Anybody good at soldering?

**Dirk Skene** · 18th February 08, 07:55 AM

Depending on the material the keys are made of you may have a very hard time connecting the pin to the key. Most that I sell (yes skeleton keys are still available) are malleable iron.

**James MacMillan** · 18th February 08, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by 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.

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** · 18th February 08, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by James MacMillan

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.

**Marcel** · 18th February 08, 01:37 PM

Thank you so much for the great idea for a kilt pin! And sorry for stealing it. I have some old skeleton keys too that I got from my grandmother. I have been wanting a kilt pin but have yet to find one I like, until now.

**J.B. Simpson** · 18th February 08, 02:01 PM

If the keys are steel you could braze them instead of solder. I braze copper tubing instead of soldering (code requires it for refrigerant) and it holds a lot better than solder. I use Dynaflow (silverphos-copper brazing alloy) it is easy use and holds very good.

**James MacMillan** · 18th February 08, 02:46 PM

OK - Next question: Just what tartan would be considered perfect for a key kilt pin?

**OFCJAX** · 18th February 08, 02:55 PM

Not sure which would go with the pin but here's where I got the idea:

Sean Connery

The man, the myth, the legend. He did a Sci-Fi movie awhile ago (nicely) called "Outland".

In it he place a Marshal on a mining station. It's basically a western set in space. They wear a shoulder patch with three keys crossed.

BTW, thanks for the idea of using thumb tacks. The pin backs I had are too small for this application I'm afraid.

**James MacMillan** · 18th February 08, 07:17 PM

After reading this post this morning I drilled and set three old keys as kilt pins. I first took steel wool to the entire things, then hit them with some clear acrylic, let the stuff dry. Decided on which side looked best and tapped two holes in each, just a little larger than the small brads that I decided to use as push pins. I then used another brad to glump some gorrilla glue in the hole and tapped in the brads with a small hammer. I hit them in pretty well. I let them dry for two hours and then made sharp points with my dremmel tool. I think they came out pretty well. And I really yanked on the brads with a pair of pliers - they didn't come out. Oh - and extra points to anyone who knows what the center key is.