Soldering: Joints

Let's start with the basics. Silver solder is silver alloyed with copper and zinc to reduce its melting point below the melting point of pure (or sterling) silver. Something I find truly amazing is that solder has been made that way for centuries. Millennia. It's a very, very old metalworking substance.

When you place a little bit of solder on or near two pieces of silver that are clean, and touching, and heat both of those pieces to the melting point of the solder, the solder will melt and flow between them, bonding them together. The two key points there are CLEAN (which means free from any dirt or oils, including oils transferred through contact with skin - don't touch your joints!) and TOUCHING. If there is no metal to metal contact, or very poor metal to metal contact, your solder won't form a bond, it will just flow over whichever piece of metal it's closest to. The joints should meet smoothly, fully, and allow no light to pass through them.

Here are some examples of bad joints that will not properly join as-is.

Below is the absolute MINIMUM you want to see in a joint before trying to solder it. The joint in the photo below can still be better.