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8/14/2019 Workbench Guide to Jewelry Techniques
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ANASTASIA YOUNG
THE WORKBENCH GUIDE TO
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3
SOLDERING
Metals are most often joined together using the soldering
process. Solder is a metal alloy with a lower melting point than
the metals it is joining; precious metals each have their own
solder alloy, but base metals are usually joined with silver solder.
Materials and tools
Solder is available in different gradeshardsilver solder has a melting point just below thatof silver, medium has a lower melting point,and easy solder melts at a lower point still. Hardsolder is used predominantly, as it color-matchessilver better than medium or easy, and flowsalong seams better, too. Enameling solder has avery high melting point and can be used to joinelements that are going to be enameled (see page229); extra-easy solder should only be used forrepair work. Every karat and color of gold has itsown solder alloys of hard, medium, and easy.
Flux is used to aid solder flow by preventingthe metal from oxidizing when heated. Borax is
Technique finder
Core techniques
(pages 82108)
Cutting and piercing
Drilling
Filing
Annealing Soldering
Pickling
Bending metal
Cleaning up
Polishing
Construction
(pages 109119)
Forming techniques
(pages 120149)
Carving and casting
(pages 150168)
Mechanisms
(pages 169189)
Color and texture
(pages 190234)
Stone setting
(pages 235247)
Stringing beads
(pages 248251)
Outwork
(pages 252269)
Plant cell brooch
By Laura Baxter
The intricate silver and
gold elements of this
brooch were skillfully
soldered together.
a good general-purpose flux, and comes either asa solid cone that is mixed with water in a dishto form a thin paste, or as a powder. Solderinggold requires relatively high temperatures, andyou may get better results using a flux especiallyfor that purpose, instead of borax. Easy andextra-easy solders, and stainless steel will alsoperform better with a flux designed for thespecific purpose.
Heat-bricks, charcoal blocks, and solderingmats, including ceramic mats that have holes forpinning pieces in position with binding wire,are necessary to protect surfaces from torchflames. Mats can be used on a turntable, which
will allow the piece to be rotated while heatingtakes place.
Small, inexpensive hand-torches are useful,but only for small soldering jobs such as chain-making. Torch heads that automatically mix airand bottled propane or butane gas are easy touse, and are a worthwhile investment. You caninterchange different sizes of head attachment togive suitable flame sizes for most soldering jobs.
Annea ling Solder ing
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2 Techniques Core techniques
ANNEALING METAL
Annealing is the process used to soften metal
once it has become work-hardened. These
steps show the annealing of metal wire, rod,
and sheet. Lengths of wire should be coiled and
loosely bound with binding wire, which will
help to prevent overheating any areas. Use a
soft, bushy flame to heat the coil evenly until
it reaches annealing temperature.
1To anneal thick wire or
rod, angle the torch flame
along the length of the rod,
and start heating at one end
(or, as shown here, at one
edge of the loop). When the
end becomes a dull red color,
move the flame along the rod,
making sure that the whole
length or loop has reached
annealing temperature.
2 Anneal sheet metal with a
bushy flamecirculate the
flame to bring the whole piece
of sheet to a dull red color.
3 Allow silver to cool to
black-heat before quenching
in water. Allow larger pieces
of sheet to air cool, which
will prevent distortion from
rapid cooling.
on a heatproof mat and start heating, using asoft, bushy flameyou will soon see colorchanges on the surface of the metal, and once themetal starts to glow red (check the chart forparticular metals and their annealing color) stopheating. These color changes are most visiblein low light levels.
The method you use to cool the metalwill affect its temper (hardness)in order toachieve optimum results, use the recommendedmethod of quenching or cooling for yourparticular metal.
The annealing process causes a coating ofoxides to be formed on most metals, and they
will need to be cleaned in an acid solution calledpickle (see page 98).
When not to anneal
For certain tasks, such as making earring wireswhere no soldering is required, it is oftendesirable to retain the hardness of the metal sothat the piece will not easily bend out of shape.The piece will be less easily formed, but will bea more durable structure.
FILE
TECHNIQUE
04
Precious Kiwi-skin necklace
By Alena Joy
Precious metals
were used alongside
dried kiwi skins
to construct this
delicate necklace.
