When mentioning tools of the trade, I only hit on hammers (no pun intended), pliers, bench pins, bench blocks... and a few others. I didn't get into the actual heavy pieces of equipment that are a staple in a good workroom.
I own some nice pieces of equipment, though they are not always intended for jewelry making. I have an anvil that is pretty generic. Actually, several anvils of different sizes. I employ a trailer hitch for shaping, I have a rolling mill, soldering equipment... welding unit...
The tools that you use depend on what you are wanting to make. It is totally unnecessary to have a rolling mill unless you want to roll your own metals, or use it to make impressions in said metal...or if you want to draw your own wire. It is really not even necessary to have a mill for drawing wire. For millennia, wire has been drawn manually, so having a rolling mill is a treat. I'm adding this video on filigree work, because it shows the method of melting silver to make wire, using techniques that have been around since metalwork has been around. melting, pouring drawing the wire... this is how I learned to make wire. The method is similar to make ingots to roll in a mill for sheet.
Soldering equipment is a must have for the well equipped workroom, though. One can make cold connections, and never use heat to work, but eventually, it is going to come into need. If not an actual soldering unit, then a means to anneal your metal.
I have to admit, when I am out of gas, I have a kiln that I use to anneal... I know, I know...
Annealing is a necessity. Metal is made up of molecules that, when worked with a hammer or by any means of vibrations... the molecules line up in a manner that makes the metal hard. Once hard, the metal will, if worked more, begin to crack. Once annealed, the molecules of the metal relax and the piece may be worked again. The process needs to be repeated at regular intervals to keep the metal pliable.
So, if you stamp metal to get a design, or roll the metal to get a design, the metal starts to harden. Wire, sheet... it doesn't matter. If stressed past the point of malleability, the metal will begin to have stress cracks, if not break into pieces.
Soldering is a method of using heat to join two pieces of metal together.
This is a nice video from Brian Gavin Diamonds, showing the process of soldering.
This method of joining takes time to perfect. Too large of a flame, the metal can melt, too little and the pieces will not join well, if you don't clean the metal before hand or don't use some type of flux, the pieces will not have a good join and the failure of that joint is eminent.
I wanted to learn how to weld because I wanted to make metal sculptures. I had tried to perfect the method of joining tin together using solder, which can be a tricky process, but my brother was an electrician and gave me the tips to be able to achieve some success with the steps to the process. But I wanted to learn more. I love brass, and thought having the knowledge to join brass together to make a sculpture would be wonderful... but how about steel? That would be even better...
And that is how I got into making jewelry.
Yes, it is a round about way.
I found that working with metal, especially cutting out metal, left some pretty cool pieces leftover. And I cut out a dragon to place onto another piece of metal, and the thought occurred to me...shrunk down, that would make an awesome pendant!
And the rest is not quite history, but what is continually being worked on!
A special thanks goes out to Brian Gavin Diamonds, they will be featured in the series on October 26th and 27th.
I own some nice pieces of equipment, though they are not always intended for jewelry making. I have an anvil that is pretty generic. Actually, several anvils of different sizes. I employ a trailer hitch for shaping, I have a rolling mill, soldering equipment... welding unit...
The tools that you use depend on what you are wanting to make. It is totally unnecessary to have a rolling mill unless you want to roll your own metals, or use it to make impressions in said metal...or if you want to draw your own wire. It is really not even necessary to have a mill for drawing wire. For millennia, wire has been drawn manually, so having a rolling mill is a treat. I'm adding this video on filigree work, because it shows the method of melting silver to make wire, using techniques that have been around since metalwork has been around. melting, pouring drawing the wire... this is how I learned to make wire. The method is similar to make ingots to roll in a mill for sheet.
Soldering equipment is a must have for the well equipped workroom, though. One can make cold connections, and never use heat to work, but eventually, it is going to come into need. If not an actual soldering unit, then a means to anneal your metal.
I have to admit, when I am out of gas, I have a kiln that I use to anneal... I know, I know...
Annealing is a necessity. Metal is made up of molecules that, when worked with a hammer or by any means of vibrations... the molecules line up in a manner that makes the metal hard. Once hard, the metal will, if worked more, begin to crack. Once annealed, the molecules of the metal relax and the piece may be worked again. The process needs to be repeated at regular intervals to keep the metal pliable.
So, if you stamp metal to get a design, or roll the metal to get a design, the metal starts to harden. Wire, sheet... it doesn't matter. If stressed past the point of malleability, the metal will begin to have stress cracks, if not break into pieces.
Soldering is a method of using heat to join two pieces of metal together.
This method of joining takes time to perfect. Too large of a flame, the metal can melt, too little and the pieces will not join well, if you don't clean the metal before hand or don't use some type of flux, the pieces will not have a good join and the failure of that joint is eminent.
I wanted to learn how to weld because I wanted to make metal sculptures. I had tried to perfect the method of joining tin together using solder, which can be a tricky process, but my brother was an electrician and gave me the tips to be able to achieve some success with the steps to the process. But I wanted to learn more. I love brass, and thought having the knowledge to join brass together to make a sculpture would be wonderful... but how about steel? That would be even better...
And that is how I got into making jewelry.
Yes, it is a round about way.
I found that working with metal, especially cutting out metal, left some pretty cool pieces leftover. And I cut out a dragon to place onto another piece of metal, and the thought occurred to me...shrunk down, that would make an awesome pendant!
And the rest is not quite history, but what is continually being worked on!
A special thanks goes out to Brian Gavin Diamonds, they will be featured in the series on October 26th and 27th.
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