Lapidaryforum.net
Rockin' Jewelry => Gold, Silver, Other Metals, Casting and Fabrication => Topic started by: Phishisgroovin on August 17, 2014, 05:24:11 PM
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making the bezel and backings for a couple earrings, melted a hole in one trying to solder a jump ring on, i feel like and idiot. :sad5:
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i did start using a charcoal block to solder on, the heat transfer is way different than say on my fire brick or tripod.
Yeah, im blaming it on the charcoal.
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Yeah, that's good blame the charcoal, poor charcoal block. I used a charcoal block for a long time and then got a ceramic pad, bid difference there too, started melting silver again, still liked my charcoal block and tripod but you do tend to get used to one way of doing soldering and if it works well for you why change it up? Now I mostly use my charcoal block for making round balls, it's really good for that, I take one of my ball burs and make a series of half round holes in one side of the block and then put small scraps of silver in them and then apply heat until they start to spin, remove heat and let them cool, pickle and rinse, they are now ready to go.
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Hi Bent,
Yep, been using the charcoal block for ball making for years, but can't imagine using it for anything else. No, not true. Sometimes if I need to hold something really large and irregular I will carve a block for holding that and soldering.
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You just hack a 16 dollar block up?
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You know, we actually have a forum section for discussing silver. :thumbsup:
I do have some pieces of fine silver - prong that came off a metal clay piece in the cleaning process after firing that would make some fine balls. maybe I should look into getting fuel for my torch and making some balls to add to my silver clay creations.
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Well, my block is only about 2x2x4" or so, and I've had it way too long to remember how much I paid for it. But yeah, I just hack it up.
Amanda, I have made some of the neatest granulation "look" pieces with metal clay. Instead of fusing the balls to the metal I used the metal clay oil paste and it worked fantastic! Let me see if I can find one of those pieces...
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Indeed that looks fantastic! :thumbsup: Love the granulation! I have oil overlay paste, and I have scrap clay I can add olive oil to to create some oil paste. A lot of folks use lavender - I can't due to being allergic to it! Breathing is not optional!
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I didn't actually use scrap clay. I cut up pieces of thin bezel wire. Bezel wire, in silver (at least any that I have ever found ready made) is made from fine silver rather than sterling. That makes it softer for setting stones, but in this case it is the perfect supply for even cuts or snips that easily come out very similar in size for granulation. HIH And no, I agree, breathing is something you should give serious consideration to!
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I didn't actually use scrap clay. I cut up pieces of thin bezel wire. Bezel wire, in silver (at least any that I have ever found ready made) is made from fine silver rather than sterling. That makes it softer for setting stones, but in this case it is the perfect supply for even cuts or snips that easily come out very similar in size for granulation. HIH And no, I agree, breathing is something you should give serious consideration to!
I didn't use scrap clay either. I only take dried scrap clay and mix it with olive oil to create an oil paste if I don't have any handy.
The pieces I want to make into granules are fired prongs that broke off a piece when I was cleaning it after firing.
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My charcoal block cracked apart on it's own just from use, so it was a natural hack. I never thought about using it for silver balls- great tip!
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Awhile back I bought one of those fake charcoal blocks, you know the one made from compressed sawdust, they don't crack apart like the ones made from natural wood. There is a way to keep your charcoal block more of less in one chunk, wrap binding wire around the outside of it to keep from falling apart, jewelers have been doing that for ages and ages.
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Amanda, I have made some of the neatest granulation "look" pieces with metal clay. Instead of fusing the balls to the metal I used the metal clay oil paste and it worked fantastic! Let me see if I can find one of those pieces...
Hi, I've never worked with PMC, so if I understand you right you're saying you used the metal clay oil paste and heat to attach those balls to the ring instead of soldering? Interesting!