Hammering Finish

Jewelry Discussion
1

Dear All,

Hi can someone help me on how to do acheive the hammering finish on
the gold & silver jewelry.

Thanks
Dinesh Upadhyay
Tache Jewelry
India

Note From Ganoksin Staff:
Looking for a hammer for your jewelry projects? We recommend:

2

I use a half inch diameter ball peine hammer with metal to be
textured resting on a large block of lead.

If hammer finishing a ring use a triblet for support but remember it
will increase the ring size.

Sam.

3

If the piece allows it, use a dapping punch and a stout hammer. If
it’s awkward, or if it’s a ring and the size will change from
pounding on it, I use a large round bur to make the texture, and then
finish it with ShoFu bullets.

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com

4

If a hammer will’not do try a ball bur

Don in Idaho

5 
I use a large round bur to make the texture, and then finish it
with ShoFu bullets.

Can you explain what ShoFu bullets are? Are they hard or soft felt
bullets? Never heard them called ShoFu.

K

6 
If hammer finishing a ring use a triblet for support but remember it
will increase the ring size.

What’s a triblet???

Miche

7

Hi Miche,

What's a triblet???

google triblets under graphics, and you’ll see the picture of it.
It’s a ring mandrel.

Best regards,
ekrem.

8

shofu is a brand name otto frei carries them :slight_smile: they are silicone
rubber bullets, discs, wheels

Teri
Silver & Cameo Heritage Jewelry
www.corneliusspick.com

9

A triblet is a tapered round hardened steel tool that is marked off
in ring sizes and used to make rings perfectly round with a hide
hammer or a steel one if you wish to enlarge the ring size or to
impart a hammered finish. In the UK we can also buy oval triblets
that are used to fashion bezels for setting cabs.

If they have them in America I would like to know what you call
them?

Sam.

10

Kay,

Shofu is a specific brand name for a line of fine rubberized
abrasives–mounted and unmounted-- used primarily in the dental
industry by lab techs and, to some degree, dentists.

When I discovered them, they could only be found in dental supply
catalogues. (I worked as a crown and bridge tech. for a while). At
some point, enough people had discovered them that Rio began selling
them as silicone polishers. (I see that they are now calling them
"Shofu") They only sell the fine (brown) and xtrafine (green) and not
the super xtra fine, which is overkill any way. You can go directly
to rouge from the brown wheels…

One advantage to having an xtrafine wheel is that it works really
well to mirror polish just the very tops of things without effecting
lower areas. Better, even, than a hard felt wheel.

The knife edge shape and the bullet shapes are the ones that I use
most. You can shape them against an old cut off wheel or separating
disc—never a file-- and the knife edge wheel will polish down in a
saw cut.

I save these abrasives for special occasions. They don’t last very
long–despite what the catalogue says-- and are best held back for
specific purposes.

Take care, Andy Cooperman

11

Sheesh, Miche, where have ya been hiding… such a protected life…
never heard guys in bars or at the ballgame talking about
triblets…

triblet

\Trib"let, Tribolet \Trib"o*let, n.] [F. triboulet.] 1. A
goldsmith’s tool used in making rings. --Ainsworth.

  1. A steel cylinder round which metal is drawn in the process of
    forming tubes. --Tomlinson.

  2. (Blacksmithing) A tapering mandrel.

Source : Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1996, 1998 MICRA,
Inc.

grin Mark

12

Hi Sam…

If you want to make punches that last, I suggest that you buy
"Silver steel" which is sold in all diameters and can be hardened
by heating to cherry red and quenching in water, then polishing and
tempering to dark straw colour and re quenching.

I think in the States we call this type of steel W-1…or water
hardening… It’s also known as drill rod in the round form, usually
sold in 3 foot lengths…

O-1 drill rod will also work for this… One quenches in oil or
transmission fluid and follows the same procedure in terms of
tempering, etc…

In both cases the material is supplied annealed, so shaping, if
needed, is easily done…

A triblet is a tapered round hardened steel tool that is marked off
in ring sizes and used to make rings perfectly round with a hide
hammer or a steel one if you wish to enlarge the ring size or to
impart a hammered finish. In the UK we can also buy oval triblets
that are used to fashion bezels for setting cabs. If they have them
in America I would like to know what you call them?

