Ring with feature stone

[eekoh]

OK so its not actually a stone, its a tiny bronze coin weight but I couldn't think of a catchy title that summed that up.

Anyway, this has been my first attempt at attaching something to a ring band. Took several goes to get it securely soldered and I've definitely found the limits of my current torch, though fortunately I've got birthday money to spend on an upgrade this month.
I tried sweat soldering to start off with but couldn't get it to work as I think the flux was burning off too quickly. I ended up resorting to a carefully balanced contraption of titanium clamps, ring parts and pallions, which was really fiddly and involved a lot of swearing but did result in all the right bits being stuck together albeit ever so slightly wonky. Also the soldered join in the ring band got too hot and is now visible so will need a little remedial work. Like i said, time for a better torch!

I've given it a light polish to see how it will look, but will do that properly after I've fixed the join in the band. I want get the band nice and shiny but put just enough shine on the 'stone' to give it a bit of bling and allow the engraving to stand out while still keeping the antique look.

[enigma]

Thats cool Hazel, what a lovely unusual 'stone' .
Ive not worked with bronze but copper takes a fair amount of heat to solder.

[Sheen]

Cool, i love the bronze coin weight.

[Dennis]

It's a good result Hazel and highly original. As you say, a soldering clamp holds it for soldering , but any wonkiness can be addressed by drawing suitable lines with a waterproof pen for a guide.

Waterproof pens do not interfere with soldering and can be used on the metal and also on the block for alignment. Dennis.

[eekoh]

Thanks all, I hadn't ever seen these little coin weights til a couple of weeks ago when a mate gave me a tip to start watching the 'detector finds' ebay listings for interesting little curios and I do rather like making one-off pieces with random stuff.

Do you think solder paste might be easier for for this type of project?

[enigma]

Not really, it has the same melting points and actually the flux burns off quicker.
I do use paste quite a bit but only for really small things that would be a pain to balance pallions on.
Did you watch the Andrew Berry vid on Youtube about soldering a tube bezel onto a ring? that would probably be useful to you here.

[eekoh]

I'll look it up, thanks.

[Goldsmith]

Did you use this shape of titanium clamp to hold the shank in place Hazel? I found it worked well on this ring.



I have recently made up this shaped clamp as I think it may be useful for holding small items and settings on ring shanks.



James

[eekoh]

This was my set up. The prongs were too far apart so I used two wedged together to grip the ring and the stone. The horizontal one is just there to prop the rest of it upright.



I've still got 7 strips left to bend and i think something like yours would be better than i've used. (I think part of the reason the stone went slightly wonky is because the grip was from one side of the band rather than pinning it in the centre.)

[JewelleryByMandy]

Nice that, different! Every time i solder onto a ring it goes wonky! Practice makes perfect i suppose...


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