3 Piece Buckle

[bitmaker]

Here is my shot at a 3 piece buckle set. Please tell me what you think.
Jim

 

[Haraga.com]

Looks good. You are well on your way.

 

[Steve223]

Looks good to me Jim!

 

[bronc]

Jim,
That's really nice work.
Stewart

 

[cowboy_silversmith]

Jim~ This is a nice buckle set and I can tell you made a very concentrated effort in fabricating all three pieces. There are still many people that don't fully understand or appreciate some of the complexities that are involved in making a ranger buckle set and I applaud your skills and want to encourage you in the fact that you are well on your way in the right direction. If I am to offer an honest critique as to how this could look a little cleaner and crisper this is what I would do. The solder flow looks clean but the top portion of the 1/2 bead wire border on the buckle tip looks to have slid a little during the soldering process. Did you apply the 1/2 bead wire as one complete pre-shaped piece or did you apply the 1/2 bead wire as two seperate pieces? You did a nice job on the keeper and looks like very clean solder flow. The buckle has a nice shape to it. Did you use the same proces of using a press and polyurethane inserts to dome it as you did with the previous conchos you posted? There are three things I think you could do for a better look here. I would either saw, sand or file closer to the 1/2 bead wire and the connecting 1/2 round wire so that there was no longer any excess silver material (flash) that can be visibly seen face up on the outside of these borders. I would also extend the 1/2 round wire on both side so that they meet up flush with the edges of the belt opening. I would also use a silcon wheel or something similar to smooth out the contour of the 1/2 round wire on the bottom right side corner. The brand appears to be nicely sawn and cleanly soldered. The engraving appears to have a nice pattern to it as well. I look forward to more posts ..... keep up the good work!!!

Best regards,
Greg Pauline

 

[bitmaker]

Greg
I use urithane to shape the buckle like you said. I see what you mean about the half round wire next to the belt. Should I solder the half round to the beaded wire and then put it on the buckle in one piece? I have a hard time getting the wire shaped perfect before I solder it down. Also, I have been tinning the back of the pieces before I solder them. Is this good. The lumps the solder makes on the back of the wire make it hard to get it set perfect before you put on the heat. If I put on the solder after I have it heated up, Will I get solder everywhere?
I sure thank you for you're help and encoragment
Jim

 

[Haraga.com]

Putting down round wire around a piece is very hard to do. After you tin the wire, pre-shape it, then clean up the bottom surface of the wire, then do a final shape, then solder on the wire. Oh by the way, hide all cheap pistols when you are doing this. If your flux burns away, do not be too stubborn to stick the piece in some sparex and start all over with the torch.

 

[cowboy_silversmith]

Jim~ Let me address your tinning technique first. You can tin the pieces first before you apply them to your base material. However the solder can develope a clumpy build-up on the back of these beads and if you get too much you also run the risk of the solder flowing to the front which makes for a real mess to clean up. If you do tin first, make sure you sand the back to a nice even layer which helps the piece from wobbling on the face of the base material, plus you have a better chance of getting a cleaner soldered seam. Now to the buckle. This is how I would approach fabricating this piece (this is by no means the only way). First I would make an actual size 1:1 template (22/24 gauge material) depicting the outside contours of the buckle. Take this template and lay it flat on the base material and deeply scribe around the template. Bend your 1/2 bead wire to the desired shape and check the fit with the scribed template. Bend and manipulate your 1/2 round wire to the desired shape and check the fit with the scribed template ( I will address the bending of the 1/2 round wire in a second). After pickling all pieces, I apply boric acid to the back of the base material and heat until the boric becomes "baked" in. I flux the 1/2 bead wire and lay it on the scribed base and I use cross locking tweezers with fiber grips to hold firmly in place. I then flux the entire face of the buckle base. I heat the entire base from the bottom with my torch and once the flux becomes fluid I then take my silver solder wire (in coiled form, you can use chips if you're more comfortable with that) and lightly butt it up against the outside edge of the 1/2 bead wire and watch for the the solder to gently flow. Once the solder flow is complete I throw the base in the pickle. Once out I then apply boric to the back of the base material and "bake" in the boric. I flux the 1/2 round wire and lay the pieces in place on the scribed base and once again using the cross locking tweezers, hold the pieces firmly in places. Using the same technique with the silver solder I solder the 1/2 round wire down in place. Throw it in the pickle. When it comes out of the pickle I check for any gaps in the soldered seam. If there is a gap, I'll boric and flux the piece again and gently bring the piece to temperature until the solder lighlty flows and fill up the gap(s). For the 1/2 round wire you need to make bending jigs or you can use needle nose pliers. You can also make a shaping mandrel to bend your 1/2 round wire. Before bending I would anneal the wire first. Bend the wire and if it begins to work harden, anneal again. If you impart any marks or scars onto the wire, take time to remaove these now before soldering as well as sanding the backside for a consistant flat edge for a clean soldered seam.

Best regards,
Greg Pauline

 

[bitmaker]

So if I understand you, you are soldering on the edge before you cut out the buckle? If that is the case, then how do you dome the piece with out damaging the 1/2 round edge?
Thanks for your help Greg
Jim

 

[cowboy_silversmith]

Jim~ Yes, that is correct. I use a maple wood dapping/doming block. I then place a piece of corrugated cardboard between the block and the buckle. I then gradually shape the buckle to the desired dome and the 1/2 round wire and 1/2 bead wire are no worse for the wear. This obviously is not the only way to approach this process but it's worked well for me over the years. It is entirely my pleasure to share with you.

Best regards,
Greg Pauline