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Thread: Bangles, when to polish

  1. #1
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    Default Bangles, when to polish

    I am about to make another bangle, the design is 6x2mm silver wire 21cm length, it will have a hammered finish over 95% of the surface, the middle cm not hammered but with a C stamped, either side will be gold hearts cut from 7mm gold blanks each with the initial letter of a child, the metal is already hallmarked. I normally make the bangle, polish off the fire scale and then when bright hammer the surface until the right size is achieved on my mandrel, the issue then is when I attach the hearts I run the risk of firescale again, polishing it off removes the hammered surface and as it is the right size I can't hammer it again, I now have a pin polisher and a Loretone barrel polisher as well as mops, 3m discs and buffs. I have used magic borax solution over the hammered surface but I still get the firescale shadow in the hollows of the hammered dimples, Im thinking maybe make it all flat at the right length or slightly small then join it. Can anyone give advice or suggest a different approach?

  2. #2
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    I f you are getting fire scale then to put it simply you are over heating the Silver, cover the piece in Boric Acid, burn off the Alcohol and it will help prevent fire scale, although the best way to prevent fire scale is not to create it in the first place, sounds as though you may need to practice you torch skills a bit more, you don't say if you are using pickle to clean the Silver after soldering, if not you may be hammering impurities into your work, I suspect the shadows my be that.

  3. #3
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    Thank you, I probably do tend to overheat because I'm using a sievert torch and I seem to need to heat quite a bit before the solder flows, sometimes the solder just doesn't seem to want to flow at all, I use a borax cone with water or magic borax liquid and do pickle between heatings as well as cleaning in an ultrasound cleaner.

  4. #4
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    With Silver as with any metal make sure your joins are clean and tight, when soldering Silver you also need to heat the whole piece otherwise the heat will sink away from your joint this can make it difficult to get the solder flow, also to prevent over heating use a on off technique i.e. heat the piece the move the flame away then bring it back bringing the temperature up slowly. I am not familiar with Magic Borax. most likely a similar product Boric Acid is Borax mixed with Metho (Alcohol ) to form a thin pates cover the item then light it to burn off the Alcohol, leaves a protective coating on the piece, I apologise if this is teaching you Grandmother to suck eggs.

  5. #5
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    Your best course is to improve your lifetime polishing skills and for that I recommend one of the two day courses by master polisher Stephen Goldsmith. Google will give you dates and prices.Take a sample bangle to the course and he will tell you exactly what to do and with what.
    I learned so much, and I started silversmithing 50 years ago. It's simply not taught as a separate skill. Just a sort of afterthought. You'll be amazed at what you can achieve.
    Author: Pearls A Practical Guide
    www.pearlsapractical.guide
    www.Pearlescence.co.uk

  6. #6
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    No apologies needed, I do move the flame etc, Magic Borax was suggested by Andrew Berry in one of his online tutorials, it is just a premixed solution, water based not spirit based, the whole piece is warmed or heated gently and the borax painted on leaving a white residue, I do still get slight fire stain so Oxygen is still getting through and I am still overheating even when using extra easy solder pallions, I sweat solder the gold or additions before soldering too, maybe I need to get some more tuition and practice more after.

  7. #7
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    I’ve always used a sievert so that isn’t the problem. The medium burner should do the job for that size. As Bob said you need to keep the flame moving to heat the whole piece and bring it back to the joint then for the solder to flow. Have you wired it to keep the joint together?
    The ultrasound won’t do much more than remove the polishing compound so pickling is your important next step after soldering.
    I would sweat solder the hearts on first, pickle then polish, then texture, form and solder the joint. Pickle and hopefully it will only need a light polish to bring it back up
    Sorry our post s crossed over but will just leave it
    Last edited by CJ57; 16-03-2023 at 03:06 PM.

  8. #8
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    Thanks Caroline, I didnt think the sievert was an issue, I was just trying to make everything as clear as possible, I normally use a medium burner especially for bangles, as well as removing polishing compound the ultrasound also degreases prior to soldering, maybe unnecessary, a buff stick in the area will clean too, I guess straight out of the pickle will see it in the same place, I will probably do as you have suggested but will texture afterwards as I find it forms and hardens the metal better

  9. #9
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    I’ve had my sievert for 40+ years and tbh the wee burner is still in its box and I use the the middle one for everything apart from big cuffs that usually mean I brace myself for the big burner!

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by CJ57 View Post
    I’ve had my sievert for 40+ years and tbh the wee burner is still in its box and I use the the middle one for everything apart from big cuffs that usually mean I brace myself for the big burner!
    Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	13440 lots of borax liquid and there didn’t seem to be any firescale, it did take a long time for the gold to fix, I assume because the bangle was 2mm thick so took a lot of heat, thanks for the advice.

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