I am COMPLETELY new to soldering. I need to solder a brass jump ring to another piece of brass to turn the two into a pendant.

 I have a soldering iron, but have never used it. I don't know what sort of mix I'd use to fuse the two, other than I'd prefer a close color match, but it'll be on the back anyways, so not seen.

Thanks!!!!!!
Leah

 Hi Leah,

Welcome to the frustrating world of soldering.  There are so many misconceptions about soldering.  First off there is what metalsmiths and jewelers call soldering and then what electricians and plumbers call soldering... both are useful in different aspects.  The being what metalsmith's and jewelers call solder.  It is actually "Brazing" where you get the metal to open up microsopic pores and bond ( think of a sponge soaking up water).  This is still called soldering for some reason.  Advantages: very strong bond on a molecular level, very little clean up if done well, very small connection seam.  Disadvantages: requires heating up the whole piece that needs to be soldered, requires strong heat sorce 1000-1400 degrees F,  Can be very frustrating to learn

Then there is the electrician  or plumbers solder which is what most people think of when using the world soldering.  This process heats up the solder, which is a low melting alloy of metal... usualy tin, antimony, or bismuth, and may contain small amounts of copper or silver.  There are tons and tons of solders out there.  I've heard the brand Tix is used by jewelers.  These solders don't bond at molecular level, instead they  kind of glue the material together with metal.  Advantages:  Heats up at low temperatures, 100-400 degrees F.  Can be heated up with a small torch or an electric soldering iron.  Disadvanteges:  The low temp solders are made up of white metals(tin, bismuth, antimonium) that general will eat into your more precious metals( silver, brass, copper, gold )  if the metal is brought up to higher temperatures 1000-1400,  the conections are not as seemless or strong.  the connections can become quite messy

Hopefully this wasn't to much.   The best thing you can do is practice practice practice... find some scraps and don't be afraid to experiment.  If you want to use low solder to attach your peices just remember that it should be your last step , you won't be able to anneal the metal anymore.  Oh and don't forget to flux your metal with the appropriate flux for your solder.  Frank Mueller, Jewelry Area Manager UW milwaukee studio arts and craft center

Some brass is just plain hard to solder. Those brass alloys that are high in zinc are more difficult then the ones low in zinc. Red brass is easier than yellow brass. When soldering brass to brass I tend to use a lead free plumbing solder as it doesn't seem to pull the zinc out of the brass because of the lower melting temperatures necessary to melt it whereas silver soldering will pull the zinc out and contaminate the silver solder and prevent a good bond. Silver solder works very well on copper as it is a pure metal.