Making a scrap metal guitarist sculpture with silver solder

Silver solder is ideal for soldering small metal parts. To experiment and learn this technique I bought silver solder in rods. The rods I got contained 20% silver. As a flux I used borax powder, mixed with water to a creamy texture. I used my propane torch as a heat source. As a heat resistant surface I used a piece of marble. But that broke apart. So I used a brick instead and this worked out fine.

I begun by making the guitar. This was just a washer and an old wrench. I cleaned the touching surfaces with sandpaper. Then I applied the flux. I then heated both metals at a red hot state. Then I added the solder. The solder should flow were the heat and the flux is. I let the piece cool down for a few minutes and then quenched it in water.

Next I soldered the head with the body. Those were a washer and a nail. As hair I used small nails. 

To give my character more movement I bended the pieces a little, using my vise and a hammer. 

The legs were made out of long nails and metal corners.

When I soldered all the metal parts, I cleaned my statue with the wire brush. I clamped my drill on the vise and used a couple of wire brushing bits to reach all the spots of my sculpture.

Then I took a piece of spruce wood and cut it on the bandsaw to make a base. I used my finger tip to create guide lines. Then I used my rotary tool with a drum sanding bit to blend these guidelines into curves. After that I hand sanded a little with 100grit sand paper.

Then I used my blow torch to make the grain pop a little. This gave a lot of character to the wood.

I predrilled pilot holes on the wood and screwed my statue in place. 

I gave everything three coats of clear. I used my heat gun between coats to speed up the drying process.

My little guitarist sculpture came out nice. I still have a long way to go before I master the silver soldering technique. But I had a lot of fun experimenting and I learned a ton of stuff.

I hope you enjoyed this project as well! See you soon with a new project video!