How to Solder Your Stained-Glass Art Safety

Video Transcript

Okay, so now let’s talk about soldering safety. Obviously a soldering iron gets very hot, it gets so hot that you can give yourself a blistering third degree burn that could very well scar very quickly, almost before you know it because it gets that hot, but that doesn’t mean that you should be afraid of it because you shouldn’t soldering irons are great for, not just stained glass but all kinds of cool crafts that require, you know, getting metals hot and especially, obviously working with solder but don’t be afraid of it. But you definitely want to be conscious of where the tip is at all times, because a soldering iron can’t only burn you, it can actually burn this table or it could burn, you know, set fire to a stack of papers, you know burn your house down worst case scenario, knock on wood that will never happen. But, so a few things about that, so obviously we talked about how the soldering iron does have a nice stand where you put it in there, you know the purpose of that coil is to let you see that the stand of the soldering iron has this coil. That’s to kind of disperse the heat a little bit so that no part of it really gets too hot, so this is to kind of keep the iron safe from burning my table up or a stack of papers or just kind of if I forget about it and the phone rings or something then it is kind of safe. You do want to turn it off and in fact unplug it when you are not using it just to kind of keep control of that. But then also when you are using it just want to always know where the tip is, I mean sometimes it is easy when you are working on a project, you know maybe to forget that maybe your, you know your sister or your father or maybe your grandchild is maybe over your shoulder watching and you don’t know it and then as you life your soldering iron to put it back you might burn them, right? Or you know, or you might be working on something and then without even really thinking about it you pick it up too fast, brush it against your own face and then you have a burn on your cheek. So just really be kind of careful about where it is. The other thing is, is keep in mind that solder does have a lead component to it and handling it in your hands is not too bad. Certainly if you get any small cuts from the glass you probably want to wrap those cuts up in a band aid so that when you are working with lead solder you are not getting lead directly in your bloodstream which is, over long periods of time not good for you because lead is a heavy metal. Just handling the solder like this is not a big deal, when you melt solder there is often a smoke that occurs and it is probably a good idea not to breathe that smoke, you know, you it's kind of a good idea to work in a well ventilated area. I guess you could use a mask if you want to, but you know I don’t know many people who do, but just think about the fact that is lead in your solder and it’s not going to hurt you too much to handle it because it is not pure lead. It’s actually sixty percent tin and forty percent lead or fifty-fifty if you get fifty-fifty but if you have any cuts, cover them up so you are not rubbing lead into them and try not to breathe the smoke.

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