Question: Earings

[eastslope]

Ok, ok, here is a earring I did tonight, but it comes with a story. First, I thought I would read a bit as I am about half way through the Will James book that I got for Christmas. I read a few pages and find the print is missing on every few pages for the next twenty pages. Right in the middle of the book, and I'm ****ed, so I try the TV, but of course nothing good has been on since Lonsome Dove, so I go to the shop to try and make my first pair of earrings. Life is good, I cut the 18 guage silver with my jewlers saw, broke only one blade. I stamp sterling and sand and polish them up. I warm up some thermolock and stick one in, and I go the sand and polish the other while the thermolock cools. Then I draw a flower and cut it out, then wriggle a scroll. After the scroll, it do my first bright cut, and pop out the earring. Darn, so every time I go the break a chip I pop out the earring. Now I am engraving with my finger in the way and this is working poorly at best, but it is working, so I go with it. I am darn near done engraving, when I go the flick the chip and pop out the earring, and it flies into the pipe of my drillpress stand! Now, you have to understand that I gave up cussing as my new years resolution, which lasted fairly well untill now. I procede to pull of my ball vise, the turntable, and flip my drillstand upside down to try and get the earring out of there. This doesn't work because the stupid thing is caught under the pipe, so I then have to unbolt everything. Finding a darn wrench took forever, but I finally got it done and bolted back together. The silver wasn't scratched too bad that I couldn't hide it and buff out the backside. I finished engraving the earring and took the bad picture so you all could enjoy this story, but my question is:

How do you hold this perfectly polished round stuff that thermolock won't hold? Conchos, pennants, etc?

Oh yeah, here is.....drumroll....my first earring. I guess I will do the match tomarrow. I'll have to try and duplicate the scratches somehow.

I hope you enjoy, Seth

 

[fegarex]

Seth,
Welcome to the world of engraving!!

I hate to hear about your day but I seem to have days like that as well.

As far as holding things like this, Thermoloc seems to work fo rme but I make it like a set of "jaws" so I can tighten against it. They make a little kit to make them or you can make your own. Also, well before Thermoloc I would use Bondo and once I set the item, I would pop it out and then put a drop of Super Glue on the back. This may work with Thermoloc as well. Just a bit of heat would loosen it.

 

[Peter E]

I think we ALL have those kind of days from time to time. The earring looks nice though!

As Rex mentioned, thermo-loc works well but it takes a little planning to get the item out when you're done. Using a plastic it won't stick to, to make jaws, or making a hole through from back to front to poke it out, have worked for me.

Peter

 

[jack]

I use hot glue. It seems to hold guite well on anything flat. I buy it in stick form and cut off just what I need and use a heat gun to hold the item. Jack

 

[castagnos&s]

Seth, I engrave a lot of concho's and just cover a wood block with light copper and pin it down. Then get yourself a hot glue gun and use it to stick stuff down. It works great and its dirt cheap. you can even use it on bondo and just spray alittle denatured alcohol on the glue and it comes off like magic, I even use is to hold bit cheeks to cut inlays or relief engraving on. Good luck . Mike

 

[mtgraver]

I think you did a nice job on that "one" earring, even if you don't get the other one done one is still fashionable..........I guess.
I use much thinner stock for my earrings and I set a bunch of pieces in a pitch bowl. Heat each piece lightly over an alcohol lamp only enough to melt the pitch as they settle(melt) in, work as usual once cool. I make little pitch bowls out of scrap gunstock wood. I'm using the black stuff for these type pieces. Once they're all engraved I put the block in the freezer for a little while, the contraction factor of the pitch vs. the silver will generally let the pieces fall out of the pitch, put the pieces in a little isopropal or methyl alcohol and most of the residual pitch comes off with a bit of rubbing. I then will form the pieces into a 3-D form, color, polish and ready for sale. I've been using this stuff for 15 years, I don't have thermoloc yet but the pitch works for many situations but is dirtier. Hope that helps.
Mark
www.MarkThomas-graver.com

 

[bronc]

Seth,
The earring looks great. Nice work. What you went through sounds like a typical day in my shop. I use hot glue for most things. I release it with denatured alcohol.

Stewart

 

[rogerbar]

howdy
saw your earring and wanted to tell ya that it looks great.i like the hangers on yours better than the ones i used for the wifes earrings. i also know what your talking about when you tell the story of nothing going right. i know they are going to happen but ya just got to hope that they dont all come in a row. keep up the good work
roger barbee

 

[KCSteve]

Try two things on the second earring:

1) Set it deeper into the ThermoLoc - mold it right up to the edge, maybe even creeping the tiniest touch over.

2) Make a 'pop out point' - I use my burnisher, driving it under the edge of the item before the ThermoLoc cools. When I'm done engraving I drive it back into the spot to pop the thing out.

