Water Prism Step 9 ... How Do You Tin the Foil?

by Cathy
(Spring Green, WI)

I think I am having problems with terms. I do not clearly understand what tinning is, and I am not sure how you would tin foil?

Answer

In the stained glass world, tinning means to put a very light coating of solder on foil, wire, or whatever needs to be tinned. You flux whatever you are going to tin, then basically run the soldering iron over it using just a drop of solder. The tinned piece will then look silver, having enough solder on it to make it easier to solder it to another piece.

If you double click on the picture at step 9 you will see how the foil is tinned/silver on the front and the edge, but the foil on the inside edge of the bevel is still copper. The reason why is explained in step 9.