Add silver lining to wood bracelets

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi everyone,

I am a woodworker and make wood jewelry. I make Ebony bracelets that
I would like to add silver to the inner circumference of the bangle.
These bangles have a flat inside with a small radius on each inside
edge. They are 17 to 25 mm wide

I was thinking I could roll the silver up the radius to secure it. I
work with wood tools, so my methods might seem a bit odd.

My idea is to create the lining by soldering a strip of silver 2 mm
wider then the width of the bracelet. I would then slide the lining
in the bracelet and put it on the lathe. I would spin the silver and
roll it over.

I have read “Goldsmithing & Silver Work: Jewelry, Vessels &
Ornaments” By Carles Codina.

I have never worked with silver in this way and wonder if anyone has
any suggestions for rpm etc.

Thanks
Mark Noll

2

Bonjour Mark

I made several wood/silver rings on the same pattern. It is the same
principle than tube rivets but wider. Depending on the quality and
thikness of the wood (ebony being quite brittle) I use a ‘double
tube rivet’.

So silver is hammered onto silver and not hiting the wooden part.
(… can’t explain it better…I can send you a sketch of this
offlist if you want) Make sure that your silver is very well
annealed to prevent cracking when you’ll spin or hammer it. You could
also consider using fine silver for softness.

salut
Juliette Arda
Artiste Bijoutiere
Aix en Provence, France

3 
I have never worked with silver in this way and wonder if anyone
has any suggestions for rpm etc

Mark, hopefully someone who has spun metal will reply, as I have not.
It’s pretty straighforward stuff, though. I’d say your biggest issues
wil be workholding and making sure the seam doesn’t split on your
silver. And having the ebony split, which I’m sure you’re onto. Try
this site: http://www.metalspinningworkshop.com

Lindsay’s technical books (google) used to have a book called Metal
Spinning, which is a reprint, which I have… But I can’t read the
whole book here, of course. I’d think your biggest problem will be
workholding - holding the silver straight inside the ebony under
pressure and then turning it around the other way - but it’s a pretty
common spinning task, really.

4

Hi mark,

I have done exactly what you are suggesting, the only difference is
that I did it with gold. I had a customer who had an ebony bangle
that was a family treasure. I did exactly what you are saying you
want to do so here are a few tips. First I would suggest that the
silver liner should have one edge turned up before you slide it into
the wood, this will save the sleeve moving when you spin the other
edge. I set my bangle, which was three quarters of an inch wide,into
a turned recess of a wooden chuck so that it was a tight fit. Then I
spun the remaining edge over using a turning tool. I polished the
half round back of a one inch turning tool and this made a perfect
spinning tool, I used beeswax as a lubricant, I am assuming that you
know the principles of metal spinning. The metal that I used was
half millimeter thick and well annealed before spinning. I also used
a small amount of super glue to hold the sleeve in place on the
bracelet while spinning the second edge.

I hope this all makes sense good luck.

James Miller in the UK
see some of my past work here
https://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/jmdesign.htm

5

Mark,

I would suggest that you use fine silver strip, 28 or 30 gauge. Using
fine silver will allow you to easily burnish the edges over the
interior radius by hand. You will need a burnisher similar to
#113-017 in the Rio Grande catalog @ $7.50. It shouldn’t take more
than a few minutes.

Joel
Joel Schwalb
www.schwalbstudio.com