Composite Tubing

Hi all,

This thing started off many years ago. I inserted round copper wire
into round 18kt. tubing that I had made in the traditional
goldsmithing sense, and then drew or rolled both metals down in a
drawplate to the dimensions that I needed. Normally this was in a
square drawplate. But sometimes other shapes were called for. For
the purpose of this missive, let us remain with the square shape.
This composite wire is easy to bend into intricate shapes. Because
the copper was inside the gold surround, it held the outside shape
true and loops, twirls and all manner of shapes were possible. After
I had bent the wire into the shape that I wanted, I would file the
top off. This left the copper exposed, with side and bottom “walls”
of gold.

This can be seen at neW104b

in a simple design where the copper was not etched out. After that
I would etch the copper out with nitric acid. It would take a couple
of hours and leave me with a basic “U” channel of gold if I was
using square tubing. There are advantages that are achieved with
this slightly labor intensive method. Namely: Wall thickness can be
determined before hand. Sharp curves can be bent without and
collapsing or deformation of what is essentially square tubing.
(or, for that matter, any shaped tubing). This allows exact
measurements of inlays, channel set stones, enamel and organic
materials and for them to be inserted more easily. This was the
prime reason for me developing this technique. Much more precision.
Okay, okay, so I am leading up to a point. So, it dawned on yours
truly, early one fine blue sky morning that the center wire which
was always copper, and need not necessarily be copper. It could be
any metal. And after I had realized that the center metal need not
be etch-able and it could be any metal of my choosing, including my
most favorite metal, titanium, I did just that… “Light Bulb”
time---- If you made different sizes of tubing in different types
of metals and inserted them in to each other, then drew them
through a draw plate collectively you would get a composite layered
wire type of thing. Then if you filed them in an appropriate
manner?

So, — with that idea in mind, go look at:

http://www.meevis.com/Tips5.htm

This is stuff that I am sure has been done many times down through
the ages. I hold no pretensions of the newness to it. But I would
love to see others take it further.

Hans Meevis
http://www.meevis.com

Hans,

Have you ever tried filling the tube with water soluble wax. After
bending into shape you just place the tube into some warm water to
remove the wax core.

Greg DeMark
email: greg@demarkjewelry.com
Website: www.demarkjewelry.com
Custom Jewelry - Handmade Jewelry - Antique Jewelry

Wow Hans, looks like fun, and with wonderful results, too. Makes me
want to go and play.

cheers, Christine in SA

Bravo Hans! Your technique may not be new to everyone but it’s new,
and very interesting, to me. Thank you for taking the time to
prepare and post this.

Cheers,
Trevor F.
in The City of Light
www.touchmetal.com

Thanks Hans. Nice work, great presentation and thanks for the humor
and access. I agree, with your tune, "when we don’t keep “secrets"
we all gain something.” I am in concert with your tune and it is
definitly in concert with the purpose of this website.

Murray

I think that this is innovative. You have generously shared the
technique with descriptions and pictures. Thank you for sharing.

marilyn

Hans,

Thank you for sharing your most lovely and unique technique! The
blueing of the titanium adds a vibrant accent. Now, how about
soldering a couple or three of the composite tubes together and
pulling them through the draw plate. I think some exquisite patterns
would be revealed.

Very cool!
Judy in Kansas

Thanks for the nice words. Agreed. Keep no secrets.Much more is
given in return…

Hans