Yipee Yay!!!

[joella]

Hooray for me! I'm so excited - I have just made my first box catch ..... albeit after several attempts, and I've cut the end of the tongue too short to attach to anything so will have to make a new one, but still, it works and clicks together with a good snap sound. I'm so ridiculously pleased with myself, I thought I'd never get there - off to nurse my poor sore fingers now!

[Dennis]

Good on you Sue. I hope we'll get a photo.

Oh well, I might as well mention that if you solder a lever or a ball on now, the tongue will loose its spring, so that has to be done before the tongue is formed.

My rather inelegant solution has been to make the top leaf longer, narrow the end and bend it over for a lever or button.

Here is an ancient photocopy, to show this. at least I hope you can see it. Dennis

[joella]

That's a very pretty bracelet Dennis. Here's some photos, as you can see I have a way to go before it's finished, I cut the bottom side of the tongue too short.

[Dennis]

Ah yes, I see you've got a button thing, but how will the bottom leaf of the tongue connect?

[joella]

Exactly Dennis. I will have to make a new tongue, I think I'll just have to keep it long and solder it onto the bottom of the link - I can't think how else to connect it satisfactorily, unless I make an extra link, a thin one and sandwich the tongue between the two somehow - but then there'd be the problem of a gap either side of the tongue between the links. Hmmmm, I'll have to 5hink about this.

[Dennis]

I think it will be best cold connected. The two ways that occur to me are to leave the lower end long, but narrow it. Then:

Form it into a tube with round or linking pliers to match your other joins. It would become hard enough not to need soldering when closed.

Or push it into a slot in the piece behind and drill through for a flush rivet or two. Anyhow, enough of the solicited advice. Look forward to seeing your solution. Dennis

[enigma]

Well done! looks like its going to be a nice bracelet when finished too.

[joella]

Thanks Dennis and Sarah,

Dennis Your advice/comment is always welcome - you are the oracle, and I am a grasshopper! Thanks Sarah. Hopefully I will finish it, at the moment it feels a bit like an epic battle from lord of the rings! I'm quite excited though, as so long as I don't ruin now, it will be in my first parcel of items to go off to be hallmarked. I think I'm right in thinking it gets hallmarked before stones set? The stones are little pink coral cabs.

[enigma]

You could hallmark before or after

[joella]

Oops, thanks Sarah, managed to miss your last post.

Just wondering if there are any pros/cons to hallmarking before or after setting the stones (my hallmark will be a laser one).

Also, I think you can see on the photo that the links on the bracelet curve round on themselves, threading through the rectangular spacer things - well, Ive not soldered the links where they meet themselves again at the bottom of the loop - I hope that wont be a problem with hallmarking, I only want it hallmarked once, not on every link. Does anyone think this may be a problem?

Thanks
Sue