The “real” trick is creating a seamless ring with “heft” - I agree
with Wayne, the method he mentions is super (and what I started doing
a long while ago), and congratulations Thomas on your success, but
personally I make my rings a minimum of 1.9mm thick for the small
sizes, out of solid seamless mokume gane.even for shanks of
engagement rings. I’ve found rings much thinner than that aren’t
durable and don’t last as long as thicker rings. Also, look at the
rings at the end of the you tube videos - look hard enough, and you
can see the solder seams in numerous places where the rings have been
repaired.so not quite seamless. It looks like his material is being
stressed to failure in his process, but he is making a thick,
although not truly seamless, ring.
The challenge is making a quality product, that feels wonderful on,
exhibits beautiful pattern, will last longer than the wearer, and is
truly seamless.
Hint: star pattern is the easiest pattern to hide a seam on - it’s
much more consuming to make a star pattern seamless ring than to be
an expert on soldering them
Hint #2: I have yet to find a customer that cares about the seamless
aspect of mokume rings. Their attachment is to pattern, and
especially original patterns not offered by other makers.
Chris
Chris Ploof Studio
508.886.6200 EST