Soldering the Bezel

1.  Cut a small piece (1-2mm) of hard solder and place it on your soldering block using your tweezers. 

https://www.riogrande.com/product/silver-wire-solder-22-ga/101707gp

https://www.riogrande.com/product/silver-wire-solder-22-ga/101707gp

2.  Use a small brush to apply flux to the join where the cut ends of your bezel wire meet. I use My-T-Flux that has worked very well for me.   

My-T-Flux

https://www.riogrande.com/product/my-t-flux/504006gp

3.  Place your bezel with the cut area on top of the small piece of solder that is laying on top of your soldering brick.  I love this brick: 

Amaco Insulating Firebrick

AMACO Insulating FireBrick, 9 X 4-1/2 X 2-1/2 in (purchased on amazon.com) 

4. Light your blazer self igniting microtorch and use the flame heat up the soldering brick around the bezel being careful to only very briefly touch the silver, sort of in a dabbing motion.  If you apply too much flame/heat to your bezel it will melt.  (trust me....I've done that many times).  

Blazer Microtorch

https://www.riogrande.com/product/blazer-butane-microtorch/500230

5.  The bezel will fall down on the soldering brick once your solder has melted and flowed.  This is the best technique I've found for soldering bezels.  It works really well with I'd say a 95% success rate.  

6.  Turn off your torch and pick up the bezel using your crosslocking tweezers. Dunk it in your quench bowl and take a closer look at your bezel to make sure the join line is soldered closed.  

cross locking tweezers

FIBER GRIP TWEEZERS CROSS LOCKING & STRAIGHT SOLDERING TWEEZER JEWELERS SET 3 Pc (I purchased this set off of Amazon and they are great).

7.  Now place your cab inside the bezel to make sure you have a snug fit.  If the bezel is too tight, you can use a mandrel to roll your bezel on your steel bench block to make it slightly larger.  I didn't show this in the video, but it's like rolling dough for a pie crust.  Just roll a little and check the size on your cab.  Sometimes just a little rolling is all you need to get a perfect fit.  If the bezel is too large, simply recut the join and solder it again.  

Wire-Wrap Quick Coiler-Mandrel set

https://www.riogrande.com/product/wire-wrap-quick-coiler-hand-winder-and-

mandrel-set/110182

steel bench block

https://www.riogrande.com/product/steel-bench-blocks/112570gp

8.  Now place some fine grit sandpaper on top of your steel bench block.  Lay your soldered bezel on the sandpaper and place your finger on top of the bezel.  In a figure 8 pattern, sand the bottom side of your bezel.  You need a nice smooth, flat surface so that when you are soldering the bezel to silver there are no gaps.  Remember that solder will only flow when the metal is touching.   

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