Piercing?

[Goldsmith]

While on the subject of piercing, has anyone looked at the Cooksons Knowledgebase on what saw blade to use for which thickness of material. Either I have misinterpreted their chart or they have made a mistake. They list Grade 3 as Grade 3 and say 16 teeth per cm, then further down they have listed Grade 3/0 and they have 25 teeth per cm. Is there a difference in the sizing or is it just to confuse people like me.

Pat, the sizes of piercing saw blades can be confusing, for easy reference, Grade 8/0 is the smallest, then the saws get larger as the numbers decrease up to Grade 0 or as some call it 1/0. In the past saw blades were numbered on their packets with just zeros, such as 0-00-000-0000-00000-000000 and onwards, these sizes refer to 1/0-2/0-3/0-4/0-5/0-and 6/0.
( I use 6/0-4/0-3/0-2/0-0 ) Then after size 0, the blades get larger and they change the size references to single numbers such as Grades 1-2-3. I have rarely used a saw blade larger than Grade 2. unless piercing thicker plastics or wood. For most jobs I use sizes 2/0,3/0 and4/0, usually for piercing metals 0.4mm. up to 1.5mm. thick.

I hope this makes sense:-)
James

[solitarysmagick]

Ooh thank you for that explanation James, I always get confused about saw blade sizes!

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[Patstone]

Well it makes more sense than Cooksons guide. So for 0.60mm - 1.50mm a grade 3/0 would probably be ok (I hate piercing and do as little as I can get away with) I cut silver wire which is a bit thicker, about 3mm round sometimes when I make rings, but on the whole I tend to use snippers and file, rather than saw. I am sure if I practiced I would be ok, but when I saw I seem to spend more time straightening it up after than I do when I use snippers.
P.S I dont like polishing either unless its mechanical. Love designing and making, and seeing the finished product, just dont like the bits in between.

[Goldsmith]

Well it makes more sense than Cooksons guide. So for 0.60mm - 1.50mm a grade 3/0 would probably be ok (I hate piercing and do as little as I can get away with) I cut silver wire which is a bit thicker, about 3mm round sometimes when I make rings, but on the whole I tend to use snippers and file, rather than saw. I am sure if I practiced I would be ok, but when I saw I seem to spend more time straightening it up after than I do when I use snippers.
P.S I dont like polishing either unless its mechanical. Love designing and making, and seeing the finished product, just dont like the bits in between.

When cutting wires I use whatever blade is in the nearest available sawframe, yes a 3/0 saw blade is a good mid size if you are not into fine detailed piercing. My daughter phoned me wanting a quick birthday present for one of her friends a couple of weeks ago, so I spent an hour making this letter R pendant, I pierced it from 1.2 mm. thick silver sheet and used a 3/0 size saw blade.

James

[mizgeorge]

I posted this chart some time ago, but the link seems not to be working any more (along with a lot of others in the technical section)

This is an imperial version - I have got a metric one somethere, but I'm not sure where!

[ShinyLauren]

Piercing is one of my favourite things to do. I could happily stick a DVD box set on in my workshop and pierce things all weekend! Sadly, like Carole, the amount I'd have to charge to hand pierce everything would be unrealstic, so I do sometimes pierce out originals and have them cast.

I favour 4/0 and 6/0 blades, but that's because I like to do fiddly things.

[Goldsmith]

Just out of interest or for history, this is a wrapper from some of my oldest stock of 8/0 size saw blades. It shows how they originally showed the size 8/0 with a row of eight 0s.

James

[Truffle & Podge]

Just discovered the delights of 6/0, so smooth and clean on 0.5 sheet no tidying needed. Was like a hot knife through butter, think i got my flow on lol. Also swapped from beeswax to 3 in 1.........niceeeeeeee

[Truffle & Podge]

I assume you are just cradling the saw handle Pat? it needs no pressure at all really, just draw the whole of the blade through up and down rhythmically and gently, the blade does the work not you, you just guide it. Must admit sometimes if i haven't pierced for a few days i have to concentrate on not gripping the handle and force my hand to relax. when it flows there is nothing more satisfying. Using the thinnest blade you can get away with for the sheet gauge also helps. Honestly one day it will just click and you will love it!. Just hoping for the day when that happens in soldering for me lol
X

[Patstone]

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.

Pat, the sizes of piercing saw blades can be confusing, for easy reference, Grade 8/0 is the smallest, then the saws get larger as the numbers decrease up to Grade 0 or as some call it 1/0. In the past saw blades were numbered on their packets with just zeros, such as 0-00-000-0000-00000-000000 and onwards, these sizes refer to 1/0-2/0-3/0-4/0-5/0-and 6/0.
( I use 6/0-4/0-3/0-2/0-0 ) Then after size 0, the blades get larger and they change the size references to single numbers such as Grades 1-2-3. I have rarely used a saw blade larger than Grade 2. unless piercing thicker plastics or wood. For most jobs I use sizes 2/0,3/0 and4/0, usually for piercing metals 0.4mm. up to 1.5mm. thick.

I hope this makes sense:-)
James