Soldering: How to Do It by Horace Van Sands is a compact 1917 booklet about soldering as a household repair skill and a small repair trade. Its examples center on metal containers, joints, and attachments rather than electronic circuits.
Van Sands writes directly to an inexperienced reader, combining explanations of the soldering copper and surface preparation with examples drawn from washtubs, wash boilers, and coffee pots. His informal language and occasional humor give the pamphlet a distinctive voice. The complete discussion is short enough to read as a single introduction to the author’s approach.
Book details
- Title: Soldering: How to Do It
- Author and publisher: Horace Van Sands
- Place of publication: Los Angeles, California
- Publication and copyright year: 1917
- Edition: No numbered edition stated
- Language: English
- Length: 18 PDF pages, including covers and preliminary material; main text numbered 1–10
- Format: Scanned PDF with searchable text
- File size: 0.58 MB
The soldering copper and its condition
The opening discussion emphasizes the condition of the soldering tool and the surfaces being joined. The “iron” described in the booklet is a copper tool heated separately, rather than the temperature-controlled electric iron familiar in many present-day workshops.
Tinning the point receives particular attention. Van Sands links a properly prepared tip with its ability to take up and carry solder. He also discusses changing the tool’s shape and the effect of overheating on its tinned surface. These passages help readers recognize the vocabulary and equipment of an older metal-repair bench.
Cleaning, flux, and making a joint
A substantial portion of the short text concerns cleaning the work and the use of what the author calls “raw” and “killed” acid. He explains these terms in relation to the materials used in his method, then returns to them in the repair examples.
The useful historical lesson is the prominence given to preparation: Van Sands treats the condition of the tool, metal surface, and flux as connected parts of the result. His chemical explanations and broad claims should be read as those of the original author, rather than assumed to be a complete modern account of soldering.
Repairs to household metalware
The examples include a leaking galvanized washtub, a copper bottom joined to a wash boiler, and damaged enameled iron. The booklet describes these as ordinary household jobs, showing the kinds of objects that made small-scale soldering a familiar service.
Another example concerns attaching a coffee-pot spout. Here the author emphasizes first holding the parts with small tack joints, checking their alignment, and only then completing the join. This passage makes the fitting and positioning problem especially clear: joining metal is also a matter of keeping the parts in the intended relationship.
Van Sands also explains his use of the expression “tinker’s dam” in connection with preventing solder from running through a larger opening. The account is part of the booklet’s period workshop language and helps place its methods in the older repair trade.
Materials, tools, and repair work as a trade
Closing pages discuss solder, different sizes of soldering coppers, and the larger tools the author associated with heavier work. The alloy he describes contains tin and lead. His discussion belongs to household metalware of the period and is not a guide to selecting materials for modern food-contact repairs or electronics.
The final section turns to finding customers, charging for particular repairs, and using printed cards. These prices and claims about earnings are historical, but they reveal how Van Sands presented a portable manual skill as a possible livelihood. The booklet is therefore also a small record of repair economics and the expectation that damaged household goods could be mended.
Who this booklet is for
This reference suits readers interested in traditional repair skills, early workshop literature, household history, and the vocabulary of metal joining. It complements Ardbark’s self-sufficiency references and homesteading collection. Its narrow scope makes it a companion to broader metalworking books rather than an exhaustive soldering handbook.
About this historical scan
The title and copyright pages both give 1917. The PDF retains its original cover, library marks, and scanned typography. Searchable text contains recognition errors, so use the page images when checking the author’s exact wording.
The booklet describes corrosive acids, lead-containing solder, and handling practices that should not be copied as current safety guidance. Use present-day product instructions, ventilation, protective equipment, and suitable materials for practical work. This overview preserves the historical subject without reproducing chemical preparation instructions.
Read Soldering: How to Do It
The complete booklet is available in the 0.58 MB PDF below.
