Getting rid of lead solder?

Dwight Gruber · 11-09-2002, 04:40 PM

The 1918 Artillery I just bought has been messed with in a particular way. Some mutant previous owner has drilled and tapped the back of the toggle and attached a piece if steel, filed with a notch as a rear sight (yes, the tangent sight is still there, yes, the front sight has been filed down to accommodate the new, lower sight [img]mad.gif[/img] , yes it seems like a pretty stupid thing to do). This new sight piece was then lead soldered into place.

Now, I have, with careful application of a soldering iron (aided by the fact that this previous mutant owner did a pretty poor job of it), removed the offending sight. What I am left with, however, are gobbets and dropules of solder on the surface of the toggle, and a hole (not the drilled-and-tapped one, but a second hole, I told you this previous owner was a mutant) which is filled with lead solder.

What I would like to know is, is there an easy way to get rid of this solder without harming the finish on the rest of the piece? The soldering iron just moves the stuff around, putting the toggle on the stove top and heating it up enough to melt it out seems pretty drastic, I don't really have any kind of workshop so advanced tools and techniques are, for the moment, out of my ken.

Any words of wisdom will be truly appreciated.

--Dwight

11-09-2002, 04:40 PM	#1
Dwight Gruber User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,908 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1,330 Times in 435 Posts	Getting rid of lead solder? The 1918 Artillery I just bought has been messed with in a particular way. Some mutant previous owner has drilled and tapped the back of the toggle and attached a piece if steel, filed with a notch as a rear sight (yes, the tangent sight is still there, yes, the front sight has been filed down to accommodate the new, lower sight [img]mad.gif[/img] , yes it seems like a pretty stupid thing to do). This new sight piece was then lead soldered into place. Now, I have, with careful application of a soldering iron (aided by the fact that this previous mutant owner did a pretty poor job of it), removed the offending sight. What I am left with, however, are gobbets and dropules of solder on the surface of the toggle, and a hole (not the drilled-and-tapped one, but a second hole, I told you this previous owner was a mutant) which is filled with lead solder. What I would like to know is, is there an easy way to get rid of this solder without harming the finish on the rest of the piece? The soldering iron just moves the stuff around, putting the toggle on the stove top and heating it up enough to melt it out seems pretty drastic, I don't really have any kind of workshop so advanced tools and techniques are, for the moment, out of my ken. Any words of wisdom will be truly appreciated. --Dwight