========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm ]========
> What must I do to pound it into a bowl shape? So far it is
> not "bowling" too well.
The usual process is called angle raising. Easiest is to first
create radial crimps, like the accordian folds of a Mr. Coffee
filter, which will pull the metal into sort of a funnel shape.
Now, using a raising hammer, over a raising stake, you hold the
crimps against the end of the stake and hammer the ridges between
them down to the stake. The essential part is that the lip of
the stake is located just behind (towards you, and of course,
underneath the metal) where you're hitting with the hammer, and
that the angle of the crimps/ridges is kept constant to the
stake. Don't try to take too big an angular bite at a time, or
it will just flare out as you work towards the edge. Don't let
it fold over as you drive it down. You're compressing the metal,
not just flattening it, and it's getting thicker. Work in
concentric circles from the inside to the outside, and when
you've finished a course of this, the metal will now be slightly
cone shaped. And irregular. Now use a soft mallet to beat the
whole side against the stake to even out the waves, so the thing
becomes again more truely conical instead of warped and
ameabalike. The whole point is to keep the profile/cross section
uniform, whatever it may be, so that you can continue working in
concentric circles doing the same thing to similarly shaped
metal as you work. Then you anneal, and again create crimps in
the metal with an appropriate crimping stake (can made of wood).
You can do this without the crimps, but it's harder to learn and
control. Each successive course depends the angle of the cone.
You develop a bowl by starting successive courses of angle
raising farther from the center, so the bowl grows up in angular
steps. Once it's reached the overall depth, width at the top,
etc, of the bowl you desire, you then "bouge" it out to curved
surfaces with your mallet over a round or suitibly curved stake,
removing the angles. Then planish the surface to hammer out the
crude markes left by raising...
The other way to get a bowl is called stretching or sinking,
depending on the exact variation used. For this you start with a
circle of thick metal. Hammering hard in the center portion only,
you stretch it, expanding it to a dome. The edge isn't hammered,
and holds the circumference in while the center of the disk
expands down. That's stretching. Sinking is similar, except
you simply hammer a circle down into a suitably shaped
depression...
Pick up a copy of Murry Bovin's "silversmithing and art metal".
It shows the process clearly. So do several other books. One of
the best illustrations of how to move the metal is the diagram on
page 10 of "silversmithing" by Rupert Finegold and William Seitz,
a superb book. It doesn't clearly show crimping, though, until
later in the book. But for showing you what to do, So SHOULD
your instructor. Figuring out just where the metal is held
relative to the stake is important, as well as the angle to hold
the metal, and the angle at which the hammer must strike the
metal. Once you figure this out, you'll find the process will
"click" with you, and suddenly you'll find you can move a lot of
metal just exactly where you want it to go in a surprisingly
short amount of time. Once you've built up the suitable arm and
wrist muscles, that is (grin)
Hope this helps.
Peter Rowe
Would you like to reach Members of the Ganoksin Project to educate
them about the wonderful array of supplies, services and products
you have to offer?
Please request a copy of the Ganoksin Media Kit if you would like
more indepth information regarding Ganoksin's advertising services.
Navigate by Topic:
[
