Heavy Gauge Sterling Silver Wire

[Sandra]

Since I last wrote I've done a couple practice pieces using copper rod and finally tried it using my silver. It was a fun project and while not perfect I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I used a swirl punch on the front and my daughter's initials on the back. The hardest part was actually drilling the hole, I had to keep annealing over and over. I also discovered the chain had a lower melting point than the medium silver solder strip I was trying to use. Luckily my hubby had an old soldering iron and a different type of solder so I used that and it seems to have worked out ok.
My daughter is wearing this today, and she is a pretty harsh critic so I am well pleased . Its much shinier than it appears in the photo and please excuse the poor quality of the photos...(PS - it looks on the pic as though the letter M didn't punch all the way, but it's just something with the picture. In real life it looks fine)

[Dennis]

Hi Sandra, your going ahead in leaps and bounds. Anyone would be pleased to have that pendant. Two comments on what you wrote:

The metal is quite thick to drill but it is easier if you use a lubricant such as a drop of 3 in 0ne oil and start by making a smaller hole. Then change to to a larger drill of the size needed.

For your chain, get some easy solder, because ball chain is already quite weak when tugged and overheating it will make it worse.

For jewellery, beware of any soft solder such as you mention, because it will contaminate your bench, can be allergenic, and is not of hallmarking quality.

Well done, Dennis.

[Tabby66]

You deserve to be pleased Sandra and always a sense of pride when your daughter is actually prepared to wear it!!!! (My daughter rejects most of mine, but I did notice she had a piece on today ;D).

As Dennis has said, that is a thick piece of silver to drill, in addition to Dennis' advice it is worth putting a small dent at the site to be drilled, a centre punch tapped with a hammer is the tool for this but any number of pointy pieces of metal will serve the same purpose!! It reduces the tendency of the bit to skid around when you first start drilling. As well as drilling with a smaller drill first, drill a little at a time, add more lube if required, then drill a bit more, until your through, you should reduce the risk of broken drill bits this way.

I think it's worth taking Dennis' advice on the easy (or extra easy) solder too, will be a much more secure result.

Well done!!