I've been thinking about making a wall art piece by soldering washers together to make a piece approx 2' by 2' using various sizes of washers. I'm going to be using either steel washers or zinc coated steel washers.

I've only tried soldering a couple of them together and its worked fine and the bond is quite strong. The only solder I had on hand was lead free plumbing solder and general purpose flux and a propane torch. I figure I'll probably need some different solder and possibly flux, just looking for some opinions. I do have a little experience soldering copper pipes and don't have access or experience with a welder.

Just looking for some input and opinions about how this might work out, I am aware that it will be time consuming, thats not really a concern.

Thanks

 

I've never soldered steel so I can't help with supplies. I think you may want to stick with plain steel rather than galvanized. Not sure about soldering heat range but I know you should not weld galvanized since the fumes can make you very sick. For something as small as washers I would choose a smaller torch with a pinpoint flame and be prepared to rig up some sort of heat sink clamps so you don't melt the nearby finished joints.

 

Soldering steel does work. However comma the steel needs to be very clean before the solder will take. I recommend using acid like vinegar or maybe some soldering flux to remove the surface oxidation. Don't use galvanized as they require an acid bath to solder to

Zinc can be dangerous if hated to a certain degree. Although honestly I have inhaled zinc fumes and not had any trouble.

Stainless steel will not work at all BTW since the stainless part of it is actually nickel and chrome. :NO NO NO:

For a solder I would recommend Bernzomatics acid core solder for metalwork. Enough said.

Brazing is a more realistic option. I recommend the Bernzomatic TS8000
as it heats things up really quickly!

Good luck there partner!