Bird on a limb

[Juhani]

Now, for those of us who are soldering challenged, are there any issues with soldering the bird to the branch if we would use pewter feet? I ask this as I have never actually soldered anything other than copper tubing for water pipes(and very little of that, dont even know if that is considered soldering).

[AlArchie]

Better check the melting temps of all the material you are using. If memory serves me right, most pewter will melt below the temperature needed to make a good bond with any copper you are using. Let me check on the solder temps and I'll get back.

Al

[AlArchie]

OK, just checked the references.....

Pewters melting point is 240 degrees F, also known as the eutectic temperature.

Melting points on solder are;

50/50 lead/tin.........419 degrees F.

Antimony/tin (lead free stuff) 464 degrees F.

Doesn't look like a good choice, that soldering of the pewter!

Al

[Juhani]

Ok so that leaves me with a couple different options. Use the pewter legs and epoxy the feet to the branch or build the feet from scratch and solder it. Might have to try the from scratch method at some point....spose i should learn how to solder sometime anyways.... Is the pewter feet and epoxy a viable option? I know it works for securing the feet to bigger objects like a fence post but curious how well it works with the brass or copper tubing scenario.

[AlArchie]

Juhani, I haven't gone that route, but my experience with epoxy has been that it may not have the "heft" for that rype of adhesion. You may give some thought to an adhesive like JB Weld or one of the other metalic enhance epoxy compound.

there are several excellent bird carvers on this board that may have some direct experience with this process.

Al

[Marc Barger]

With the pewter feet they have a small 'peg' sticking out the bottom. All you do is drill a hole where it needs to be in the branch and put it in there and epoxy it in place. I use pewter feet almost exclusively for commissioned pieces unless the collector wants hand made feet. Most don't because of the extra cost of making those little suckers. Or at least making them look real. I've seen so many that people make that really look...'made'. Detracts from the piece I think. Anyway here's an Indigo Bunting I did with the branch carved out of solid brass rod. Just bent it to the basic shape I was looking for and then carved it down with a variety of burrs/cutters. Soldered all the small twigs into each other (drilled a hole then inserted then soldered it in place...if you heat it up the solder will suck down into the hole and make it super strong) and to the main branch. Very strong.

[Paul Adkins]

I use modeling paste on small branches after soldering. It will give some texture to the tubing and make it look natural not smooth and dries hard. Just make sure it is bent into the shape you want before applying.

[Juhani]

Thank you all for the replies, they do help me very much as I am learning how to do things. Now I just need to try and apply some of these things to a composition and see how its goes.