Sorry for the lack of updates Pards,
I did get a new torch which makes a world of difference when it comes to soldering, LOL.
Also our good pal John Cohea gave me a call and offered a couple suggestions and confirmed one of my fears, that the sheet I got for the project is really just too thin for this application.
When I ordered the materials I was on the fence of which thickness to get and unfortunately I went the wrong way. This isn't a huge problem other than I've got to order another sheet of silver and wait for it's arrival and the supplier is closed on the weekend. I'll get it ordered tomorrow and be back in the works in no time.
Another tip John gave was to use silver brazing rod to do the side seams. This is a great tip because the brazing rod will melt at around 1100 degrees and the silver solder melts at 430 degrees. Using the high temp rod on the side seams will prevent the sides from comming apart when soldering the top on so I'm gonna try and track down some brazing rod also. It should be available from the local welders supply and easy to obtain but I'll find out for sure tomorrow.
Learning on the fly can be tough at times but I find sevaral things. 1. Lessons learned by the school of hard knocks are not soon forgotten. 2. Many folks limit their own abilities by remaining fence sitters who say, Oh I'll learn to do that one day.
Shouldn't take but a day or 2 to get the new silver sheet so stick with us pards
-Josh