Piercing?

[Goldsmith]

Just read that again slowly, am I correct in the interpretation please. If you wrote a zero in the middle of a piece of paper as:-

Finest .................................................. .................................................. ...................Coarsest

8/0 7/0 6/0 5/0 4/0 3/0 2/0 1/0 0 then 1 2 3 4 5 6

are 1 - 6 the same length as the others, just coarser blades and possibly a bit thicker. I have some zero ones that you recommended to saw the stainless steel to make the clamps with. The 2/0 blades that I have seem quite a lot finer than the ones I have been using (the ones I inherited from a lady that stopped making silver jewellery, but hers were a lot chunkier than mine, most of her rings are 2.50mm thick or more, most of them pierced with a design.

Yes Pat the No.8/0 is the finest and the No.6 is the coarsest. During my 51 years career I have pieced most shapes and sizes and have never used a saw blade thicker than a No.3.
One tip about saw blade sizes is that you can saw most thicknesses with many size saws, sometimes I will pierce large shapes using a thick saw and then tidy up the sharp internal angles with a smaller blade. Using too small a blade lengthens the piercing time and the blade can sometimes fail to saw straight.

James

[Patstone]

Well I still think its a stupid way of sizing something, but glad you have explained it as at least now I know what I should be using. Thanks for explaining it.

[Anna Wales]

I've always used 4/0 for everything. Mostly piercing but also for cutting wire too. I only use snips for cutting solder pallions. I suppose it's what you get used to and I find it quicker to use the saw than swap to something else.

This piece ( approx 1") has the closest lines I've ever done just about the thickness of the blade(or a smidge more) in places.



Thank you for the details of the orchid egg James. Gold weight is eye-watering !

[caroleallen]

That's really good work Anna.

[susieq]

That's beautiful Anna. How thick was the silver sheet?

Susie

[Anna Wales]

That's really good work Anna.

Thanks Carole. I think I was just playing silly beggars and wanted to see how close I could get the lines.

That's beautiful Anna. How thick was the silver sheet?

Susie

Thanks Susie. It was made out of 2 layers of 14 gauge sheet ( not sure of the metric size) one for the pattern and one as the backing plate to allow me to enamel it. It looks nice with royal blue enamel.

[Patstone]

Anna that is beautiful, even if I could do something like that, my patience would run out after the first cut. How do you start a design like that, and how do you know where to start your pattern.

[Anna Wales]

Anna that is beautiful, even if I could do something like that, my patience would run out after the first cut. How do you start a design like that, and how do you know where to start your pattern.

Thank you Pat. It's not my design, it's from a very similar one from the Book of Kells. Most of my designs come from old knotwork panels, standing crosses etc.

[Patstone]

Its still very clever stuff.

[caroleallen]

Anna, do you also make those lovely felted pieces?