Hello

I know the information I seek is out there somewhere, the trick is finding it, hopefully someone on this forum can help me.

I have a hobby/business where I make things out of copper. I have a web site at www.copperaccents.com where you can see the type of stuff I make. I have a problem that I haven't been able to find an answer for. I started out using soft solder, then went to a silver solder for my joints. But they weren't holding up. I then was told by my local welding store to try a sil-phos product. The joints are strong now, but I hate all the clean up work afterwards. I don’t use plumbers fittings, as they are ugly. What I do is butt joints, so there isn’t very much in the way of surface area for the solder/braze to grip. The JW Harris sil-phos product I use is Dynaflow, and flow it does, all over the place, but I do get very good strong joints. I then have to use a die grinder with a coarse scotch bright pad to burnish away all the dynaflow to get it back to copper color again. The only place the brazing material needs to be is in the butt joint, and not all around it and be visible. When I’m done with the scotch bright then the copper pipe isn't shiny anymore. If I have a customer who wants their item shiny, it is awfully labor intensive. Usually they want the item with a copper patina, then I don't worry about it so much. In that case I very often even sandblast the item to get rid of the extra brazing material There is another company, GI Designs, at http://www.gidesigns.net/garden_structures.html where you'll see that they sell a lot of items that look very shiny. I know that they braze or solder their joints because I asked them. What I need to learn is how to braze/solder a good strong joint and not have all the mess to deal with. Can some one PLEASE help?

I'd be sincerely thankful.

Lne Gustafson
Copper Accents
http://www.copperaccents.com