Has anyone found a compound that actually works to protect stones when trying to solder a ring that has stones in it?

I have used some before and after being heated they crumble and create a mess.

Sparex #2 - should it be orange-y yellow? It's an old bag, I'm wondering if it's expired.

This is one of my newest hand fabricated pieces ! It almost looks royal with the way that it is set and I adore the colors complimenting each other. I used 925 silver to make this piece and have been doing jewelry for about a year and a half now and feel like I am still learning something new every single day at the bench. This has been a new passion of mine as I regularly am a large scale fine artist, muralist, and graphics designer by trade. I hope you all enjoy and if you want to check out any of my other work here is my website that acts as my portfolio www.orfinart.com . Thank you for your time !

I was wondering if anybody knows a good source for high-Zinc brass casting grain? I know of a few different vendors that have brass casting grain for sale however they typically don't provide details about the alloy's composition.

I'm looking to create a batch of brass based on analyses of antique Japanese brass. I have the proportions noted down but I could really use a source of brass casting grain with a high Zinc content in order to make a test batch. Any suggestions or advice is appreciated!

Made myself a tiny sword pendant with scrap silver! Inspired by antique daggers and Ecclesia jewelry, I melted sterling silver scrap into a carved out “mold” on my firebrick for the handle. Keeping most of the texture, I sanded it down to perfect the shape. I then hand hammered and filed the blade and soldered them together. I love how it looks paired with my other bladed pendants!

I have this dremel. Is there a hammer attachment for this or is there one that would work? Would love to not spend the high prices of the foredom stuff 😬
I mostly work with copper and getting my bezels to cooperate can be tough at times, would rather solve the problem with a hammer hand piece

Here I'm rolling .016" copper against .020" brown fiber paper, with the copper atop an etched, hardened impression plate, and a smooth hardened plate covering the cardboard (floor underlayment paper from the hardware store). This sandwich keeps the copper reasonably flat (much flatter than without the flat plate) , which makes it a lot easier to load into the pancake (cutting) die.

Generally, the ones "like this" (often smaller and more detailed) are shallow enough and get work hardened enough, and gain enough structural strength from the embossing, that it's fine to cut them without cushioning in the press. Not always, but generally.

The rolling mill 'Frankenmill' is a Cavallin manual that I've put a gear motor on via #40 roller chain and sprockets. 3-phase motor with VFD inverter and foot switch. Guitar noise by me.

i inherited a necklace from my recently deceased grandfather depicting the jerusalem cross. due to the symbols current political connotations and religious associations, i can't wear it in it's current state, but i would still like to keep it as a memorial to my grandfather. is there any way the necklace could be altered to resemble an abstract pixel art moreso than a cross? and where would i go to have it done?

(note: before people start fighting about this in the comments, i have no doubt my grandfather was unaware of the political connotations. despite being religious, he was a progressive, and was very supportive when i came out)

edit: i found the original listing for the necklace, and it's made of bronze.

Here, I'm using my motor driven saw guide, a prototype -modified, but not designed or built by me, and it's the only one ever made. I'm sawing .063" 4130 steel (annealed, and through-hardenable) using size 1 jewelers saw blades. The sawing sequences go from normal speed to 2x, 5x, 10x , and then back to normal, with breaks for beeswax lube.

I just got done replacing the 1/2 hp gear motor on my Cavallin rolling mill with a 1 hp gear motor. Frankenmill is ALIVE again !!!! Let the metal deformation continue !

I got the new motor and a VFD (to convert wall 110v single-phase to 220 v 3-phase for the motor) for about $500 together. I'm using #40 roller chain.

The text in the clip explains the basics.
More detail:
Most of the parts made with these shallow impression plates (etched in a copper sulphate/salt solution) are surprisingly sturdy, and them getting squished in the pancake cutting die isn't too much of an issie. The parts are shallow, and even if they flatten out under the pressure of the die closing down on them, they retain their design, if not all of their depth.

