Although I personally don’t like nugget style jewelry and have
therefore not paid a whole lot of attention to how it is made,
sooner or later someone is going to walk in here and ask me to
make a nugget from their gold. It’s probably obvious how it is
done, but I’m feeling a little dense lately. Does anyone know a
book that has the process described in it, or is it too simple
for print? Any help would be appreciated.
Also thanks for the info on wax guns. I’ll be trying some of
the ideas soon. I’m tired of building up wax a drop at a time.
Re-Nuggets: I have found that you can make a very good looking
nugget by droping your melted gold in water . Some people use oil
but they look the same. Gives the gold a real nugget look. If
your using old parts this is the place for those broken chains.
The bubbles won’t show. Watch out for splash back. Keep
yourself protected when doing this.
You can melt scrap gold onto a charcoal block or pour the melted
scrap (a crucible with a handle works best) into a bucket of cold
water. A jeweler I know does that and gets unusual popcorn
shapes.
In order to do use this “method” , you will need a largish pair
of stainless steel tweezers, not your $ 50.00 diamond tweezers,
naturally !!! Melt the metal on a heat sink ( fireproof surface )
. As the metal starts to “pool”, i.e. become liquid , briefly
remove the torch and shape the nugget. A more or less pear shaped
nugget seems to be the most commmon. This is a very unscientific
method. If all else fails , carve a nugget in wax and cast the
bugger.