Working with stainless steel

[art925]

I accepted a nice assignment on Saturday to create a 925 ring set with 4 pale round saphires. Today I have recieved an email asking if it would be possible to create this ring now in stainless steel. I have never worked with with this material before, so currently unable to reply.
I am guessing stainless steel is not soldered in the same way as silver and gold, but rings are machined on a lathe, am I right? Then the setting of the stones in steel, how would that work? can gold be soldered easily to steel?

Many thanks
Les

[ps_bond]

The obvious question is "which stainless"... I'm told it is possible to solder to stainless; I've only tried a couple of times and found the results unsatisfactory - it may be that a more aggressive flux than borax was a better idea. As for stone setting, I've flush-set stones in unhardened steel before now; I'd probably target 416 as a candidate (it's quite a soft stainless, so lends itself well to shaping & engraving). And yes, you're probably best turning them - although they could be made up with some judicious TIG welding.

[Dennis]

Dear Les

Tenacity No 5 flux will allow you to solder stanless steel to itself or to other metals using silver solder. The rings can be made from wire, but it is probably best to use ring bending pliers such as Cooksons 999 718. The metal work hardens quickly, so is easier to round it on a ring stretcher rather than a triblet.

The point of forums is to exchange information, so please let us know the outcome. Kind regards, Dennis.

[Katia]

Hi,

I hope this helps:
I am an engraver on guns and I have worked quite a lot with steel. I also have looked at the possibilities of engraving stainless steel recently and I have been given a bit of information about it.
One thing I was told is to make sure that the steel used was hypoallergenic. The 400 series is not. And that is a shame as 416 is so nice to engrave.
316 is the grade that is traditionally used for jewellery, but it is " brutal" to engrave by hand. Machine engraving is recommended.
I suppose that if you were to go with the 416 grade, you could gold or silver plate the bit in contact with the skin, but I have no idea how this wears out.
I am regularly in contact with a jeweller who has worked with many different materials. i can ask him if he has soldered steel.
Hope this help a bit.

PS : just realised that plating the inside of the ring might not b ideal as it's wedding ring and people usually have their initials in there.

[art925]

Thanks Katia,
the hypoallergenic info was brilliant, I am so silly, I sell Xen in my shop, I should ask them about working with steel...

[Katia]

Glad it helps. A friend of mine did some stainless steels rings a while ago, but he actually did not need to solder them as they were made by a gunsmith who does barrels on guns.( he basically just cut them from some barrel shaped steel)