I think there´s a still lot to do and explore in this field. In Sweden we have just recently (since a few years) been able to identify the debris from clay-package soldering; the sherds from the clay-packages. We can at this point clearly identify fragments from brazing weights (Birka, Sigtuna, Hedeby/Haithabu) and from soldering the different pieces of padlocks (bolts) together (Ribe, Bergen, Birka, Sigtuna and probably from Helgö).
As the use of the technology have been noticed, it is now possible to go back to older finds in the museums´ depositories, and trace these fragments among pieces earlier identified as "crucibles" and "unpecified burnt clay".
As the technology seem to have been very commonly used since at least the Migration period (Helgö) and up into the 12th and possibly 13th centuries (Sigtuna), it would be an interesting task to start looking for it on the continent and in Britain too; for a start, I thing it would be most rewarding to search in Viking Britain.
There´s not much published on it yet. I wrote a short essay on soldering weights:
Söderberg, A. Holmquist Olausson, L. 1997. On Bronzing Iron Objects - Archaeological Evidence of Weight-manufacture in Viking Age Scandinavia? In: Iskos 11. Proceedings of the VII Nordic Conference on the Application of Scientific Methods in Archaeology - Savonlinna, Finland, 7 - 11 September 1996. Edgren, T. (ed). Finska Fornminnesföreningen. Vammala.
Torbjörn Jakobsson Holbacks work of padlock-soldering in Ribe and Birka is so far only published in Swedish:
Jakobsson Holback, T. 1999. Svårtolkade spår efter en metallurgisk process - ett danskt exempel och dess paralleller i omvärlden. In: By, marsk og geest 11. Kieffer-Olsen, J. Bentheim, S. Feveile, C. Hammer, L. Mulvad, S. Skønager, L. (ed). Ribe Lokalarkiv & Den Antikvariske Samling i Ribe. Ribe.
As I´ve practiced the method myself in experiments, I would describe it as a very rational and "handy" method, offering good results in an easy way.
Anders Söderberg
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