How To Remove 3 Silver Soldered Coins From A Sterling Silver Spoon - Help !

Update - visited 2 jewellers & both said they would do nothing more than I could do with a torch except one said he would 'Dip' or 'Clean' the coins before trying to remove them. Also he said he would use borax to help prevent oxidation while the coins are being heated. Not sure what effect the borax would have on the surface of the coins though.

They don't have solder wicking or sucking devices and never use them but one, a very nice lady suggested to pull the coins directly UP from the spoon as the solder won't spread as much and will want to stick to the spoon but I'm not sure she's right about that if the coins are cooler than the spoon when heating just the spoon which she already suggested and has been mentioned here as well.

I'm still trying to find an electronics store in MTL who will sell me the wick and solder pump because there's no point in going into this with just a torch and wishful thinking.

I don't see anything better than three severely damaged coins and a destroyed silver spoon, all in the melt bucket, at the end of this thread.

I have to agree that Spoons are for eating. I guess someone was trying to put their money where their mouth is...haha

I checked the local La Source (formerly Radio Shack) in MTL and they had nothing. This one is but a skeleton of the R.S. I remember growing up as a kid. The one where you could walking & walk out with a home electronics package like making a radio that actually worked. Today, this one targets the New Generation of kids with mobile phones and anything else that does it All for you....like two sides of a coin.

That's an interesting idea... I think I'll try that this weekend.

I forgot to mention, keep in mind that steel wool loves to burn from a flame, so you'll want to heat the spoon handle then remove the flame, then either suck the solder or wick it.

@ Alan... would be fun. Don't know how to set one up.

@january1may - yeah to someone who will likely want to do the same as me...

@M_d_in_guy - Yeah steel wool can be used in survival situations to get small fires going, I'll be careful...might even try scotch-brite...could melt but won't catch fire and being plastic, can be peeled off but I'll try to avoid hitting it with direct flame.

@Libertad - I'm not going anywhere near Borax or any chemical solution...would defeat the whole purpose in trying to rescue the coins.

Tonight picking up my mapp gas & mask from work and tomorrow will tackle it in daylight. Will publish the results here & will try to do a photo play by play or something to show the progression.

Surprisingly long thread.... If you're doing this tomorrow, maybe take a video of the action so we can see what happens!