I have a pair of earrings that are supposedly finished- but I want to modify them. They are 20 ga. AS discs with keum boo and have 20 ga. 14KY hard wires (formed ) soldered onto them. The modifications that I want require that I be able to hammer the AS disc on my bench block. For that the ear wires need to not be formed.
I would prefer not to have to remove the earwires in order to fix the defects.
Is it possible to straighten the wires, while they are still attached to the discs, by heating them?
(I am NOT worried about the keum boo- that is something I am comfortable daeling with.deal with.)
Thanks, Sarah
If they are post ear wires, you could drill a hole in you bench block with a cobalt tipped drill bit (the only thing I have found that really works on steel). Another alternative would be to place the post between two bench blocks and tape them together, giving you support on both sides when hammering.
I should have mentioned that they are not posts.
Maybe I’m having a senior brain fart. What is AS metal?
It isn’t you…I wasn’t being clear. It is my shorthand for argentium (silver).
A photo would better help us to understand what you are trying to achieve.
Use a vise…put leather or protective covering and clamp earring in so you can hammer. Without seeing the earring it is hard to know if this would work but thought I would share in case it might!
This is the wire that I am wondering about straightening.
I would just straighten out the wire, do what you have to do and then put it back as best you can. If you decide that straightening it out won’t work, go to the hardware store and buy a thin piece of rubber, cut a slit into it, and push the earring through and then secure the whole thing in a vise. Do your pounding and then fix whatever needs fixing. You can also substitute a thin piece of urethane or even thermoplastic. It is hard getting more specific without better pictures, especially of the area that you need to repair. Good luck…Rob
Thank you very much! Should I heat the wire before or after straightening to have a better chance of not getting any kinks or unsightly bumps?
It shouldn’t kink if you straighten it out gently and carefully- I like to slide it down a ring/hoop mandrel to make the curve a lot wider before I pull it through my nylon-jaw pliers to straighten it. I honestly might not anneal it at all- if you can get it out of the way and re-form it the way you want without annealing, my preference would definitely be to preserve any work-hardening I had. Necessary stipulation: I work in silver only, not gold,and my processes and preferences are obviously based on that.
Thanks for that straightening tip- doing it gradually seems safer
than what I had envisioned.
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