your fingers will become a source of pride instead of a source of aggravation and pain.
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to combine two threads, this one
and Photography 101! When I prepare process shots for my kits and
Art Jewelry Magazine articles, I spend more time retouching my
fingertips than any other part of the photos. I guess I’ll never be
comfortable, let alone proud about how ugly my nails and hands always
look.
Noel
For rings you can use an ‘inside ring clamp/holder’. The ones I have
are metal and adjust easily to hold any size of ring from the inside
so you can work on the outside. I just wash it off with the ring.
Just remember that part of holding it is if there is a stone in it
and it becomes to hot to hold it is a good time to let it cool anyway
as most stones don’t like heat more than what we can touch.
Gesswein has a wooden holder
http://tinyurl.com/5r7cxh
Karen Bahr
Karen’s Artworx
If the work is cast, I leave the sprue on untill I have to cut it
off. The sprue on a ring can be held in a cut down needle nosed vice
grip. This allows a lot of access to the piece for filing, burring,
sanding and pre polishing. I hold the small vice grip in the V of my
bench pin.
Then I cut off and finish where the sprue was. My fingers thank me.
Robb.
This thread has a lot in the archives.
That said…There is a material wrap that Stuller and most other
tool suppliers sell that is like a wrap of fabric tape. It is tacky
on itself but won’t stick like tape to other materials. Item#232501
Works well, protects the fingers and still gives you a good feel for
what you are holding.
Mark
Hello everyone,
I want to STRONGLY second James Binnion’s advice - DO NOT WEAR
GLOVES around polishing wheels or anything else that spins rapidly,
nor finger cots, nor anything else on your fingers. Cloth, rubber,
leather need only a slight contact with a piece of spinning
machinery to get caught and pulled faster than you can respond -
goodbye finger!
I can’t believe there is so much bad advice being put out on this
particular subject. Yes the work gets hot. Use a slower wheel. dip
your piece in water a lot, or even accept a lower rate of production,
Keep your fingers, Even if they’re blackened and calloused, they’re
still pretty handy if they’re still attached to your hand.
Marty Hykin in Victoria - where I can type with only two fingers but
the rest of them are still here with me if I need them for work…
The green 3M tape for fingers is called alligator skin (Rio,
Contenti, et al have it). I have a few rolls on hand at any time and
it’s helped save my fingertips/sides of fingers when filing. Those
needle files can be deadly! (Unfortunately they do nothing to
protect your fingertips from getting dinged when you are forging
small pieces of metal. Ouch!)
Cheers,
Rachel
www.fuzzishu.nu
I guess that’s the difference between the menfolk and we ladies. The
men wear such gnarled fingers as a badge of pride, but the ladies of
this world (well most of us anyway) prefer to have elegant, ladylike
hands and attractive nails - sorry if this sounds sexist! And for
those of use who like to wear our jewellery, the pretty rings we make
look far nicer on hands that are not all chewed up with cuts,
blisters, callouses and broken nails.
Helen
UK
http://www.hillsgems.co.uk
As was said by many on this thread, I too use only my fingers when
polishing most pieces.
An inside ring holder comes in handy for serious polishing of bands
(like when using bobbing compound to remove stuff for which I should
be using a sandpaper flapper.)
But when it comes to belt-sander work (I have a small one wherein
the cutting area is at eye level) I used to like the dip-in-water
method, but I was never happy with what water did to my tools (rust).
I also was less than thrilled with the pools of muck that formed in
the dust catching area at the base of the sander, and I use an old
Sucrets box metal-duct-taped to the sander, but using water, despite
painting the insides, it always rusted out eventually.
My solution, which I’m now extremely happy with, is to use isopropyl
alcohol in place of water. I buy the 91% strength at WalMart and
it’s quite affordable.
I’ve since discovered that I can use it when polishing as well since
it doesn’t form that “grossness” water produces when used with
polishing compounds.
And it has the added benefit of smelling really good (assuming you
like the smell of alcohol.)
Doc
The men wear such gnarled fingers as a badge of pride, but the ladies of this world (well most of us anyway) prefer to have elegant, ladylike hands and attractive nails - sorry if this sounds sexist!
Actually, I know plenty of women jewelers who have the same pride of
having hands that show some use.
One metalsmith I know, saw her at an opening before Christmas and
she said her hands hurt so much she had to stop and soak them in ice
water so she could keep working…
A guy I worked with in my first industry job, stone setter, had no
fingernails. No fingernails!
I thought it was from jewelry work, but no, turns out it was
something that happened during the war…
As James Binnion has mentioned… There is a definite danger in
wearing gloves while buffing! A friend had the buffer grab the glove
and re-distribute his all his finger parts. It was horrible. The
doctor did fix it, but #$%^&* who needs that! Fair warning to those
who have beaten the odds… so far.
At a show I was introduced to another jeweler, and older man who
immediately said to me, “Hold out your hands.” When I showed him my
scuffed and stained fingers, he said, "Yep, you’re a real jeweler,"
and became warm and friendly.
POLISHING ITEMS THAT GET HOT
The original post stated they used their Foredom to polish items
with. I do not see why wearing tight leather gloves while using a
Foredom would be a problem.
The item being polished will determine the best way to hold the item
while polishing.
I use various vice clamp pliers with rubber bonded on the gripping
surfaces to hold large item such as buckles when polishing. The
clamping pressure can be adjusted so as not to damage the item.
