Master stained glass solder and lift your leaded panel for the very first time!
Grade C stained glass solder is an alloy made from 60% tin and 40% lead. This composition is the most suitable for leaded stained glass panels, and is readily available from stained glass suppliers. If you’ve followed these stained-glass-making instructions carefully and have leaded up accurately, you’ll find stained glass soldering easy and relatively quick.
What you need: soldering iron and stand, tallow (or other soldering flux), wire brush, tip cleaner – either a commercial tip tinner or a damp flannel.
Soldering fumes are dangerous. Try to do the soldering process by an open window, or buy a portable fume extractor if you’re going to do large amounts.
Step one:
Clean each joint with a wire brush. This gets rid of any oxide, grease or dirt that may have built up on your lead. Don’t go mad! You just need a clean surface so that the stained glass solder will stick.
Step two:
Immediately apply the tallow – or soldering flux – on each joint liberally.
Step three:
Apply the molten solder to each joint. To do this, place the end of the stick of solder over the join, and introduce the hot tip of the soldering iron to it. A blob will melt off, and you simply hold the soldering irons over the solder for a few seconds, letting it find its’ natural level. Be careful not to take too long or touch the lead as it will melt it. Tempting as it is, try not to move the tip at this point – you’ll only smear the molten solder along 
the lead and make a mess. It’s best to put a small amount on first and add more, rather than trying to take some off if you’ve put too much on. To keep my hand steady I sometimes put my elbow on the worktop.
Solder all the joints on both sides of your stained glass panel, making sure to turn it over carefully as it is very vulnerable at this point. This is your first glimpse of your panel-to-be, and always a very exciting moment.
Step four:
Clean all the tallow off the joints and lead came with the wire brush, and now you’re ready for the really messy bit – cementing.
Trouble shooting
- If your solder looks like crunched up aluminium foil and not smooth and slightly rounded, you haven’t held the iron on the solder for long enough. You can re-do these joins.
- If your solder ‘disappears’ into the space between your leads, the gap is too big to ‘jump’ with solder. You need to cut a small piece of scrap lead and put it over the gap before soldering over it.
- If your solder rolls off the joint, either you don't have enough flux, or the joint is still dirty.
- If the iron isn’t melting the stained glass solder, the tip may be dirty or have excess solder on it. Clean it by wiping it on a damp cloth.
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