[Jewelry making - Article 00825] - Re: [Orchid] Got my oxy/propane torch!

[Helen Hill]

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Hi folks,

    I should have known better than to tell you all about getting my
    oxy/ propane set-up up and ready to go - until actually having it
    successfully set up. Ever had a day when you wished you'd not got
    out of bed that morning? Well today was most definitely one of those
    days. The jewellery making deities were having a laugh at my expense
    today. 

    Darren set up the torch in the garage and I went out to practice
    lighting it. Eventually, after the wind kept blowing it out, I
    managed to get it to light to the point where I could introduce
    oxygen. The knob was SO stiff that I could not turn it sensitively -
    it was either off or too far on, such that it would blow the flame
    out and pop. After about an hour of this, I threw my teddy out the
    cot and stormed off, ready to commit some form of violence - or at
    least give up the whole jewellery making lark. I was in toddler
    having a temper tantrum mode. What made it even more frustrating was
    the fact that Darren (having more strength in his hands than me) was
    able to light it and introduce oxygen into the flame without much of
    a problem. But what use to me is a torch that only my husband can
    use? I'm normally capable of picking things up quickly and hate to be
    defeated by anything - especially inanimate objects - so the whole
    experience was rather frustrating to say the least. 

    Eventually, Darren came to find me, telling me that he'd fitted it
    with the wrong size tip and that after changing it, it was now much
    easier to light. I went and tried it and it was indeed much easier
    to light and so it seems that we will be able to make use of it after
    all. Now, what remains it to find the best place to put the
    cylinders. The safety information we were given states that it must
    be kept at least 1.5 metres away from the wall, which means having
    two great ugly cylinders in the garden with nothing to attach them
    to? So we're wondering whether we need to build its own brick wall to
    strap them to. Of course, to get more advice from the gas company,
    we've to wait until Monday before knowing properly what we're doing. 

    So, in order that today wasn't a complete waste of time, I decided
    to go back to the butane handheld torch and continue to make a
    necklace for my sister's birthday that I started a few days ago. I
    was attempting to make a bezel setting for a 9x7mm rectangular stone
    - something I've probably done successfully hundreds of times by now.
    To cut a long story short, I had two failed attempts and finally
    managed it on the third attempt, after about two frustrating hours
    and wasted silver. One would think that the perimeter of a 9x7mm
    rectangular stone would be 32mm - well at least it was when I was at
    school. I tried allowing extra silver to account for the loss of
    length incurred when bending it round the corners, but it was far
    too big. I removed a small amount of silver and then the bezel was
    too small, but refused to stretch up to size, despite being regularly
    annealed. Eventually, it did stretch up, to the point that it split
    along two if its corners! I then tried my usual method (which
    usually works without fail) of making my bezel the exact length I
    need (ie 32mm) and then stretching it up on the correctly shaped
    bezel mandrel. However, when I soldered it closed, it was still too
    big - if someone can explain how a 32mm length piece of silver was
    too long to go round a 9x7mm rectangular stone, I'd be intrigued - it
    was measured accurately, at least twice before being cut (you know,
    measure twice, cut once). I removed some silver and got it to work
    eventually. The whole process took me about two hours, when
    soldering it, forming into shape, forming and soldering the bearer
    in, filing and sanding and pre-finishing it usually takes me a
    maximum of half an hour. I gave up after that, hoping that tomorrow
    will be a better day. Whoops, I seem to have made the story long
    after all! Sorry folks. 

    Surprisingly, I managed to eat the meal that Darren cooked for me
    without any disasters - good job I wasn't cooking it! 

Helen
UK
http://www.hillsgems.co.uk
http://www.helensgems.etsy.com
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