I have made several square sticks for holding rings when polishing.
I have tapered one end of the stick so that rings can be forced on to
the taper. This allows the outside of the ring to be polished. I have
slotted a tapered end of another stick. I can push part of the shank
into the slot and hold the ring that way.
Some times I will dunk the hot item in water as it get too hot to
handle.
One solution is to polish many things at a time. When one item gets
hot move on to the next item.
I have worn very tight leather gloves for thirty years when I polish
jewelry on my big machine. I do not see how leather gloves that are
as tight as skin can catch in the polishing wheel any more than the
skin of a finger can be caught in the polishing wheel. I see how
loose fitting gloves might catch in the wheel but not very tight
leather gloves. But to each their own.
Lee Epperson
http://leessilver-lee.blogspot.com
I want to STRONGLY second James Binnion's advice - DO NOT WEAR GLOVES around polishing wheels or anything else that spins rapidly, nor finger cots, nor anything else on your fingers.
Just a suggestion—I was taught to polish holding the work with a
small square of soft, flexible leather. This protected our fingers
while not wrapped around them, thus if the leather caught, it would
smply be pulled from our grasp, instead of injuring us.
That said, I’m really no expert, because I hate the look of polished
metal. Over my twenty years as a professional in this field have kept
my time at the polishing lathe to a minimum.
Amy
Amy Roper Lyons
I often cast project components that are as small as 1.5mm and have
found that after removing from the sprue they are a bit tough to
hold. My solution is to crazy glue them to my thumb nail and as the
glue holds instantly I can burnish,polish and do general cleanup (be
gentle). I remove them with an engraving tool and burn the glue off
with my torch. Crazy glue works as great on your nail’s as it does
when you accidentally glue your fingers together.
It aint the miles but the smiles per mile.
Sandy Sanderson
Doc, I can imagine the benefits of the alcohol, sounds clean and
cool. I’d be leery though of an open container of flammables near a
source of sparks, particularly since alky burns almost invisibly. You
might not know you’re on fire til you feel it.
Oh, and don’t dunk your fingers in my martini, OK? That olive is
MINE!
Yep, you're a real jeweler
Yes, I can see where you and Elaine are coming from and my comments
weren’t meant to start any long debates on the subject (I’ve done
that before and regretted opening my mouth ;-)) - nor am I stopping
anyone debating it of course. If you’re mingling in jewellers’
circles then having such battered fingers is like a passport into
the club, but if you’re going to a swanky party, dressed to the nines
(not that I get to go to any of those often) or out for a romantic
dinner with hubby, I’d sooner not have chopped up fingers. That
being said, I still mainly use just my fingers for holding things and
just put up with the heat, letting it cool down briefly when it gets
too much. If going out for the evening, I just try to make sure that
my fingers don’t get too chopped up that day!
Helen
UK
http://www.hillsgems.co.uk
http://www.helensgems.etsy.com
Hi all:
Just two comments, well three actually about ‘how to hold it’…
Apropos of the ‘ugly hands’ thread, one of my early silversmithing
teachers once posed a question.
Q: "How do you spot an old silversmith?"
A: “The scars on their hands.”
Looking down at the keyboard…yup. it’s amazing the many little
dings and scratches add up over time.
I joke with my students about being careful about anything I might
hand them, as the heat sensors in my hands are burned out. You never
know how hot it might be… (I do fine engraving, so the touch
sensors are just fine, but I can’t feel low-to-medium heat any more.)
(“Hummmm…this feels slick…oh-oh…”) My theory is that lots of
hot buffing and other abuse did them in. (Could also be calluses.)
Regarding gloves:
No. Not ever. I don’t even like the finger cots. Use a pinch of soft
leather instead. (I use some scrap deerskin that I had laying
around.)
I’ve personally seen one person who lost a finger to a gear-head
drill press due to gloves, and heard (on the radio) the tale of
another truly horrifying accident with a lathe that involved loosing
an arm. (Detroit is such a fun city…)
Cheers-
Brian.
Just a thought/idea for those who find heat build up a real problem.
Maybe a can of CO2 that’s used for computer cleaning might cool the
piece quick enough. I haven’t tried this myself, as my fingers are
quite used to burns. Certainly would be cleaner than water.
On a side note to pieces getting hot while polishing: Is is possible
to heat silver to the point it builds firestain from polishing?
Rouge on a felt disk gets pretty fast pretty hot - if I don’t feel
the heat by using sticks, gloves… can it get too hot for sterling?
I have worn very tight leather gloves for thirty years when I polish jewelry on my big machine. I do not see how leather gloves that are as tight as skin can catch in the polishing wheel any more than the skin of a finger can be caught in the polishing wheel. I see how loose fitting gloves might catch in the wheel but not very tight leather gloves. But to each their own.
I once wore skin tight nitrile gloves to avoid getting my hands
dirty. One day the item I was polishing slipped and caught the glove
and took my fingers on a trip around the end of the spindle before
the gloves tore off. It was over before I could even react. No
permanent damage but it scared the @#$* out of me and convinced me
that no glove is safe around rotating machinery. Lee, I have great
respect for you, your experience and your work but gloves and
rotating spindles are just not safe and if you have an accident with
leather gloves on it will destroy your hands.
Jim
James Binnion
@James_Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
360-756-6550