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visible around the edge of the seam. Rememberto make an air-hole in a hollow form if it is goingto be heated againtrapped air can make piecesexplode. This technique can also be used to joinflat sheets of metal together neatly.
Awkward soldering jobs
Confidence in soldering comes with practice.When things dont go as planned, try to work
out whymistakes can be learned from and theknowledge used to your advantage.
Each soldering job may be slightly differentthan the last, but a few general points should betaken into consideration. Build a wall from soldering mats or bricksaround the soldering area, because this will helpto reflect heat back onto the piece, which willhelp it heat up more quickly.
Time spent setting up pieces is time saved ifthe elements move when they are being heatedand need to be quenched, repositioned, andfluxed again. Always try to use gravity to your advantage whenbalancing piecesreverse-action tweezers are agreat help here, but remember that they will drawheat out of the metal they are holding, and so it
will take longer to reach the correct temperature.This fact is useful when you are soldering thin
wire on to larger formsusing tweezers will helpprevent the wire from overheating. Binding wire is incredibly useful for holdingpieces in place, but it can cause damagesilverexpands more than binding wire when heated, somake sure you use thin enough wire that will notresist expansion.
Multiple joins
While it is possible to use hard solder only tosolder multiple joins within one piece, mediumand easy solder are often used for the finalseams. This means that the piece will not haveto be heated to such a high temperature for thesolder to melt, and so there is much less risk ofthe hard solder re-melting. In a piece with threesolder joins, the first should be made with hardsolder, the second with medium, and the final
join with easy solder. For pieces with more thanthree joins, hard solder should be used for as
Techniques Core techniques
TECHNIQUE
07
FILESWEAT SOLDERING A HOLLOW FORM
Hollow forms can be awkward to solder, as
there is often no place for pallions of solder to
be placed easily. Sweat soldering allows you
to melt solder accurately in position. Here,
two domed circles are soldered together to
make a spherical form.
1 Apply borax and plenty
of pallions of solder to the
flat edge of one dome.
2 Heat the dome until the
solder slumpsoverheating
may cause the solder to run
down into the concave surface.
Ensure that all of the edge of
the dome has solder on.
3 Dont pickle the soldered
halfbut you may lightly
rub the soldered surface with
emery paper to flatten it
if necessary. Flux the two
halves and bind them
together with binding wire.
4 Heat the form evenly to
bring it all up to temperature
at the same time. You will see
liquid solder appear along the
seamensure that this has
happened all the way around
the seam, and then stop
heating the piece.
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5Solde ring
Clockwise from top:
Petals rings by Rui Kikuchi;
Ping ring by Gilly Langton;
Ring by Margareth Sandstrom;
5R1 Ring by Anastasia Young.
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many of the initial joins as necessary, and thejoins masked off with rouge powder mixed toa paste with water after they are made. This
will help to keep the solder from melting again.Heat-resistant gel can also be used to protectsolder seams, thin areas that may be at risk ofoverheating, and gemstones.
Easy solder should only ever be used for thefinal solder join in a piece as it can melt holes insilver if it is overheated.
Solder seams can become dry fromoverheating or too much annealing. This cancause pin-holes along the seam. Every time solderis heated, some components will burn out of thealloy, which effectively gives the solder a highermelting point and it will require heating to ahigher temperature in order to get it to melt. Ifnecessary, run fresh solder along the same seamto reinforce it.
Mixed metals
When soldering gold to silver, it is necessary touse silver solder, regardless of the karat of thegold. This is because silver has a lower meltingpoint than that of gold solder. Take care notto overheat the gold during this process or anysubsequent heating because the silver solder canmelt pits in the surface of the gold.
Base metals, including steel, can be soldered to
silver using borax for the flux and silver solder.
Techniques Core techniques
3 As soon as the rod is glowing
dark red, allow the flame to
lick the wire while continuing
to heat the rod. Dont allow
the wire to get too hot, or the
solder will travel up the wire,
away from the rod.
4 When the solder melts
and joins the two parts,
remove the flame. Quench
and pickle the piece.
2 Heat the soldering mat first,
to allow the borax to dry out
slowly. Once you are sure
that the solder will not move,
start to heat the rod, which is
thicker than the wire and will
take more time to get up to
soldering temperature.
