Trying to ball sterling wire

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi guys. i am hoping someone can help me with this. i am trying to
ball up 26 gauge sterling wires which is in the form of headpins. on
one side of the pins ae pink tourmalines, the pin is then threaded
through a 20 g sheet with holes in it and i am trying to ball up the
wire on the side opposite the gems. I have a acetylene B torch, not
an oxy/acetylene. i am using vigor heat shield to protect the stones
from the heat. The problem is, i cannot get the wires to ball up! i
have actually melted the 20 g sheet below before the wires started
to ball up. Obviously they are not getting hot enough but why? I have
seen people do this so I know it is possible. What am I doing wrong
and how can I make this work? Is the heat shield goop just too big
of a heat sink and if so, why does the sheet still over-heat? I’m
confused. thanks for your help.

Sue Szabo
www.lsueszabo.com
lsueszabo on etsy

2

Yup, you need greater localized heat. An oxy setup will probably do
the trick.

I used to have a problem balling up the axle wires on sterling omega
clips. Most of the time if the ball was successful the clip lost
tension. I started using 14KW wire. Problem completely solved. Sure,
it cost 47 cents more per pair, what did I care? Now though I just
use the $15K laser to secure sterling wires, what do I care?

Tongue in cheek if no one noticed. But my point is you need to
invest in what gets the job done.

3

When balling SS, I use a small butane pencil torch. The heat seems
to be able to be concentrated exactly on the end of the wire.

Hope this helps.
Peace,
Noah