_Steel and Iron._--Steel surfaces should be cleaned, then covered with clear muriatic acid. While the acid is on the metal, rub with a stick of zinc and then tin the surfaces with the hot iron as directed. Cast iron should be cleaned and dipped in strong lye to remove grease. Wash the lye away with clean water and cover with muriatic acid as with steel. Then rub with a piece of zinc and tin the surfaces by using resin as a flux.
It is very difficult to solder aluminum with ordinary solder. A special aluminum solder should be secured, which is easily applied and makes a strong joint. Zinc or phosphor tin may be used in place of ordinary solder to tin the surfaces or to fill small holes or cracks. The aluminum must be thoroughly heated before attempting to solder and the flux may be either resin or soldering acid. The aluminum must be thoroughly cleaned with dilute nitric acid and kept hot while the solder is applied by forcible rubbing with the hot iron.
This is a process for joining metal parts, very similar to soldering, except that brass is used to make the joint in place of the lead and zinc alloys which form solder. Brazing must not be attempted on metals whose melting point is less than that of sheet brass.
Two pieces of brass to be brazed together are heated to a temperature at which the brass used in the process will melt and flow between the surfaces. The brass amalgamates with the surfaces and makes a very strong and perfect joint, which is far superior to any form of soldering where the work allows this process to be used, and in many cases is the equal of welding for the particular field in which it applies.
_Brazing Heat and Tools._--The metal commonly used for brazing will melt at heats between 1350° and 1650° Fahrenheit. To bring the parts to this temperature, various methods are in use, using solid, liquid or gaseous fuels. While brazing may be accomplished with the fire of the blacksmith forge, this method is seldom satisfactory because of the difficulty of making a sufficiently clean fire with smithing coal, and it should not be used when anything else is available. Large jobs of brazing may be handled with a charcoal fire built in the forge, as this fuel produces a very satisfactory and clean fire. The only objection is in the difficulty of confining the heat to the desired parts of the work.