I am making a 14k white gold belt buckle. I have never domed
anything this big before. Any tricks or techniques for smoothly
doing this??I have a sheet of 3"x4" 1/2 soft 14k white gold 1.5mm
thick from Hoover and Strong to work with.
Thanks
Ray
Ray, Native Americans forming silver buckles traditionally place
the silver on a very thick piece of felt (about 1" thick) and use
a large hardwood dowel slightly domed on one end, the hitting end
bound with wire, to form the buckle. You’re hitting one fairly
soft surface into another soft surface so it doesn’t make
impingement marks, forming by pushing, rather than compressing
the metal. I have also seen 2-part hardwood molds made by carving
used. The mold with the metal inserted between the 2 halves are
then placed between two pieces of steel blocks. One block on the
top part, one on the bottom of the mold. It’s struck with a fair
sized sledge a couple of times. Hope this helps. K.P. in Wyoming
Holli, Make a smaller radius by the thickness of the material you
are working with, then get some hard Urethane block material and
smash the gold down onto the pattern you have just made using a
large arbor press… (Works for me… Just keep shifting it
until you get what you want, remember there will be some
springback and it will take multiple hits… Best Wishes for
Success Bob