Can anyone tell me how to remove or polish off the "stain" that solder occasionally leaves behind?

I'd be appreciative of any tips. Thanks so much!

Can you be more specific? I don't know what a solder "stain" is unless you're talking about excess solder that's seeped onto the metal.

In any case, the rubberized silicone wheels and the 3M radial discs are both good for clean-up. If the surface you're cleaning up is textured or irregular, the discs can get into crevices. If the surface you're cleaning up is flat, you can also use good ol' sandpaper.

Hope this helps. If I'm off the mark it's just because I don't really understand the terminology.

Betsy
 

metalworker:

Can anyone tell me how to remove or polish off the "stain" that solder occasionally leaves behind?

I'd be appreciative of any tips. Thanks so much!

Betsy,

The stain I'm referring to is usually seen after I've soldered and I'm polishing up my piece. It seems to usually happen where I have excess solder and after polishing it off, a dark grey "stain" is left behind where the excess solder was. Hope that it makes sense. Thanks for your help.

Donna

 I suspect what you're seeing is fire scale. 

The stain is in the exact shape as the excess solder that I polished off. If it were firescale wouldn't it come off with polishing?

 Donna

Sounds like firescale to me, too. If it is, then polishing will just shine it up. You'll have to sand or file it down and then polish. The black silicone rubber wheel works pretty well for this, but keep it moving or you'll end up with a groove in your metal.

One other comment...You said you're working with a small butane torch. I've used butane in my home studio for over 20 years and for about 70% of my work, including large and heavy pieces. The downside is that you cannot control the heat or flame as well as with propane or acetylene and a jeweler's torch, so firescale and overheating (burning or melting) can be a problem. You might want to get a larger butane torch if you are going to work with heavy wire or sheet, or consider getting a jeweler's torch and another type of fuel for heavy and/or delicate pieces. Either way, as Loopy said, make sure you heat the whole piece and don't be in a hurry to get to the solder seam.

Hope this helps.

I think that you are talking about where you place your pallion of solder and it melts before it flows over and under whatever it is you want soldered down. That stain is a trace amount of solder that needs to be removed by grinding or scraping off and then polishing off with your flexshaft. It can be tough to accomplish. Most of the time firescale can be removed with pickling but solder stain always takes removal of the offending solder by mechanical means.

Thank you to all for your advice and tips. I'm going to sand a little more aggressively to see if I get better results. I so appreciate all the expertise and willingness to help.