Chain and bracelet making

I have tried to make chain and bracelets in the past out of
links. I had a difficult time with it. It was very difficult to
solder the links together and I always seemed to solder two or
more links together. Can anybody offer technique hints or ideas
for link soldering jigs??

Marshall Jones
@Bob_Jones

…I always seemed to solder two or
more links together…

I haven’t done a lot of chain construction, but I know when
repairing chains, placing a piece of scrap copper sheet (1/2"x1")
over the adjoining links provides enough of a heat sink to
prevent the solder from flowing down the chain. This approach
may work for at least some chain designs.

Good Luck.

Sharon

Go to Ganoksin, Tips from the jewelers bench. Lloyd

Hi Marshall,

I’m definitely not a chain making whiz, but I might be able to
share a couple ideas. First, solder together a handful of single
jump rings. Then join sets of two with a single unclosed ring. I
solder the third ring by sticking a bent paperclip into my
soldering block. The paperclip sticks up for a few inches, bends
back down then has a hook bent up in the end. I hang the soldered
links on the hook, with the single unsoldered ring hanging down,
with the join to be soldered at the bottom. This works pretty
well to isolate the area to be soldered from the other rings.
Even if you melt a ring (which I do occasionally), it still
doesn’t hurt the others.

When you have several sets of three rings, you can then join
them into sets of seven with another unsoldered link. Solder this
link in the same manner as before, with the link to be soldered
hanging down, isolated from the other soldered links. If you’re
working on a long chain, keeping the “tails” out of the way can be
a little tricky, but not too difficult.

I hope something here helps!

Dave Sebaste

1 Like

I’ve found that clipping a third hand to the two ajacent links
with the link to be soldered sticking up joint at top works well
for me- also works when soldering charm links when adding charms
to a bracelet.

Rick Hamilton

Richard D.
Hamilton,Jr.

Goldsmith

<http://www.rick-hamilton.com

@rick_hamilton

On 15-Jan-97, Bob Jones wrote aboutchain and bracelet making:

BJ> I have tried to make chain and bracelets in the past out of
BJ> links. I had a difficult time with it. BJ> Marshall Jones

G’day - wot, 'im agin? Yus: I’ve made a few chains and my
tuppeny trick is to get a small tin lid - about 2 1/2 inches
diameter and about 1/2inch deep and fill it with lead. Drill a
small hole in the back end of a pair of cross spring forceps and
file or grind a reasonable point on the business ends. Use a self
tapping screw to fasten the forceps to the lead in such a way
that the forceps part cover the lead. You can hang chain links,
rings an all sorts of other useful things by the point of the
forceps - and the narrow point won’t act too much as a heatsink.
Wouldn’t be without 'em.

        /\
       / /    John Burgess, 
      / /
     / //\    johnb@ts.co.nz
    / / \ \
   / (___) \
  (_________)

In a message dated 97-01-15 06:54:56 EST, you write:

<< I have tried to make chain and bracelets in the past out of
links. I had a difficult time with it. It was very difficult to
solder the links together and I always seemed to solder two or
more links together. Can anybody offer technique hints or ideas
for link soldering jigs??

Marshall Jones
jones@perigee.net >>

I can only suggest that you don’t solder the links while they
are laying flat. I made two “hangers” from clothes hangers (
about 2 inches high) from which I suspend the links. I solder
the one hanging in the middle. Quench, move the links and solder
another. It seems to be rather easy to do it this way once you
get the hang of it.

                               V___|        |
                                                |
                                                |


                                              |      (each
                                              hanger

looks kind of like this)

hang links from what appears to be the “v” in this diagram

This method was discovered in an OLD (no longer in print)
jewelry making book, sorry, I don’t know who the author was.

Have fun! It gets easier with practice!

1 Like