Borders

[Bob Bullard]

I have 2 old Ithca 1911 slides that have been repaired (welded cracks) and I picked them up
to use as practice plates as I feel that is all they are fit for. I want to inlay a silver border on
one. Do I inlay the border first or as one of the last steps? I'm planning to keep the border
appox. 1m/m from the edge is that too close?
thanks
Bob

 

[TallGary]

Bob,

I do the inlay first. There is a fair amount of shaving and stoning that happens to produce a smooth level surface after inlaying the wire in the channel that would harm any engraving next to the inlay.

Good luck & have fun with your "practice plates".

Gary

 

[Mike Bissell]

Bob - I agree with Gary for the same reasons. If you are successful with silver then you will have no problem with 24k gold.
Mike

 

[FANCYGUN]

Make certain you are using "fine" silver and not "sterling". Sterling work hardens way too fast unless you are experienced.

 

[Ron Smith]

Bob, also be aware of the fact that yu m ight run into some problems wherever the welds are. I have run into situations where you can't cut through a weld. Are these welds visible by any discoloration of the metal? Of course being a practice piece, it doesn't matter much except if you can do a nice job and use the slide for display to promote your work. You might try some practice cuts on the insides of the frame if you can identify the weld spots. If you cannot, if there is a problem with them, you won't find them until you cut across them while engraving. I had a job once that even carbide wouldn't cut through the weld. You will find hard spots on slides on different brands where they spot harden bearing surfaces for wear resistance. I don't have enough experience with the different brands to tell you what they are, but some one will. I havent done many automatics. Hope this helps...........
Marty is correct....Make sure you are using pure silver. Sterling will harden like a spring. It is a bugger!! You have to use extreme tactics to inlay work hardening metals................Ron S

 

[fegarex]

Ron beat me to the reply about the welds and I agree with him. They can be a real pain! The good news is this is practice so you will not be out anything. I might also suggest annealing the whole slide. Just don't do this on a "working" slide however. As Ron said, you'll usually find "sopt hardening" around the slide catches and the front of the slide as well.

 

[Bob Bullard]

slides

When I draw filed the welds down they didn't seem to be hard but I'll check that out.
Where they are spot harded is it possilbe to cut and inlay them or should I try to work
around them somehow.
Thanks for taking time to answer these question as I know everyone is trying to get
readt for Reno
Bob

 

[Unkl Ian]

How they are welded can influence the hardness of the weld.

MIG welds tend to be hard.Oxy-Acetylene tends to be soft.
The filler used also makes a difference.

 

[Dave London]

Hi Bob
If you can file them you can cut them with a graver usually Might need to use carbalt or other special gravers, Let us know how it turns out. Dave