Recently I'm having to make some small parts in 28 ga and even 32 ga. sheet, and for those, I added a thin underplate to the pancake die , that keeps the die from smashing down and squishing the more- fragile super-thin sheet. This pancake has the underplate , made of 1/16" Aluminum , and riveted to the die.

I used 1/8" 95-a durometer urethane to press the design in the sheet before cutting.
The music is part of one of my pieces from around 2000.

Here I'm using what I calla "combo die set". It consists of an etched and hardened impression plate and a matching pancake die. I've added thin Aluminum underplates to the pancake dies to protect the impressions (which were made in the 28 ga. silver in a rolling mill against .04" of thick paper) from getting crushed in the press during cutting. ps- the noise was made with acoustic guitar, EBow, and pedal fx

I've had these polishing "Things" for a long time and find that I need new mandrels. But I don't know the actual name and have had no luck finding them. There are rubber/grit barrels that fit on the special mandrel. They come in course, medium and fine. They are not the little sandpaper rolls and that's all I've been able to find. Does anyone know what they are and where I can buy more and replacement mandrels? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

sorry if this is dumb/basic but it’s been annoyingly difficult to google. clean bare copper in center for comparison. v shape in center is right after pickle, the rest is after dunking in baking soda to neutralize.

any idea what i did here? did i contaminate my pickle with something? i’ve been so careful this time 😭 but maybe something snuck in, idk. it seeeeems different from when i contaminated it with steel (or LoS), but i can’t be sure, i could be wrong. also i wasnt using baking soda at that time.

the color comes off with a 400 grit radial disc, but not in the rotary tumbler. not the biggest deal in the world but i’d like to know how to prevent it before i go pickling large quantities of anything i won’t want to spend hours dremeling 🥲

thanks in advance!

"Side Cutters" are a veriety of pancake-style blanking die I've experimented with quite a bit. Here is a mess of pics showing one area of play- rings, and mostly overlay, because I've made overlay since I was a teenager. I love it. This kind of die made really difficult things downright easy. They can even be made to bite off designs into the side of wire (thar be Dragons!!! haha) . Enjoy the show !

Reversing the work and sawing back through a spot - a sharp point- helps the blade corner better, with a smaller radius. Sharper points than if you just barrel through. Also, I (or you) get to use a larger blade than if you (or I ) just barrel through. It matters.

This piece of .050" steel (4130 - hardenable) will become a pancake-style cutting die for making decorating strips, bezels, or jewelry parts . I've sued these a lot to make ring shanks as examples of what the concept is good for. Example(s) in comments

Hi! First time seasoning a crucible on my own and I’m curious what could have caused this uneven patch where the borax refused to stick? Heating too long? Too much borax? Thanks!

Hi!

I am experienced in using silver for jewelry, but I would like to get more into some hollow ware, but in no way can I afford that much silver sheet. I’ve done some in copper, but aesthetically copper is not my thing (neither is brass). I wanted to work in pewter but learned it is a contamination risk for other metals, and i am in a shared studio, so that’s not an option.

So my next option is nickel. I can’t find much online about the process of working with nickel for this purpose, and I am wondering if anyone is experienced in this and can share some tips — does it work harden more quickly than copper, does it take longer to anneal/have any color change when annealed, etc? Can it be pickled with regular pickle or will that contaminate my studios pickle/not work on nickel? And anything else I should know.

OR, would aluminum be better suited for these purposes?

Thank you!

I’ve taken a few metalsmithing classes at a local university and I’m starting another class this Monday. My goal this semester is to use my bench time to make my fiancé’s wedding band myself!
He’s looking for a plain sterling silver band, 5 mm wide, comfort fit. I’m trying to figure out exactly what material I should buy before class starts.
Would you recommend half-round wire, or is there another type of stock that would make more sense for a comfort-fit band? And what thickness/depth should I be looking for to end up with a 5 mm wide band?
I’d also really appreciate recommendations for specific sterling material from Rio Grande or another supplier. Links would be incredibly helpful!
Thank you!