Now the problem I see. The author says that you should care about the three corners (other than the one where the two ends meet) and they should form right angles. After soldering the three corners you should address the last one, either by fitting a sliver of metal or by filing the excess away.
The one where the ends don’t meet and you have to fit a sliver of metal is clear and no problem there. But what about the other case? How is one supposed to have three right angle corners if the ends don’t meet properly and hence form an angle that will not allow at least one other corner to form a right angle? More so, once the other three corners are soldered, how can you file the ends to meet properly?
The easiest way to get the best corners is to use a miter cutting tool like this:
Alan Revere shows how to use one in I think the last video of his set, making a box.
Basically you put a strip of metal in the vise at a 45* angle and carefully file against the metal until you are almost completely through it, or as close as you dare. You can then gently bend it at that spot.
You can get the same results without the miter cutter by starting a cut with a saw and then using a square file.
Since the uncut hinge makes getting a perfect 90* difficult, file a little on each side of the cut to open the angle a bit.
The hinge will be very fragile, so do not bend it back & forth or it will break.
You can make a box from four separate pieces with perfect 45* mitered ends, but setting that up for soldering is more difficult.
I should have added that it is a good idea to use binding wire to hold the box when soldering. If you have really thin hinges in the corners they can melt in the blink of an eye and come apart. Been there, done that.
after reading #8 and 9, my brain is thinking that what he is saying is…
it sounds like he is assuming that the 4 sides are measured/ calculated to fit at 45 degree angles…more or less
…so, the open corner should fit more or less at a 45 degree angle as well…
(if your 4th leg is not pretty much cut/ filed to pretty much the correct length, then you will have the situation you are thinking of…but, still, because the metal is soft, you can manipulate the longer open end to allow you to still get the 45 degree angles on the first 3 corners, ie: torque it ever so slightly, …side to side…like when you are tightening a jumpring…
when you file the “V” groove(s) and bend first 3 meitered corner(s), you have a teeny bit of leeway…ie: pushing the legs closer together or pulling them out a teeny bit to get the 45 degree angle…(as you are filing the “V”, go slowly so as not to over-file the “V”)
you will also have this bit of “leeway” at the open corner…to file/ fill the meitered gap…
…you can later file/ sand the sides/ corner to get a crisper 45 degree angle…or not, if you want a softer angle…
Alan Revere has a group on FB, Let’s Make Professional Jewelry, that follows the projects in his book. The group was created 5 years ago so all of the projects have been covered and many questions asked.
