cuff link findings

[eekoh]

I have a new project for this month - cuff links for my brother's 40th birthday. The nice folks at designercabochons.co.uk have cut and polished a pair of fordite stones for me and I'm going to set them in a sterling silver bezel but I'm undecided about which findings to use as I've never worn cufflinks myself so have no first-hand knowledge about the practicality of different styles.

From a design perspective I prefer either chain or fully rigid stem. Most available commercially have a rigid stem with a hinged bar so that makes me think there may be a good a reason for them being popular.

So, getting to the point finally...
For those of you that either wear cufflinks or make them - does the type of finding make any practical difference to wearability or is it purely a design thing?

[Dennis]

Hi Hazel,
I am not a morning person, so I hate anything too fiddly to do with buttons, especially when there are double cuffs to contend with.

It also seems to detract from hand made links to use commercial findings, so I would suggest a slightly curved totally rigid wire, or a rigid strip with holes, or a long rigid loop, threaded onto jump rings on the buttons.

The distance between buttons has to be 18-20mm in all and for a flat connecting strip remember that the button holes will be at right angles to the wrist. Dennis.

[eekoh]

Thanks Dennis, all useful info. I would like to make them from scratch but if I don't buy components I'll need to be able to construct from sheet or wire as I'm not set up for casting yet.

The whole design is based on a car theme as my brother is a bit of a petrol-head and he also works in the motor trade. I've been considering whether I could cut a small car shape for the inside button but I don't think i'd manage anything that looks good enough at that scale with my current tools and skills, plus doing the bezels well might be challenging enough! I've taken your advice though from another discussion and got some 0.4mm sterling rather than the 0.3mm fine bezel strip so will hopefully avoid it frazzling up during the soldering process.

[pearlescence]

I'd buy the findings and also you could buy a couple of car charms to give you the inside element

[eekoh]

I need to have them finished before the weekend of the 23rd but my day job means I'm working away 3 nights each week at the moment so not loads of evenings to work on these if things don't go smoothly. Looking forward to making them though, even with the deadline feeling a bit tight!
The stones should be arriving any day now so I'm going to do the bezels this week and then see how much time I've got to work on something interesting for the other elements and I've got a set of the basic hinged findings as an emergency back up in case it all goes wrong.
I've found a style for the posts that I think will work well with the design, though it probably needs thicker silver than i've currently got so might need a bit more thought there. The inside element is still a work in progress - cars would be good if I can find or make something that I like, though I might stick with something simpler if I've got detailing on the post.
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[TDA20]

I really like the style of the post. Think it suits your motoring theme :)

[eekoh]

Thanks, just need to work out if I can make that style of post robust enough with my current materials or if I need to order something thicker - the sheet I have at the moment is 0.7mm because it was intended for bezels or small pendants and therefore didn't need to be so sturdy. Hmm, wonder if I've still got any silver teaspoons in my stash? I had a few with nice square stems that might be just the thing if I haven't already made them into pendants - will have to have a rummage when I get home tomorrow.

[eekoh]

Today's rookie mistake... one of my stones is stuck in the bezel before I'm ready to set it. :(
The edge of the stones wasn't as tall as I'd anticipated when I bought my silver and so I've had to file the bezel wall down a little to try to make sure it will lie flat when pushed over. I was testing the fit but the bezel is a little tight and now the stone is stuck. (I had tried to stretch the bezel wall a little on my ring mandrel to adjust the size slightly before attaching it to the backing plate but clearly should have done it a bit more.)
On the plus side the stone is less likely to ever fall out. On the down side, I still need to file a bit more to get a neat edge which is a pain in the arse now that i need to avoid scratching stone and also then solder the bezel to the cufflink post, which means pickling.

I'll be using easy solder for the next joins so I think the stone would survive the heat ok as long as I let it cool slowly rather than dunking straight in cold water but i'm more concerned about the pickling (homemade salt & vinegar).
Advice would be welcome please on best way to proceed - if necessary I'm confident I can cut the stone from the bezel without marking the surface that would be visible and I still have materials to make another bezel from scratch.

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[Dennis]

No no Hazel. Fordite is not a stone, but a resin from paint residues and will catch fire if heated.

The first thing to try, is to stick a piece of adhesive tape of the kind for hanging up pictures (no more nails tape, or sticky fixers) onto the cabochon, leaving a handle to pull on. Leave for five minutes for the adhesion to work and then grip and pull sharply. This often works, at least at the second try.

If not you must make one or more holes (looking as if intended) in the back plate and push the cabochon out with a tool or stout wire. Then do the other one to match.

Old hands know this problem very well and always lay a long piece of dental floss across the bottom under the sone, to yank on. Dennis

[CJ57]

I would drill a small hole in the back plate and push the stone out Hazel. This could then be covered when you solder the cuff link finding on the back although if it isn’t it doesn’t usually bother me. I now use Dennis tip of dental floss so that you can pull a tight stone out again, it’s invaluable


Dennis and I must have answered at the same time so won’t delete mine

[enigma]

There are very few stones that won't crack or discolour on such close soldering Hazel, its almost never an option and as Dennis says this one would actually burn.

[eekoh]

Of course you're right fordite won't have the same properties as a 'true' stone, should have remembered that heat might be more of an issue than with other cabochons though my only experience so far has been sea glass so I'll take note for future projects with cabochons.

Thanks all, I don't think i have any of the sticky tape so I'll try to drill out the back neatly and push through. I actually thought of the dental floss thing myself about a second after the cabochon went in, but of course it was too late by then. Hopefully the kind of mistake i'll only make the once!

[eekoh]

Thanks for advice folks, cabochon successfully retrieved. 2 very small holes on the back of the bezel but I should be able to hide them when I solder the post on. :)