Great soldering course on line free until 4-9-20

[Bob Cleek]

"Channel surfing" last night, I stumbled upon a gold mine of professionally produced instructional videos on a wide range of topics including woodworking and jewelry making. These are being offered on an apparently new "craft network" called Bluprint TV. Because of the Covid-19 "lockdowns," my cable provider (Comcast Xfinity X1) and probably others, are offering free premium pay channels for a limited time (at present, at least until 40-9-20. )(I found Bluprint by saying "free to me" into my voice-controlled remote control.)

 

On Bluprint, I found a "jewelry" subsection and in there I found two really good streaming video series on soldering jewelry. They are directly applicable to soldering ship model parts, of course. One, Solder Smarter: Strategies for Better Results featuring a jewelry maker named Joanna Gollberg, runs perhaps two hours (I didn't keep track) and begins with an complete instruction on the use of the Smith Little Torch and all the basic techniques of soldering. I'd considered myself a fairly competent solderer after doing it for well over fifty years, but I found myself continuously learning one new thing after another in this online course. 

 

These Bluprint instructional courses are head and shoulders above anything on YouTube, as far as "how-to-do-it" videos go. These are real professional level courses with competent teachers and high production values. Bluprint also has other more advanced courses on soldering, jewelers' metalworking, and even on the proper uses of flex-shaft tools.  I figure I'll be spending the next few evenings going through them while I "shelter in place."

 

They are also currently available free as streaming videos at https://shop.mybluprint.com/jewelry/classes/solder-smarter-strategies-for-better-results/40550 .

 

https://shop.mybluprint.com/jewelry/classes/soldering-success-in-every-scenario/58346

 

https://shop.mybluprint.com/jewelry/classes/metalsmithing-at-home/35434

 

https://shop.mybluprint.com/jewelry/classes/getting-started-with-the-flex-shaft/40629

 

[Justin P.]

Wow, this is a great resource.

[Bob Cleek]

For sure! They definitely are going to change the way I solder.  After listening to Solder Smarter for about fifteen minutes last night, I put it on "pause" and went and got a pen and paper and started taking notes. 

[Nirvana]

Bob, I will try the same with our remote.... as we have Xfinity as well.

Thanks for providing the idea.

Otherwise using the link provided will help.

I did jewelry (silver) soldering back in the 90's, most to give away or sold for a fraction. Had a lot of fun with it.
Time to pick this one up as I need to hone my soldering skills.
A couple of ear-ring sets I made had the shape of the musical G-clave.
Gave them to women in the choir I sang with at the time, highly appreciated x-mas gift.
 

Edited April 2, 2020 by Nirvana

[usedtosail]

This was a great find Bob. I have already started using some of the techniques to create brass parts for my current build.

[Bob Cleek]

On 4/2/2020 at 12:20 PM, Nirvana said:

Bob, I will try the same with our remote.... as we have Xfinity as well.

Thanks for providing the idea.

Otherwise using the link provided will help.

I did jewelry (silver) soldering back in the 90's, most to give away or sold for a fraction. Had a lot of fun with it.
Time to pick this one up as I need to hone my soldering skills.
A couple of ear-ring sets I made had the shape of the musical G-clave.
Gave them to women in the choir I sang with at the time, highly appreciated x-mas gift.
 

If you have Xfinity with the "talking" remote, just say "free to me" into the remote. That should bring up a menu. Go to "Bluprint" and then to "jewelry" and you'll find them. The woodworking tutorials are good, too.

[Nirvana]

Found it directly, about  five minutes later as I had other things going on at the same time..... there were quite an extensive collection of how-to's.

 

 

[Moab]

Bob; great find. Thank you for posting...Moab