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Stained Glass - cleaning tarnished foil and flux
Expert: lyn buerger - 11/5/2009
Question
i have a project that has been sitting for some time, one side has been soldered; however the other side has not and the copper foil is tarnished. i suspect that the flux i applied during the soldering of the front side actually is affecting the copper foil on the un-soldered side.
Answer
I am so sorry for your situation. There is no easy solution. You need to clean the copper foil with some fine steel wool. Be very careful not to tear the foil by scrubbing to aggressively. A tooth brush will help with dust between the pieces.
At one time, I had a flux that would actually assist in soldering old lead and old copper foil, but when I ran out I found that the company had gone out of business. I really miss that little tin of flux.
I always caution my students NO NOT start the soldering if you remotely think you will not have the time to finish both side.
After you have cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more, use a flux called "noKorode". it is a plumbers flux and is available in most stained glass shops and it stays soft forever and it does not corrode your project. You will have problems even with the extra cleaning. You can use your soldering iron tip to gently scrub difficult areas but be gentle and don't tear the foil. It is easily cleaned with alcohol or the powder "whiting" I usually clean with alcohol and then buff and shine it with Kem Pro. I might mention that "whiting" is calcium sulfate and is less expensive when identified as calcium sulfate (you can probably find it in a ceramic shop)
I wish I could give you an easy solution, but there isn't. You could always tear the piece apart and re-copper and re-solder. Sounds fun to me!
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