metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Mar 25, 2016 17:09:35 GMT -5
Jade of course! The first of two (didn't go so smoothly) 18 ct gold
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First gold
Mar 25, 2016 20:26:15 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Pat on Mar 25, 2016 20:26:15 GMT -5
Those are lovely!
Can we see a back or two? Thanks.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 26, 2016 10:05:37 GMT -5
I like it!!!!
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Post by beefjello on Mar 26, 2016 19:02:59 GMT -5
Wow, very nice piece!
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Tom
fully equipped rock polisher
My dad Tom suddenly passed away yesterday, Just wanted his "rock" family to know.
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,557
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Post by Tom on Mar 26, 2016 23:59:08 GMT -5
Looks good and as Pat says please give us a look at the back. What did not go smoothly?
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Mar 27, 2016 2:58:42 GMT -5
Looks good and as Pat says please give us a look at the back. What did not go smoothly? The back: Soldering... I guess it was just working with a different material, with different temperatures. The same could go wrong with silver - I'm sure it did in the bad old days. I remember getting very frustrated with soldering silver. Even now, I guess, anyone can have a soldering off-day. I've been working on my boxes; at this small scale (5mm) measuring has to be pretty much bang-on. The join looked good, but I was a bit cautious on applying the heat. The solder blobbed and zipped up the join pretty well. On to the bail. It just didn't want to play. By the time it did, I guess I overheated and the flux had eaten into the join, creating a small hole. Attempts to fill the hole didn't work. I was feeding too much solder to the piece. You know its not working when that happens. I soldered a chip into the hole (2nd attempt), when that worked, the flux had started to unzip the join at the top. Hmmm. I sawed the piece through and rejoined it using the existing solder. Almost... but still a small gap at the top. Perhaps too much heat: one corned looks to have shrunk in. Lots of filing (tells you that you've made mistakes), squaring off the faces and then interior to fit the stone. It's a purely friction setting, so has to be tight. That's why a second saw-through was off the cards. There's still the lack of join at the top of the zip to sort out. I decided to mirror the arc of the bail in the pendant. Then, in sympathy with the curve at the rear (all those square angles and one curve), filed those at the front. One full evening and the result: a 5mm box with bail...
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Post by radio on Mar 27, 2016 6:23:22 GMT -5
Gold and Jade is a wonderful combination!
Too much heat maybe? Every time I work with Gold, I almost hate going back to Silver as Gold is much easier to solder IMHO.
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 27, 2016 7:37:09 GMT -5
Well, I think it looks nice despite the troubles. Gold and green jade are a natural and the setting is simply beautiful.
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Tom
fully equipped rock polisher
My dad Tom suddenly passed away yesterday, Just wanted his "rock" family to know.
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,557
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Post by Tom on Mar 27, 2016 9:04:39 GMT -5
It looks really good. Thanks for the write up. From what I have read and as radio has said gold is supposed to be easy to work with. Now that is from reading and not doing. I have never worked with gold
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Mar 27, 2016 11:59:42 GMT -5
I think first-night nerves may have had something to do with it.
No 2 went so much better. Pics later.
Going back to silver today and the solder seemed very easy by comparison.
Thanks for all your comments everyone.
Yes these two high-quality jades could only have been set in gold - hence my having to go there.
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