It's tough holding little bitty things though. Jaws are good if you have enough room to work with them, if not you might have to go with the hot melt glue on the back to stick it to a piece of wood.

When I do earrings I've always cut them out after I finish engraving them, but that's partly because I like to do scrolls and then cut out along the outer edge of the scroll.

Question: So, do you have some tape or something blocking that hole at the top of your drillpress pipe now?

 

[Ross]

Seth I know how you can dulicate the scratchs and such on the other earring. Just do everything that you did on the other one. Flick it out once or twice toss it down your driill press pipe. LOL. Just do it on a good nights rest and smile while you are doing it.
Sounds like you had one of my days. Isn't life grand. Super Glue or Hot Glue sound good to me.
Ross Parnell

 

[diandwill]

I cut a lot of sterling earrings and do it in two different ways. Most of the time, I lay out the design and the reverse on a single piece of silver, lock it into the ball vice and cut it. Then I saw them out, file the edges and finish them.
On precut shapes, I have a 3x3 piece of 1/8" steel, and I superglue them to the plate. Sometimes they pop off and you have to reglue them.
I have used pitch and a small, flat bowl, and made a mess getting the pitch too soft. I hadn't heard off putting them in the freezer and having them release that way. I use the hot plate on my Mr Coffee to soften the pitch, both to put them in and to get them out. Sometimes my timing is off, and thats when I make a mess. I have had to clean the kitchen counters many times, to get the pitch off, and drop the pieces into a jar of acetone to dissolve the pitch from the silver.
The design looks good. Sam has a transfer wax that is perfect for transferring designs like this. I sometimes, on flat pieces, will use a scanner and/or a copier to reverse the image and then transfer the design with the method of choice.
Will

 

[Steve223]

Seth good lookin earring! I use 5 min epoxy on a wood block and dont have much trouble and when your done just put a little heat to it and pop it off.
Steve

 

[John B.]

Flat items like that can be held easily by two sided fabric carpet tape.
Stick the tape to a piece of wood, peel off the protector sheet and press the silver down. An eye dropper and a couple of drops of acetone will make it release.
I have used this tape method even while inlaying into a belt buckle, flat or curved, shape the wood to fit.
Just another method.

John B.

 

[fegarex]

Hi John,
Do you get any movement with this? I haven't tried the cloth tape but have tried other 2 sided tapes and I always get a "spongy" effect. It seems like it just doesn't hold well enough. Perhaps the trick is the cloth tape.

 

[Scratchmo]

You had a GOOD day. Last Friday, after spending several WEEKS on some die engraving, I discovered my initial pattern was wrong. I had to start it over from scratch. Thankfully my client was understanding and found use for my "wrong" dies.

 

[Scratchmo]

Orange flake shellac works well for holding small pieces. I have a small block of wood with some on it and it always works well for stuff like that. I use a small torch to soften it up, then just press the item into it. You can even curl a bit over the edges to make sure it won't pop out like you've described. This is old school stuff, and I don't even know if suppliers carry it anymore, but it does work great, and cleans easily with alcohol.

 

[John B.]

Rex, I've not had a problem with it.
Maybe the brand of tape makes a difference.
I have Manco and ACE hardware brands.
The Manco seems to hold the best, 2 7/16" wide.
As you always say....your results may vary.
John B.

Just a second thought.....could it be a heat/cold thing?
I use it in California and the students made hundreds of final project buckles using it.
Flat and bent, about 50% having inlays.
But that was in the summer in California and Colorado, now that I think of it.
And you live in some cold country, how warm is your shop?

 

[fegarex]

Thanks John,
I will give it a try.
How cold is my shop??? You have NEVER experienced life until you have been away for the weekend and grab a 35# engraving vise before the shop heats up!!
The 2 weeks of summer in Michgian is wonderfull however.....

 

[nhcowboy1961]

Thanks John,
I will give it a try.
How cold is my shop??? You have NEVER experienced life until you have been away for the weekend and grab a 35# engraving vise before the shop heats up!!
The 2 weeks of summer in Michgian is wonderfull however.....

Boy can I identify Rex! While my engraving station is in my warm kitchen my metal shop is in the cold New Hampshire basement-always 35-38 degrees come full winter. I work in a tee shirt, flannel shirt, sweater, and jacket-not to mention my huge "George Castanza" Russian mink hat. I have a wood stove down there when I can't hack it anymore but working in the cold keeps me sharp and after 10 minutes I forget all about it. Still, when you first walk down to start your day it's a real eye opener. Haven't been sick in over six years though so maybe I'm onto somethin'

So you have two weeks of summer in Michigan? That's awesome, I forget what weeknd ours is

 

[Scratchmo]

When I was on the road doing Renaissance festivals, I remember some VERY cold mornings in Minnesota. I had to use my propane torch to warm up my engraving block before I could get to work. Frozen hands don't work very well.