At first, since i had never used any of the tools, i decided to start with mine 'nice' small little soldering iron. I was sorely disappointed. I swear, my glue gun gets hotter than this thing does! I could fully grab the tip with my hand after it has been plugged in for 20 minutes already (while i frequently burn myself with my glue gun). The thing was no where NEAR the temperatures it would need to melt the solder. Sigh.
Next I tried the blow torch, since the iron was a bust. 2 packs of matches later, i still couldn't get the stupid thing lit hahha. I asked for the help of my extreemely handy landlord, and he was able to show me how to light the torch (a match just doesn't cut it, apparantly) and he showed me the technique and such.
So the two pictures you've seen along the way are of the copper pipe Todd and I soldered together. I first bend the 'flexible' (but still so very hard and rigid!) copper pipe into shape. I then pounded on it a bunch with my huge wrench (thanks again uncle bob haha) to somewhat flatten it and add interest to the texture. We then heated it with the blow torch, and soldered the two together. I am fairly pleased with how this is going so far. Next i need to glue on wire mesh, as a backing. I am following the inspiration from the frame from Summerset Studios magazine, shown a couple posts back.
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