I discovered a neat trick regarding sizing very thick rings
up… first cut the ring in the back and put it on your steel
ring mandral. Then push the mandrel into your mandral hole on
your bench to spread the ring to the size you need it. Leave the
ring on the mandral, flux it and lightly anneal with a feathery
hot flame for about a minute or so. The ring doesn’t need to get
glowing hot. Let it cool all the way down before removing it
from the mandral. When you take it off the mandral, it will stay spead apart.
I like it. It’s actually more a method of determining the length
of the insert needed to make the ring to its new size, right?
Thanks Kelly for that.
Brian
B r i a n A d a m J e w e l l e r y E y e w e a r
@Brian_Adam1 ph/fx +64 9 817 6816 NEW ZEALAND
Kelly: Dosen’t the mandrel get a little hot? On rings w/o heat
sensative stones or enamels, how about simply anealing the ring
before you cut it?
Just a thought;
Steve Klepinger
We used to solder school rings directly on a grooved mandrel.
The solder joint directly over the groove. Looking back on it
I’ve often wondered if the piece of gold might have been popped
out at some later date dur to the shanks tension. Never had one
come back. Reminds me of the sproing one hears when a piece of
gold pops out of the shank during soldering. I remember hearing
a sproing with a low tone suggesting a heavier piece of gold. The
rest of the shop went quiet while we all listened for the red hot
piece of gold to hit the floor. No sound ensued. When we turned
to the source, Fred was just putting down his torch with a puff
of smoke rising from his 'fro. Lucky that it didn’t reach his
scalp.
Bruce D. Holmgrain
Maryland’s first JA Certified Senior Bench Jeweler
@Bruce_Holmgrain
http://www.goldwerx.nu
1-703-627-8580
703-593-4652