- 1). File off the parts of the excess solder that you can with a jewelry file. You want to remove the chunks that will be brittle and come off easily. Stop before your file starts to score the gold coin itself. Gold is generally softer than solder is, and is easy to abrade.
- 2). Press the plunger down on the solder sucker; the solder sucker works like a syringe -- it creates a vacuum and sucks up the newly melted solder.
- 3). Turn on the soldering iron, and touch it to the solder you want to remove; the solder will melt. Quickly move the solder sucker over the molten solder and pull back on the plunger to pull it up. Repeat melting the solder and using the solder sucker to remove it until it becomes difficult to catch any more.
- 4). Heat up the soldering wick with the soldering iron, and place it near one of the solder remnants. Use the soldering iron to melt the solder, which will then be pulled up by capillary action through the copper soldering wick. The soldering wick also has soldering flux embedded in it -- this will de-oxidize metals the wick comes in contact with and speed up the process. This process will usually 'fill' about a quarter of an inch of soldering wick with solder. Snip this off and heat up the next bit of soldering wick and continue until the coin is cleaned.
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