Anybody good at soldering?

[OFCJAX]

Here's what I ended up trying.

I cut thin strips of masking tape and taped the pin/clutch back to the key (steel BTW). Then I used my gun to heat up both parts. I broke off a bit of solder the length of the pin back and wedged it into each side and heated them up again.

Didn't look pretty, but after it cooled I took off the tape and it held in place fairly solidly.

James: I could mail you both keys and a few backs if you wanna fix them up and you could keep one as payment.

[James MacMillan]

Here's what I ended up trying.

I cut thin strips of masking tape and taped the pin/clutch back to the key (steel BTW). Then I used my gun to heat up both parts. I broke off a bit of solder the length of the pin back and wedged it into each side and heated them up again.

Didn't look pretty, but after it cooled I took off the tape and it held in place fairly solidly.

James: I could mail you both keys and a few backs if you wanna fix them up and you could keep one as payment.

Sure, if you want - PM sent.

Now to continue the discussion. I have put pin backs on a number of things for a number of uses and am not saying that soldering is best. What I was saying, is that damn near any metal can be soldered.

In the case of antique keys, I would think that they are at least hard enough to open the locks, so could be soldered. If they are really cheap reproductions, it might be harder, but can still be done.

Is this the best way to do it? Maybe not. There are several types of epoxy and glues that will do as durable a job as solder. After all we are talking about a very low stress job here. I think If I were doing this (and I might, 'cause it opens a new venue for a kilt pin) I would get a heavy duty thumb tack, carefully bend the flat part to match the contour of the key, roughen both surfaces, and use one of the slow curing glues or epoxies. JB is good, as is Gorilla glue. with epoxy you could actually embed the tack into the gunk and maybe make hold better.

Back to soldering for a bit. The solder itself and the flux also are made for specific materials. Linger in an electronis hobby shop and talk to the grey-beards, and you can get free lessons

Another way has come to mind. You could drill a hole the same size as the pin and epoxy the pin down in the hole. This might work better???

So many possibilities.

[O'Neille]

Another way has come to mind. You could drill a hole the same size as the pin and epoxy the pin down in the hole. This might work better???

Drill and rivet is a great idea for a key. just drill the holes and put a small bronze rivet (piece of brazing rod) in the hold and tap until it mushrooms. Good flux and silver solder from a welding shop works great for most things. It costs about $25 for a kit though.