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Jewelry making how to: forming a ringJewelry making, how to make a ring with sheet metal in the traditional way. Here’s a second metalsmithing method to shape a ring. The traditional way of forming a ring is by making it on a wood log. A wood log is used in metalsmithing for dapping and forming. It usually has a deep slot and some other notches to help shape metal. In this exercise, you’ll use the groove to form the ring. If you’ve done the previous forming technique, you should have the 18 gauge silver sheet metal of 5mm long segment ready. Shaping sheet metal to form a ringStart by annealing the metal to a dull red, quench in water, pickle and dry.
Place the sheet metal on the wooden log’s slsot, perpendicular to it. Put your ring mandrel on top of it and start hitting it with a mallet until it bends to form a U shape. Anneal again and keep hitting the sheet metal until the two ends meet.
Measure the ring size to determine how much excess sheet metal you have to cut out. Using your jewelers saw, just like in the previous exercise; saw one of the ends off.
Anneal and once again “close” the ring. If you’re having a bit of trouble closing it, here’s a trick: Place the ring on your bench steel block and with a brass hammer, hammer one end and then the other until the two meet.
If the ends sort of project outwards, place the ring up-right and hammer on top of the two ends to finish joining them.
Soldering the ringNow you’ll solder the ring using hard solder (it needs more heat than soft solder). Put the ring on your soldering charcoal gripped with soldering tweezers to avoid any unexpected movement, place chips of solder inside the slot and add flux to them.
Light your torch and heat the surrounding areas of the ring, don’t put the flame directly on the ring at first. When the flux starts fizzling and bubbling, put the flame directly on the ring making sure you’re moving it constantly. Try heating the entire ring evenly. When the metal starts changing color, you need to focus the flame on the two segments being joined, always moving the torch, until solder flows. Check to see that the solder filled the entire slot and that there are no gaps. If there are gaps between soldering, add a drop of flux and heat again until solder flows evenly. Quench and pickle. Before shaping the ring on your mandrel, file any excess solder on the inner shank of your ring until the surface is touched and felt smooth.
Shaping the ring on the mandrelAfter doing that put the ring on the mandrel and hit it with your mallet, making sure you’re holding the ring with the palm of your left hand (while the right hand is moving the mallet).
If you don’t hold the ring while forming it, it may move down the mandrel and increase in ring size (which could mean that you would have to cut it open again, saw a bit off it and solder again). Remember to flip the ring over to shape it evenly on both sides too (or else the ring will have a “cone” shape, the shape of the mandrel). Anneal your ring, let it cool and place it on a bench steel block. With a piston, hammer the sides of the ring flat so that you end up with a well shaped ring (to avoid a crooked shape).
When you place the ring on your bench there should be no light passing below the ring, it should rest horizontally. Filing and polishing your ringFile the ring to perfection starting with 7” files using flat hand files for the sides and outer surface and half-round files for the inner shank. Work your way to needle files and then start sanding it using successively higher grits.You can put the ring on a ring clamp to avoid filing your nails and to have a better grip. Make sure you have enough light to see what you’re doing, particularly to see any remaining scratches.
Use your Foredom sanding accessory to finish sanding the ring to a smooth polish. Your ring is ready! You can polish it a bit with a polishing cloth and wear it immediately! Next step is making interesting textures and other finishes to your jewelry,
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