Quote Originally Posted by BamaNomad View Post
That's neat CN. Did it work well for you? ... when I was much younger, I thought about trying to learn/do that but never did. How hard was it to find a source for the lead and wood paddles? and did you use a crucible for melting the lead, or melt it right on the car?
Yes leading works well but not many want to do it anymore. In the early 80's it wasn't hard to find the proper lead for bodywork in sticks about 12" long and I believe it was a 60/40 lead/tin alloy. This is almost completely opposite of eutectic lead/tin solder used in electronic manufacturing which has a ratio of 37/63 lead/tin. Later on when I couldn't find the solder locally I got eutectic solder bars, melted them down, and added lead to make new bars for bodywork. I made my own wooden paddle and kept it soaked in engine oil. I used a "tinning flux" that had flux and solder powder mixed together to "wet" the steel, applied with steel wool. All you did was put the steel wool into the powder, heat the panel, and scrub it with the tinning flux until it was covered. Then you heat the panel and the solder bar slightly, and keep the soft flame of an acetylene torch flicking across both the panel and the bar until the bar melts and sticks to the panel in chunks. The solder acts like a paste over a fairly wide range of temperature, but if you get it too hot it all ends up on the floor. The other hard part is judging how much to put on the panel, because it's fairly difficult to add more after you have filed the solder. So you want to put plenty on the first time. Once you apply the solder, you heat it and spread it like peanut butter using the paddle. It's not too hard with some practice.