Can dark annealed steel wire be soldered safely?

Theresa@74 wrote

on Jan 30, 2011 12:40 PM

I made  these cute beaded jumprings with steel wire and wondered if anyone had heard of any safety issues with soldering on dark annealed steel.  I wanted to connect them with a solder blob, I love that look but have never seen it done with the steel and thought maybe there is a reason...

Thanks, Theresa

Theresa@74 wrote

on Jan 30, 2011 3:20 PM

I kept searching the web and found this information, thought I would post it in case anyone was curious.  Not possitive that it's impossible because I haven't tried it out, I just wasn't sure if there was anything toxic about it. 

(Blackend steel wire is almost impossible to solder; the blackening is intended to ward off everything, including another metal that tries to bind with the steel.)

Guess maybe some wire wrapping is in order :)

Theresa

grammajojo wrote

on Mar 15, 2011 1:01 PM

How did you get them colored lavender???

grammajojo wrote

on Mar 15, 2011 9:25 PM

an online friend who has a site  especially about  this type of wire says it can be soldered with silver solder!  Her site is

Brenda Schweder Jewelry

jamberrysong wrote

on May 21, 2011 1:11 PM

Theresa@74:

(Blackend steel wire is almost impossible to solder; the blackening is intended to ward off everything, including another metal that tries to bind with the steel.)

It's possible to scrape off the anneal around the edges you want to solder, either with a wire-bristle brush or with some steel wool. That might help.

Another option is to weld them, right? XD

grammajojo wrote

on May 21, 2011 9:50 PM

Brenda Schweder Jewelry

She works with this type of wire all the time and she said it could be done with Silver Solder.  She has written books using annealed steel wire, so I guess she should know what she is talking about. 

jamberrysong wrote

on May 21, 2011 11:15 PM

Yeah, I saw your post with her link earlier. If she's written books about it, one would definitely hope she knows what she's talking about. XD

jamberrysong wrote

on May 29, 2011 3:58 AM

Thanks for sharing this link, by the way! It's all sorts of informative. :D