Hell A Matu, Thank you very much for your kind comments. I appreciate it. It may be a while before I do an engraving video. I like to do it, but I need MUCH MORE practice!! It is funny because a couple of my ancestors were engravers. Thanks for the suggestion! Keep watching! Greg Greenwood

Hello Elisa, Thank you, I hope not too soothing to put you to sleep!! Greg Greenwood

Hello Lao, You are so welcome. I'm glad you found me also. I am very happy to help you. If you have any questions in the future, please let me know. Greg Greenwood

Hello Lisa, No, I never have. Thank you for your kind comments. I appreciate it. You Tube is the closest I can come to PBS !! Thank you again. Have fun and enjoy the videos. Greg Greenwood

Hello Geri, Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Glad you are learning. Keep watching! Greg Greenwood

Hello Gnarbel, Thank you so very much for your kind and heartfelt comments. I am so happy that I can help you gain confidence to move to new heights! Also, I too need to understand what is going on in a process. If we understand what is going on, we can improve on all levels. Thank you again, I really appreciate it. Keep watching and Merry Christmas to you. Greg Greenwood

Thanks! Have a most groovy and inspiring holiday! 💫🙏

Hello franescoquadrato, Thank you! Glad you are watching. Greg Greenwood

Hello JT, I appreciate that! I am very happy to help. The best to you! Greg Greenwood

Hello Flying Chef, Wow, thank you! I really appreciate your comments. Have a great one. Greg Greenwood

Hello Red, I love your comments. You will be "flawless" soon by doing exactly what you told me. Spending hours and days working on a piece of jewelry. I wish I were flawless, and after over 45 years, I am still learning and enjoying the process. It never gets old. I am super happy you are "captivated". Let me know how your journey goes. Greg Greenwood

Hello Mark, I am very excited that you are starting metalsmithing. It can be a little frustrating at first, but just take it slow and it will become easier and easier!! Thank you for your kind comments. I appreciate it. Please check out my channel. I have many videos that will help explain techniques. If you know the reasons why you are doing something, it will make more sense and you will be more confident moving forward. If you have any questions as you go forward, please feel free to let me know. I am here to help. Thanks again. Greg Greenwood

Hello Ted, Absolutely my pleasure. Thank you for watching. Greg Greenwood

Hello Larry, Glad to help. Keep watching. I appreciate it. Greg Greenwood

Hello Nick, Thank you very much. You are more than welcome. Greg Greenwood

Hello Elias, You are more than welcome. Thanks for watching. Greg Greenwood

Hello Frances, You're so welcome! Happy to help. Greg Greenwood

Hello Larry, Glad you like them! I appreciate your kind comments. Greg Greenwood

Hello aristide, Thank you very much. Keep watching. Greg Greenwood

Hello Man, You are very welcome. Thank you for watching. Greg Greenwood

Hello Kinx, Thank you for your nice comments. I appreciate it. Keep watching. Greg Greewood.

Hello Paula, You're more than welcome! Thanks Greg Greenwood

Hello Aileach, You are so welcome! Thank you for watching. Glad I can help. Greg Greenwood

Hello Crazy Jays, You are more than welcome. Greg Greenwood

Hello Allan, Thanks a million for your soldering tip. Sounds great. You are correct on being careful where you point your torch. Also, remember not to touch the cross locks after you solder! Thanks Allan, I enjoy your comments. Greg Greenwood

Hello John, Thank you very much for your kind comments. I appreciate it!! I am glad I can help. Keep watching! Thanks again. Greg Greenwood

Hello Hayder,Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Greg Greenwood

Hello D&L, Glad you like them! Keep watching! You are very welcome. Greg Greenwood

Hello Ken, Thank you for sharing. I have heard of this method, but I have never used it. I will keep it in mind. Thanks for watching. Greg Greenwood

Hello Osckarre, Glad you like them! I appreciate your comments. Greg Greenwood

@@greggreenwood4628 Hi Greg, I wonder if you could tell me what kind of torches do I need for silver soldering. I would like to learn. Also I would like to know how to melt silver with a torch. Do I need a special license to obtain the torches and the tanks?

