Ring Making 101....

[John N]

Hey everyone, First proper post on the forum and im straight after some advice

Im a complete newb at jewlery making, but do spend a fair bit of time working metals (I make custom patternwelded blades among other things)

Im hoping to have a go at making some carbon damascus steel rings. Ive seen some folks make them without lining them, and they say that corroson, staining etc etc arent a problem, but I would like to line the rings with non ferrous metals.

I dont think I will have any problems making the steel piece of the ring (im not a bad center lathe turner ) , its the lining Im looking for inspiration for.

My first idea was to buy a cheap sterling silver band in the right size, slip the damacus ring over the outside of it, and then use a couple of steel balls from a bearing 30mm or so diameter to 'swage' the lining out forming a lip against the steel outer.

Can anyone see any major probs with this plan? if you could point me to any tutorials, or have any ideas for other ways of lining them I would love to hear them!

Ive just bought this off ebay (im a tool addict ) will it help me in my quest for ring lining? or is it just for final sizing. Thought it looked like a nice piece of kit so buy first, work it out later

(I cant hotlink to a my photobucket account as I dont have enough posts on the forum, so will just post the ebay number for any opinions! 130390412631 )

cheers!

[Dennis]

Hi John, It's best not to re-invent the wheel, so you definitely need tuition on making rings. Books are rather reticent on the details, but the Jewellery Making Techniques Book, Elizabeth Olver, published by Apple, might be a starting point.
Then you need to make a thin silver tube to fit the finger, but about 3mm taller than the steel ring and a thickness of metal of about 0.6mm so that the edges don't end up too sharp. When you have the outer part made, push one inside the other and spread the ends.To do this it's best to have a set of assorted steel doming punches. One will go vertically in a vice, then the ring and then another on top, which you hammer gently. Turn the ring over until the ends are even.
Ring sizing is tricky, because a narrow ring needs to be be several sizes smaller than a ring made of wide material for the same finger. In other words by turning over the ends of your lining tube the ring will become looser.
Kind regards, dennis.

[MuranoSilver]

+ great bargain on the ring stretcher

[arian]

I've only ever made one double ring, so don't go listening to me.

The inner was silver, the outer red gold. I had the idea that I could make an
interference fit by heating the gold and dropping in the silver. It nearly worked .
The outer wasn't solid on the inner; it wouldn't come off, but it did move, so I
soldered them.

I don't know if your plan will work. I've seen silver-lined Damscus rings on BB
(I'll have a search later).

Edit: Later. http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...rn-welded-ring
and there's the recent
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...gagement-rings

[John N]

Thanks for the pointers eveyone, arian, Id forgotten Mick Maxen had done that one His work is top notch, Ill have to have a chat with him about the ring at some point.

I diddnt ask the question on BB forum as im hoping to learn a lot more in the long run from Jewellers than from bladesmiths!

Im now starting to see that my cunning (un-original) plan is going to require me to make a thin silver tube for the lining, and thats not going to be something I can buy. I saw a tutorial on here about how to make one from a 'washer' , where its peined up onto a mandrel. is this a univerally accepted way of making a ring? , for some reason it diddnt appeal to me from a material flow point of view. (I work in the forging industry, and am quite sensitive to things like that!)


So, what are the other methods available for making a liner?? would a little set of rolls like this......... ebay # 220598423916 ....... do the trick If I siver soldered it closed after rolling, or would the solder joint burst where it was peined over the steel outer ring?

Spose my other option is a minature version of how we forge seemless rings on a power hammer, ie take a billet, pierce, place a mandrel through the hole and beck it out.

Might take me a while to get my head round this one

[ps_bond]

Thanks for the pointers eveyone, arian, Id forgotten Mick Maxen had done that one His work is top notch, Ill have to have a chat with him about the ring at some point.

Guess who Mick asked?

[Dennis]

[QUOTE=John N;36535
. I saw a tutorial on here about how to make one from a 'washer' , where its peined up onto a mandrel. is this a univerally accepted way of making a ring? , for some reason it diddnt appeal to me from a material flow point of view. (I work in the forging industry, and am quite sensitive to things like that!)

Making rings from washers requires special equipment to centre the hole. The main advantage is to avoid soldering, but there are other problems, not least the cost.
Making rings from soldered strip or wire is not that difficult and is infinitely more versatile.
Soldering is central to mainstream jewellery techniques and people who wish to avoid it will be restricted in what they can do. Dennis.


.

[ps_bond]

To be honest, Dennis - when I did my quick & dirty test on the washer technique, I just pierced the washer out.

[John N]

Im sure I could rig a punch on a flypress with a little stripper (!) or somthing to punch a washer out, I used to make sheet metal press tooling so am reasonably confident a nice bit of silver steel would do the job (W1) , Still not sure I like bunching all the metal up like that though.

I s'pose I should just spend a few quid on some silver sheet and have a play round with it. Im not worried about having a go at the soldering, I found 8kgs of silver solder the other day , though I would be willing to bet its the wrong grade for use on 925 silver!!!! (its 42% Ag). I think we used to use it for attaching carbide tips on cutting tools.

Good to see you here Peter, your gonna have to point me towards some of your work for a nosey !

[Dennis]

To be honest, Dennis - when I did my quick & dirty test on the washer technique, I just pierced the washer out.

I reckon that's all that's needed, Peter, as you have to file the edges anyhow. And now you are several hundred dollars better off. They even charge extra for the centering devices. Dennis.