You may find it easier to work a longer bar, bend it around a
central mandrel with a hammer and then cut the ends off leaving a
offset circle like a lock washer in appearance.
I hot bend bars of steel 2" square so bending 4mm sterling is
something you can do, but I prefer to work hot when possible. A
little heat and a mandrel may solve all your issues.
Are you able to place a bit longer stock between two round bars in a
vice? Search google for “bending jig” By applying force as if you
were prying the bars apart the silver will bend. no hammer needed.
Using longer stock allows you to get a circle and trim it to size.
I first determine what length of thick metal I need for the ring. I
do this either by calculation or by using some soft metal (eg. lead
or soft aluminium) of the same or similar thickness, which I can bend
easily by hand.
When I’ve got the correct length of metal for the ring I first bend
it roughly to shape. At this point the ends are still straight; that,
of course, is the heart of the problem.
I then use a vice with soft (nylon?) jaws to squeeze the ends
together (diags 1 & 2). At this point the straight ends actually
touch, but they are not in-line, and when the jaw pressure is
released the ends spring apart a little.
I then rotate the ring so that both straight ends are against the
same vice jaw (diag 3), and squeeze until they actually touch when
the jaw pressure is released.
Steps 4 & 5 use the vice to bend the straight ends, one at a time,
to line them up.
After soldering the ends together the ring can be made round by
hammering on a triblet it with a mallet.
I haven’t had to much of a problem with denting the material, you
could always put a piece of scrap around the metal you want bent to
buffer any marks that may be left behind.
Christine, What gauge metal will it bend? I have some 14 gauge
sterling what I want to use for rings. Will the ring bender you have
handle 14Gauge? Alma
It sure will. I usually bend 14k nickle white gold and 950 palladium
that measures 4mm by 1.5 but I’ve used it to bend much larger pieces
like 10k white gold that measures 3mm thick by 8mm wide…
The trick is the drum is 11mm wide so you have to do a bit of back
and forth with bending the sides on really wide stock. If marring is
an issue tape your stock first or put some scrap around it.
I love this tool. Its really cut down on ring production time for
me.
You might try a ’ dead blow ’ hammer. They have a plastic coating
which should protect the metal. Lots heavier than a plastic mallet
for moving heavy metal.
I don’t even bother to wrap a strip around the shank. Yes, a very
nice person sent me a ring mandrel, and its reduced the amount of
time to make a ring to size from days to hours. I charcoal cast a
thick donut about 2-4 sizes below what I’m aiming for, regularize the
hole with increasingly larger dapping rods, and then use the mandrel
to get the right size while at least attempting to get the thickness
uniform. But YMMV, and I make fine silver rings.
