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Rolling thickened edges strip

Jewelry Discussion
#1

Was: Durston D2 or D4…

In my latest video, "Making a Roller Printed Ring", I show how to
make an 11 mm wide strip of sterling silver into one that is 9 mm
wide, with substantially thickened edges, by using one of the
largest (and highest) grooves on my Durston C 130.

Sorry to go slightly off-topic, but having just bought your great
DVD Jay, is there another way to upset the edges of the strip? My
rolling mill does not have wire grooves unfortunately (I can see the
purchase of a second mill at some stage soon!) so I can’t do the edge
thickening step. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

It’s a GREAT ring btw.

Helen
UK
http://www.hillsgems.co.uk
http://helensgems.ganoksin.com/blogs/

#2 
is there another way to upset the edges of the strip?

Hammers do it. Different shaped hammers give different textures and
results. Experiment.

Peter

#3

Yes, I wondered about hammers, but, the edge of the metal is upset
when the metal is in strip form, and the edges of a hammer will
leave marks on the strip’s edge.

The other thing I was wondering was whether the strip ever bends the
wrong way when being upset? Jay roller prints a strip of metal, then
upsets the edge in the grooves of his rolling mill. It thickens the
edge and also gives the strip a lovely concave habit. Does it ever
bend in the opposite direction, giving the end result of a convex
(synclastic) ring rather than a concave (anticlastic) ring?

If Jay does not read this, I’ll ask him directly.

Helen
UK

#4

Helen,

I will see Jay in the morning, as his UCSD classes have restarted
today, and I am his TA tomorrow morning, I will ask him then.

Several purchasers of that Video are in direct communication with
Jay, and one prompted the commentary from Jay about the distance
some mills open to allow this very upsetting.

The Hammer marks from upsetting become part of the design, a surface
embellishment. Once the edge has been thickened, I suppose a rubber
wheel can smooth away the hammer marks. Some more is on
whaleyworkshops.com, or directly from Jay.

Jay will respond probably tomorrow. We will get the next edition of
his Newsletter out tomorrow.

Hugs and Thanks,
Terrie
Jay Whaley’s Studio Assistant

#5 
I wondered about hammers, but, the edge of the metal is upset when
the metal is in strip form, and the edges of a hammer will leave
marks on the strip's edge.

yes. And after you’ve gotten some upsetting, perhaps even with a
cross pein hammer (works faster for this) then switch to a slightly
domed planishing hammer, first to remove earlier stronger marks,
then lightly. With care you can get a pretty smooth edge and line. If
you need better still, lightly file and sand it straight and smooth.
That gets the edge. There will still be some “ripple” to the
thickened portion on the sides, especially if you used a cross pein
to do the upsetting with. It too can be finished, lapped, sanded, or
whatever, but then you can quickly thin it back down or otherwise
make a mess if you’re not careful. Usually, with some planning, the
texture on the upset edge and the sides from the process, can be used
as a decorative feature.

Peter

#6

Helen,

I thought about this during sleeping time, that and the cat hogging
my duvet, kept me from REM.

What I do personally, is enclose the entire piece I am roller
embellishing, within that which I am using to surface texture. In
that manner, I have design front and back. I prefer it tht way.

In the case of say ring stock, when hammer upsetting, it does not
matter if it bends toward synclastic, or anti-clastic. I can then
just anneal and bend into the preferred direction, before soldering
into a ring.

Whew, it is just past 6 AM, my synapses are not yet flowing freely,
and I must catch my first train shortly.

Hugs,
Terrie

#7

Helen,

The grooves in a rolling mill have a flattened corner at it’s lowest
point, instead of a sharp corner. This feature helps with the
extreme stress on the corners that making a square wire generates.
However, this flat bottom of each groove also works very well to
"upset" the edge of a strip of metal run through those grooves. The
larger the groove, the wider that flat bottom. This part of the mills
grooves can serve to make a strip less wide, but also to thicken
those outer edges, as well.

If that strip you are running “on edge” through a set of grooves on
your rolling mill is not thick enough, it will tend to collapse on
one side or the other, as you suggested it would. Providing the strip
is thick enough, the strip will collapse onto itself, in a straight
line, upsetting the strip quite evenly on both edges. You will need
to experiment with the strips thickness to see just how thin you can
go before it falls over to one side.

This strip, now with both edges thickened with the mill, if formed
into a ring band and hard soldered together, can be rounded up on a
ring mandril. This forming around the ring mandril with a mallet will
then force this upset strip flat against the mandril, and form the
outside face into a quite regular concave shape.

Yes, hammering can be used to upset the edge of a strip, but the
rolling mill is a fast and quite controllable way to do the same
process.

Jay Whaley