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Hammering finish

#1

I never did much hammer finish on silver. When I did I rounded the
tips of several sizes of nails. Press the rounded tip of the nail on
the silver and wack the nail with a hammer. Continually move the
nail around as you hit it.

The silver was laying on a steel plate.

I flattened the end of large nails. Drill a hole in the center of the
tip and cut grooves radiating away from the hole. Use this to stamp
patterns into the silver. With a little creativity you can design
many patterns.

These home made tools will not last long but will do for a few jobs
before having to reshape them.

If that fails look at page 89 of the Rio Grande tool catalog. They
have many sizes of punches that could be used to produce hammered
texture.

Lee Epperson

#2

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.

Sam.

#3

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.

Great advice!

However, another example of being separated by a common language. In
the US the material you’re describing is called ‘drill rod’. It’s
available in all the common drill sizes. There are typically 3 types
of it available, water hardening, oil hardening & air hardening. The
least expensive is water hardening, most expensive, air hardening.
It’s typically available from industrial suppliers in pieces 36
inches long.

Another source of hardenable steel is the use of cut nails. In the
US, these are also called concrete nails. They’re used for nailing
wood to concrete. They’re available at many hardware stores & home
centers.

If you use concrete nails, you’ll have to anneal them before putting
the design in/on them. Then heat them again & quench in water.

Dave

#4

Ah…and don’t forget that old worn out files are a wonderful
source of excellent metal for making stamps, chasing tools etc. Just
anneal, shape and temper. Oscar Branson’s book on Indian Jewelry has
an illustrated section on how to do it.

Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SO FL where simple
eligence IS fine jewelry! @coralnut2

#5

Some of the concrete nails have interesting textures included, just
shape them up [after annealing}, the remove the point then reharden.
Concrete nail around hear seem to be oil hardening, oil hardening
mildly limits rust.

Ed {sweltering in the soupy air of Southern Illinois}

#6

Hi, Lee,

If that fails look at page 89 of the Rio Grande tool catalog.
They have many sizes of punches that could be used to produce
hammered texture.

Pardon me for asking, but why not make a hammered texture with, you
know… a hammer? I love my so-called embossing hammer, peddinghaus
14oz.

Noel

#7

Hi All;

One of the best steels I’ve ever used for making punches is a
material called “flutagon” or Atlantic A-33. This is an air hardening
steel, which means that tempering/hardening it is practically fool
proof, just get it hot enough and let it cool at room temperature,
voila, it’s at proper hardness. Plus, you can work on hot materials
without losing the temper. I doubt many of you have done hot forging
and cutting with non-ferrous metals, but it’s big fun taking a 2 inch
diameter bar of silver, putting it in a forge, then working it red
hot under a 900 pound Reiter air hammer. :slight_smile: Moves like butter.

Anyway, I don’t know all the sizes flutagon comes in, but I seem to
remember it came in rods as small as 1/4 inch diameter. One nice
feature of the material is its cross section. A sort of squarish rod
with flutes, like a Doric column. It’s perfect for chasing tools,
since it’s got a built in grip. Here’s a link to a source.

http://www.msmw.com/Metals.htm

David L. Huffman

#8 
Pardon me for asking, but why not make a hammered texture with,
you know... a hammer? I love my so-called embossing hammer,
peddinghaus 14oz.

I also use my small embossing hammer for setting cabs in silver
mounts.

Sam.