Sam, we call them mandrels… Ring mandrels, bezel mandrels…etc.

To confuse the issue there are a large number of other tools that
are referred to as mandels also…and usually the qualifier in front
of “mandrel” helps one figure out what’s being referred to…

Gary W. Bourbonais
A.J.P. (GIA)

13

Well call me crazy but I do mine with a hammer.

I polish the piece first, I hit it repeatedly with a polished hammer
(green rogue is good for steel) and then rouge the piece again
(after checking for warping, if you apply the finnish evenly over the
whole piece you’ll be pleased with the minimum of warping). I also
usually preffer the look of cross-peen over ball-peen but what ever
works with the piece.

Norah Kerr
www.besmithian.com

14

Hi Sam,.

If they have them in America I would like to know what you
callthem?

Another case of being separated by a common language.

We’ve got all kinds of triblets in the US. Only here they’re called
‘ring mandrels’. They’re made as you described. Besides round,
they’re available in square, ‘D’ shape & one that’s round on one
side & sort of flat on the other.

The ones used by most bench jewelers are made of steel, However, you
can find some made of aluminum, wood & plastic. These are usually
used for checking ring sizes at the counter. This really isn’t too
good of a practice, since many times the size marked on the this
type of mandrel doesn’t conform to the size on the steel mandrel the
bench jeweler uses.

There are also steel ‘forming’ mandrels available that are
essentially the same size as ring mandrels. These are available in
rectangular, square octagonal, oval & round.

Dave

15

Hi Gary thank you for your lengthy reply,

I made flat drills and D bit drills from silver steel or as you say
W-1, they were used for drilling brass on the old automatic flat cam
bar autos also the sliding head Swiss machines.

Sam.

16

G’day; I find that unless one is very good and accurate with a ball
pein hammer, it is better to use a simple polished ball ended punch
of hardened and tempered silver steel. Very easy to make and to
finally polish with tripoli. Use it to put the little dents exactly
where they are needed. I am not that good with a hammer, though I
have a little one I made for doing that.

Cheers for now,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua, Nelson NZ

17

Thanks for the reply Dave, I never thought of using concrete nails,
over here they go under the trade name of “OBO”, however I think that
you would be restricted on the diameters.

Sam.

18

Hi, Andy,

Rio began selling them as silicone polishers. (I see that they are
now calling them "Shofu") They only sell the fine (brown) and
xtrafine (green) and not the super xtra fine, which is overkill
any way. You can go directly to rouge from the brown wheels...

Do you mean the ones Rio calls “AdvantEdge Plus”? The only other
ones with these colors are Cratex.

Thanks!
Noel

19 
The ones used by most bench jewelers are made of steel, However,
you can find some made of aluminum, wood & plastic.

Yeah, they used to make mandrels in rubber too, and by the time I
got around to ordering one of those, they weren’t making them any
more. Bummer. I seem to be getting a lot of rings to size with
non-round shanks. I’m having to use various places on my own fingers
to figure out what the size is/will be, by comparing some place on a
finger with a standard sizer. I’m about ready to try to come up with
my own rubber one, maybe RTV compound cast into shape around a foam
rubber core, but what media to cast it in? Plaster’s too porous, clay
might screw up the compound’s setting chemistry. Any ideas?

David L. Huffman

20

I have one of the rubber ring mandrels for measuring odd shaped
rings, it is hollow with a wall thickness of about 1-1.5mm. Why not
cast one in alginate in a bit of plastic pipe to keep it straight
then glue a bit of dowel on the end of your mandrel to act as a core
to give you a smaller size,would need a bit of fiddling with to keep
central. Use a size stamped mandrel, trying to write on RTV silicone
is a waste of time.

Tim Blades.