Its a starting point for me whilst getting used to things, not sure how useful these things are til I've given them a go. I have tried using a larger blade on something but found the smaller one was better, though not sure if that was partly the quality of the blade too as I got a cheap batch.
Hazel
Hi Hazel, piercing in my opinion is one of the most important skills to acquire. Here are a few tips, always buy the best saw blades, I use Swiss blades from Vallorbe, then make sure your bench peg is secure and steady as movement of your bench peg can upset your ability to pierce accurately. I was taught to always start my piercing holding the saw frame at right angles to my eyeline, piercing across the V in the bench peg, I was told that it is always better to see where the blade is going rather than where it has been, so many pierce holding the saw frame straight and piercing away from their eyeline which I think is more of a health and safety requirement rather than ease of use. One final tip is if you intend making multiples of a design, then first draw and pierce a marking out pattern in base metal, I use copper for making my patterns, then once you have a metal pattern it is easy to use a scriber and mark out any further designs for piercings.
This is one of my piercings alongside the copper pattern I used to mark out the design.
James
One more question then, James: how do you keep your marking out pattern still while scribing around it?
I lied, it's more questions actually:I have tried all sorts of scriber's. What do you favour and how sharp should they be?
And lastly; what do you use to make these large domes? Dennis.
Dennis, I first slightly polish the silver surface then divide the area of the dome up into even sections with dividers then hold the marking out pattern in place between the dividing lines with my spare hand while scribing around the pattern. I use a darning needle held in a pin vice as my scriber.
The domes I use are spun from discs on a lathe, I assume you know about metal spinning where the silver is rubbed over A wooden dome shape using a large burnisher while the metal is turning on a lathe, if not check this video out; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGszBVy3cgU
James
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