Hello Osckarre, You can use butane and propane torches for general soldering. This are inexpensive and you can get them from your local hardware store or even some box stores. For melting silver, you will need a hotter torch. Acetylene and air or acetylene and oxygen are great for melting silver and casting. These are more expensive and you must get the tanks from a welding supplier. All of these torches are available at most Jewelry supply houses. Rio Grande is one company here in the US. They ship to Canada also. I hope this helps you. Thanks for your questions. Greg Greenwood

@@greggreenwood4628 Thank you, it sure helps. I'm shopping now! :)

Hello Noemi, Thank you for your kind comments. I appreciate it. I am glad to hear your are returning to jewelry making. Please feel free to ask any questions. Looking forward to hearing from you. Greg Greenwood

Hello Cairn, Thanks for your question. I use a magnifying lamp (not expensive), magnifying visor, and magnifying safety glasses. You do not need to buy the expensive lamps. They are inexpensive on Amazon. I have bifocals for my glasses, so I use bifocal safety glasses. You may not need that, but make sure you get good safety glasses. They are a must. I hope this helps you. I am here to help. Greg Greenwood

@@greggreenwood4628 Thank you so much!

Hello Stephen, Welcome back to the wonderful world of Jewelry making!! I feel your "building pains" and also the pain of higher priced silver. I started making jewelry over 50 years ago but we thought the prices were high then!!! If you have any questions in the future, please feel free to let me know. I am here to help you. Keep watching. Greg Greenwood

@@greggreenwood4628 I make silver jewelry on a old form of casting. I am making my Sons wedding ring and am having a very hard time on joining the ends for soldering. Do you have an idea how to ?

@@greggreenwood4628 post script, my trouble is getting the two ends of the ring to perfectly match for a Seamless joint?

Hello Stephen, See the next Reply to your post script. Greg Greenwood

Hello Stephen, The first suggestion is to watch my video "5 Secrets to Perfect Silver Soldering" This will establish the 'ground rules" for soldering. But now the problem is getting the two ends to fit. I hope this will make sense to you. I'm not sure how thick the ring is. I am assuming it is a little thicker being a man's ring. That being said.: Take the ring and look at the circle side with the opening (solder joint) in the 3 o'clock position. Make sure the the 2 ends are clean and smooth. Casting can leave "crud" in the joint. Pull emery cloth thru the joint to clean and smooth flat. Then put the ring on a wooden surface still with joint in the 3 o'clock position. Tap the ring down at the 12 o'clock position with a rawhide mallet. This will make the ring slightly oval and the open joint will close on the inner side of the ring BUT still leaving the joint open on the outer side. This will look like a V joint. Then turn the ring so the joint is on top in the 12 o'clock position. Set it on the wood and tap straight down with the rawhide mallet on the open V joint. This will bring the ring back to a round shape and force the V joint closed snug and ready to solder. (Again, I hope this makes sense.) Please let me know how this is working for you. Thanks for your question. Greg Greenwood

Hello Earl, I am very glad I can help you. Keep watching. If you have any questions in the future, please feel free to let me know. Greg Greenwood

I graduated the 2 year program at Texas Institute of jewelery technology and I'm starting my own small business. I learned a ton at the school, but I haven't done it long enough to figure out all the difference little tricks to move faster. I didn't watch but a few minutes of your video before I tightened up my game. I am having difficulty with soldering. Well, keeping tiny things in place without having to but an expensive tool. This video was very helpful and I will be checking out your other videos too. Thanks for the detailed information.

Hello Earl, Congratulations on your graduation! The best of luck to you. Thank you for your comments. I appreciate it. Let me know how your business grows. Greg Greenwood

Hello John, Titanium wire will work also. Greg Greenwood

Hello Agnes, Thank you for your kind comments. The titanium strips that I show in the video are from Rio Grande Jewelry Supply. # 110795. Knew Concepts Titanium Soldering Strips. 4in x 3/16in x 1.5 mm thick. They are stiff but bendable. Use strong pliers. The metal that you are using might be thicker and possibly not annealed. If you have annealed them, then please use a stronger pair of pliers and/or a vice. The Knew Concepts come annealed. The thickness is important. 1.5mm. I hope this helps you. Let me know how it goes. Greg Greenwood

Hello Chris, For my main torch, I use a Presto-Lite Acetylene and Air. This gives me a wide range of temps and tip sizes. I also use a Blazer micro torch. It is a small Butane fueled torch. I use it for very small soldering jobs. There are a wide range of torches at Rio Grande Jewelry Supply that you may check out. Thank you for your question. I appreciate it. Greg Greenwood

