When sizing gold rings, if everything has been done correctly as far
as making sure ends meet with no gaps, hard solder is used, there are
some rings where the seam still shows after polishing. Any tricks to
solve this so it never happens?
Richard Hart
Yes, You can use what we call a “Dog leg”. Take an old #21 cup bur
and round the edges of the teeth so there is a rounded edge. Next,
put
the bur in a pair of small vise grips to hold it and heat the end
that you rounded until cherry red. While it is red, bent the rounded
end with a pair of pliars to about a 45 degree angle, heat again
until red and then quench in oil to harden again.
Now that you have your "Dog leg " made, put it in your flex shaft and
run it , lightly at first, over your sizing line, changing directions
as you burnish the line. It acts as a bunisher and is also great for
removing pits and some porosity. Afterwards, lightly rubber wheel or
use emery paper to smooth out and then polish. Final note, You may
want to go lighter on the polishing buff, sometimes the solder gets
“pulled” out of a joint exposing a line because some of its
componants are softer than the metal its used on.
Good luck!
Steve Cowan,
www.aristadesigns.net
Richard- There should be no seam showing. I always use the highest
karat solder I can to size with. I often just weld or fuse the shanks
of 18kt and platinum with a small piece that I cut from the shank
that I’ve rolled very thin. To assure no pits, be sure to add your
solder at the very last moment when the ring is just at soldering
temp. That way the solder is not over heated and the alloys are not
burned out leaving pits. If the solder color is an issue, you may
want to change suppliers. Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
I once got a hold of some 16K YM solder from a refiner in
Chicago(?), name escapes me. It was great stuff, made an invisible
join every time. Hot though, very hot, acted more like a hard solder.
Ok I just rummaged thru my solder scraps and all that’s left of the
stamp is _&S. Maybe someone will know who that is.
When sizing gold rings, if everything has been done correctly as far
as making sure ends meet with no gaps, hard solder is used, there are
some rings where the seam still shows after polishing. Any tricks to
solve this so it never happens?
I burnish the seam over with a hammer handpiece or air graver with a
rounded and polished anvil. I run it 60 to 90 degrees from vertical
and 45 degrees across the seam, then 90 degrees away and then in the
opposite direction and angle using light pressure and a high speed.
The objective is to push shank metal over and into the seam and
work-harden the surface a little. It leaves a slightly dimpled
surface, so be careful if it’s thin. I then lap it or sand it smooth
removing as little metal as possible, and go directly from that to
rouge, polishing 90 degrees to the seam. This also works for that
occasional pesky pit or two.
If it’s a color issue, I’ll sometimes add a little copper, silver or
24k to a few easy to medium solder pallions (50-50 to 20-80 by
eyeball?) to make it a closer match (copper for more red, silver for
more green, 24k to darken). It will raise the flow temp, but not
usually so much as to make it impossible to use. You’ve done enough
soldering to be able to recognize if it’s too hard before any damage
is done, though.
If sizing down, you can also fuse in the little piece you cut out,
if the ring will take the heat.
Anyhow, those are some of the ways I try to do it.
Dave
Ok I just rummaged thru my solder scraps and all that's left of the stamp is _&S. Maybe someone will know who that is.
Best guess Hoover & Strong
My method of choice is TIG welding the seam. Visible joint seams are
the reason I was first attracted to TIG welding. I had been oxy/gas
welding for years and it was always a balance between success and
failure. TIG gave me more control over the molten metal. If you fuse
the joint under the cover of inert gas with electricity as your
energy source, there are few if any pits and a perfect color match of
the metal. After the weld is made you can bend or hammer the joint
with out it breaking. This allows you to collapse the metal one each
side of the joint and then hammer the joint flush returning the ring
to the proper size, without adding metal. I really wish more people
would try TIG. I think they would find it to be useful. Especially in
for creating invisible seams.
Kevin Lindsey
Hi Kevin,
I really wish more people would try TIG. I think they would find it to be useful. Especially in for creating invisible seams.
I agree with you. Other than laser welding, TIG is great. The big
problem I’ve found is locating a jewelry sized TIG welder. Or do you
use a larger welder. I’m sure some of us would be interested in
hearing what you use, the source of the welder & any hints you could
provide.
Dave