2026

Your space isn’t a fully equipped studio. It’s a spare room or a kitchen table, or something in between.

I spent over £300 on tools and equipment I didn’t need before I worked out it wasn’t just about soldering technique, it was about my setup too.
Layout, lighting, tools, workflow, all of it matters more than people tell you.

That’s why I built the Home Setup Audit. You send me photos of your space, I tell you exactly what’s working against you, and what isn’t.

One off investment. Link in bio.

13/09/2026

You’ve probably been told you need three grades of solder, hard, medium, and easy.

That’s genuinely good starting advice, and I’m not saying it’s wrong.

But my own teachers taught me hard and easy, right from the start. That’s what I learned on, and it’s what’s worked for me for over 15 years.

A while back, someone on Reddit asked how many grades they needed. I gave the standard answer.

Another experienced silversmith pushed back, said with good flame control, you barely need medium at all. He had a point.

What I’ve realised since, through my own journey and through teaching Annette, Hayley, and Liz, all of whom also landed on hard and easy, is that flame control was never really the prerequisite. What actually made the difference was learning to read the signals in the metal itself.

There’s no single right way to do this. We all learn from whoever taught us. This is just what’s worked for me, and for a lot of experienced solderers I know.

The bit I’d add on top is the diagnostic layer, learning to actually see what your metal’s telling you, so whichever grades you reach for, you’re choosing them on purpose.

If you want to start learning to read those signals yourself, my diagnostic guide’s linked in my bio.

12/09/2026

A little bit about me 👋

I’ve had quite a few new followers lately, so I thought it was time to properly introduce myself.

I fell hopelessly in love with metalsmithing the moment I tried it, nobody warned me how hard soldering would be, and I spent years working out the “why” behind it so my students don’t have to.
15 years soldering, 10 years teaching, and I still believe the biggest skill isn’t getting it right first time, it’s knowing why it went wrong and how to fix it next time.

If you’re new here, welcome. I post regularly on the small, invisible things that trip people up when they’re soldering, the stuff nobody tells you until you’ve already melted a few things finding out the hard way.

Glad you’re here. More tomorrow. 👇

11/09/2026

If you google ways to stop melting your bezels, this answer will surprise you.

I saw a video using 0.3mm thick bezel wire. Made total sense, it’s called bezel wire, looked easy. Clean metal, flux the seam, solder straddling it, heat evenly, done.

So I ordered it. Put the solder on, added the flux. Why am I melting the bezel? I must be doing something wrong.

I tried again and again. Watched the video back, couldn’t see what I was missing. Had to walk away from it.

Then on a three day workshop, they used 0.5mm sheet, sawed the strip yourself. I broke a few blades, thought I’d made it harder for myself. But when I soldered it, I actually had time to heat it evenly. Hadn’t had that with 0.3mm, it took seconds to melt.
I tell my students straight now. I told Annette, don’t use 0.3mm thick bezel wire.

(Exception: 0.3mm still has its place for irregular shapes like sea glass.)

I’ve put together a simple free guide on bezel lengths and how to order.

Comment BEZEL and I’ll send it over.

10/09/2026

Day 8 of 30, The Invisible Signals.

You’ve spent an hour filing. There’s still a gap. So you reach for more solder, thinking at least it’ll hold.

Here’s what that blob is actually doing. It’s not holding your join, it’s hiding the one thing that would’ve told you why it didn’t flow properly in the first place.

A flush join gets its strength from full contact, both sides touching all the way along. A gap filled with solder isn’t that, it might hold for now but it’s nowhere near as strong.

I used to do this too. If a join was taking too long to get flush, I’d think “good enough” and bury it in solder.

Use a small pallion instead, about 1mm square. It won’t hide anything, so if it doesn’t flow right you’ll actually see why, and that’s the bit that teaches you something.

Haven’t seen Day 4 yet? That’s where the flush join test lives, go check it before this one.

Ever piled on solder just to move on? What happened? Comment below 👇