Hello Elias, Thank you for your great comments. I appreciate it. I would love to help you with the cuban chain. I know how they are made, but I don't have the experience to be able to show you the fine details that it takes to do the job correctly. I have seen some good videos on the process, so I know good videos are out there. Sorry I cannot help you on this one!! Thank you for watching. Greg Greenwood

@@greggreenwood4628 thank you so much sir and no problem i appreciate you!! i been watching all the videos on KZfaq about this project but no one has accurate explaining like you thanks again

waiting for your next video

Thank you Elias, That means a lot to me! Greg Greenwood

Thanks again. Glad you are watching. Greg Greenwood

Hello Lori, Heat sinking means any tool or surface that is "sucking up" the heat from your project that you are trying to solder. Sometimes the tools that are heat sinking will prevent you from ever reaching the melting temp of the solder. So you must use a large enough torch or torch tip to heat the piece up to melting temps. I made the titanium clamps. I got the titanium from Rio Grande #110795. Knew Concepts Titanium Soldering Strips. Remember: practice, practice, practice. You will get better and better. Greg Greenwood

@@greggreenwood4628 Ahh.... so is that the reason why we heat the tweezer first, so it doesn't suck heat away from the solder point? In your videos, I do not see you heating up the tweezer before heating up the ring shank then to focus on the solder point. Thanks for the encouragement!

Hello Lori, You almost have it correct. You have the right idea, but you do not want to heat up the tweezers first. The tweezers are to hold the piece of jewelry. Keep the tweezers as far away from the solder joint as possible. You always want to heat the jewelry piece ,not the holder. Heat the ring shank and then focus on the solder joint. Please check out my PLAY LIST "Silver Soldering Techniques". There are many videos in the playlist that will help you learn about soldering. Keep watching. Greg Greenwood

Hello Tamara, Great question. A jeweler's and metalsmith's hands are their most important tool. We must take care of them or it is all over! I am not in full production mode now, and am concentrating on the videos. So they look much better than "normal". Lots of hand creams!! Thanks for watching and commenting! Greg Greenwood

Hello Cathy, Sorry you are having trouble. Question for you before I can answer. Are you using an electric soldering gun or a flame torch? If you are using an electric soldering gun, it is not used for silver soldering. You must use a propane, butane, or acetylene gas torch. Let me know what you are using and we can go from there. Thanks and talk to you soon. Greg Greenwood

Hello Crazy, Good question. The marks that you are seeing are mostly heat related on the vermiculite blocks. Does not hurt. On the charcoal blocks , there can be some flux left over from soldering. This can be easily scraped off with a knife. Before you solder on any block, you should check for any extra solder that might have fallen onto the block. This is what can be a problem. It could melt onto your next project. Easy check, no big deal. The soldering blocks will last for years. Keep them brushed off, don't worry about it, and have fun soldering!! Greg Greenwood

@@greggreenwood4628 Thank you so much. 😁

Anytime! Greg Greenwood

Hello Catherine, Type in "T steel pins" . You will find many. Thanks for sharing. Thanks again for watching. Greg Greenwood

Pretty sure it has to do with my borax mix (not enough water mixed with borax powder) or my pickling liquid ( white vinegar and salt) or dunking the silver in the pickle while it's still hot. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

@@fosterluu following. (Quench before pickling, and if using simple home made pickle I find you sometimes have to let a piece sit in the hot pickle pot for a longer time, but I’m NO expert ;)

Hello ChopohC, Thank you for your question. I have a couple questions for you first. Is the coloration "in" the silver or "on top" of the silver? If it is in the silver, it could be you have not left the piece in the pickle long enough to get rid of the oxides or it could be fire scale. If it is on top of the silver, it could just be extra flux that has not cleaned off in the pickle. In both cases, leave in the hot pickle longer. Let me know how it goes. Greg Greenwood

Hello ChopohC, Check out my reply in previous comment. Let me know. Thanks Greg Greenwood

Hello Gnarbel, I agree with you. Thank you for your comments. It is great to help each other!! Greg Greenwood

Hello Geri, Thank you very much. Glad you are learning. Keep watching! Greg Greenwood