[Jewelry making - Article 01098] - Re: [Orchid] Ring joins

[Trevor F]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========


Hello Karen,

    I can certainly empathize with your frustrations. Ring joins can be
    pretty tricky to get right ... until you find a system that works for
    you and then it's smooth sailing. 

    I'd like to point you, in particular, to Noel's 1, 2, 3 suggestions. 
    I agree with her whole-heartedly and have learned to do as she says
    through trial and error.  Personally I don't often do the #3 step
    --unless a particular piece calls for it-- but for me her steps 1 and
    2 are bang on. 

    What I'd like to add to this is a great little tool I use to help me
    with Noel's step 1, getting things to fit as perfectly as possible.
    There's a handy little filing guide variously called a Miter Jig (Rio
    Grande 2004, p.258, item A) or a Joint Cutter (Fischer-Pforzheim
    2004, p.95, item 4365) that I've found invaluable to solving my own
    ring shank fabrication troubles. To make a long story short it let's
    you put perfect 90 degree ends on your shank stock so that once
    you've bent them around they meet perfectly, as in virtually no light
    shines through the crack when you've brought the ends around to meet
    and squeezed the loop closed. Once you've accomplished this you need
    very little solder and the joint is truly hair-line thus reducing the
    off-color problem too. 

    All other things being equal --good solder, good torch, good
    technique, etc-- this tool has reduced that particular step of my
    ring fabrication process to a 1 or 2 minute no-brainer. Far, far
    better than the trial and error process I seemed doomed to repeat
    before I ran across this gem-of-a-tool. 

    The downside? Two that I know of. The first is that this tool --I
    have the Bergeon-- ain't cheap! But then it's a precision tool of
    hardened steel and impeccable quality so I'm not complaining. The
    other is that you if you aren't using plain stock shanks, in other
    words you taper them from top to bottom or whatever, then you need to
    take that into consideration during the fabrication process.
    Personally if I'm planning some simple shaping of the shank I do it
    after I've soldered up the basic shank stock. I suppose some might
    find this a problem but so far I haven't. 

Hope you find this helpful,
Cheers,
Trevor F.


____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________