1 Hold the rod in place using
pins in the soldering mat, and
balance the wire in position
using insulated tweezers. Apply
borax to both parts and place
a pallion of hard solder so that
it is resting on the rod, and
touching the wire, too.
SOLDERING AN EARRING STUD
Thin wires soldered on to larger forms, such
as pins for earring studs, can be a challenging
soldering job. The trick is to avoid overheating
the wire. The setup of the pieces is crucial
try to use gravity to your advantage!
TECHNIQUE
08
FILE
The different types of solder
Silver solder is available in different t ypes;
hard, medium, and easy solder strips are
shown above.
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7Solder ing
TECHNI
QUE
10
FILE
TECHNIQUE
09
FILE
SOLDERING MIXED METALS
When soldering mixed metals, always consider the melting points
of the component parts, and use a solder and flux suitable for the
metal with the lower melting point.
MULTIPLE SOLDER JOINS IN ONE PIECE
This technique demonstrates how to use the three main grades
of silver solderhard, medium, and easywhen soldering a
piece that has several different solder joins in it.
1Solder an 18-karat yellow-gold
wire ring with 18-karat yellow-
gold hard solder, using Auroflux.
Pickle, clean up the join, and
true the form.
1Form a ring shank from
9-gauge (3-mm) round silver
wire (see page 112). Use
26-gauge (0.4-mm) fine silver
sheet to make a bezel that
fits around a cabochon stone.
Solder the ring shank and bezel
using hard solder. Pickle and
clean up both pieces.
2Use borax to flux the silver
base sheet and position the
gold ring. Apply hard silver
solder pallions around the
outside of the gold ring.
2True the bezel on a triblet
and rub the base on emery
paper to ensure it is flat.
Place the bezel on a piece of
22-gauge (0.6 mm) silver sheet,
flux, and place medium solder
pallions around the outside of
the bezel. Solder the wire on
mesh, so that the flame can be
applied from underneath to
avoid overheating the bezel.
3Place the piece on steel mesh
so that the silver can be heated
from underneath. The solder will
melt when the silver reaches the
correct temperature. The gold
solder should not be affected.
4Clean off any excess silver
solder with a needlefile and then
refine the surface further with
emery sticks.
3Pierce out the bezel cup from
the surrounding sheet and
carefully file the base flush with
the sides. Use emery sticks to
clean up the outer surfaces.
File a flat area on the top of
the ring shank, in the same
position as the hard solder join.
The bezel cup should be a bit
larger than the flat surface.
4Place the bezel cup upside-
down on the soldering mat
and balance the ring shank on
top. Support the shank using
tweezers. Flux around the join
and apply several pallions of
easy solder. When soldering,
concentrate the heat mainly on
the shank. Pickle and clean up.
See page 236, for Bezel setting,
where this project is continued.
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Your go-to reference book
This comprehensive and ambitious workshop reference for jewelers bringstogether a vast range of skills, techniques, and technical data in onevolume, to provide an essential look-it-up resource for both students andprofessionals. The focus in The Workbench Guide to Jewelry Techniquesis on detailed explanationwith clear step-by-step photography.
All of the techniques demonstrated are illustrated with photographsof remarkable cutting-edge jewelry pieces by jewelry designers and
makers from around the world.
In addition to detailed explanations of jewelry techniques there is:
n an extensive directory of tools and materials
n a key to identify tools for a beginners kit
n a historical introduction to jewelry
n a guide to the design process and to photographing and
promoting your own work
na comprehensive reference section with a directory of gems,
tool shapes, glossary, standard sizes and measurements,
conversion tables, and an extensive list of resources
The Workbench Guide to Jewelry Techniquescovers traditionalmetalsmithing skills and techniques for alternative materials, such as plastics
and resin in expert detail, as well as discussing issues such as the process ofoutsourcing work to specialist external suppliers.
Hardcover, 812x 10, 320 pages400 photographs, 200 illustrations,100 chartsISBN: 978-1-59668-169-9$34.95Available February 2010
Anastasia Youngis a practicing designer, jeweler, andartist whose work has been exhibited internationally.She is the author of The Jeweler's Technique Bible.She is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, andCentral Saint Martins College of Art and Designin London, where she now teaches the BA jewelrydesign course.