Pictures of a Die set for a Buckle

[Haraga.com]

Here are some pictures of a Die that I made to dome a 1" buckle. The buckle is then loaded into a kick press and domed. The flanges are then cut off and the backs are soldered on. This is a fast way to make a doming die. Obviously it is not the best way but hopefully the pictures will help others that may have thought that making a die was not obtainable.

 

[DARNEW]

How did you cut the blank? and did you hand shape the dome?

 

[Haraga.com]

More pictures of buckle Dies.

Continued pictures of buckle and die set. The buckle set is 18 guage Sterling with a 20 guage sterling back on the buckle. The bronc rider is cast in Argentium and the original came from Vic Vasquez. The steer head is cast Argentium and the original came from Jack Freestone. I am not a fan of the Keepers being so large but that is what the customer ordered.

 

[Weldon47]

Pretty neat stuff, Haraga!
What kind of press are you stamping the silver with? (A drop hammer or ??) And another question; what are the die and hob made of?

Weldon

 

[Haraga.com]

dies

I put the die set in a kick press. The set is cut from 6061 T-6 aluminum.

 

[Unkl Ian]

Have you tried using Urethane ?

Then you only need to make one half.

 

[Haraga.com]

re

The extent of my urethane experience is limited. For a hard rubber base I use a hockey puck in the kick press.

 

[jack]

Great work. I too work a lot in Argentium Sterling. I find it great too engrave and form into bracelets. Casting is good in that it melts at a lower temp. and saves the wear and tear on the melt oven. Take a look at www.jlgohn.com take care Jack

 

[Mike Cirelli]

Very interesting and good looking buckles. Thanks for posting.

 

[Steve223]

I have a buckle Vic made with that bronc on it......Nice lookin buckle Lenoard ...Nice work!
Steve

 

[tincanart]

Do you stamp a top and bottom dome for this buckle or is the bottom flat? What guage of silver are you using for the stamped top? I would also like to know how you cut out the die parts. The buckle looks great, super work!

 

[Haraga.com]

18 ga. on top, 20 ga. on bottom. Bottom is flat. The dies were cut out with a 2/0 sawblade and a jewelers saw. Thanks

 

[Haraga.com]

Steve 223, you must remember Vic's Dies. What about the point and scallop cutter dies? The top dies matched up perfectly with the bottom dies. That was a lot of filing! Can you imagine what that man could have done if he was healthy?

 

[Steve223]

Yep i remember, Vic allways amazed me.I wished i could have learned a fraction of the stuff he knew.

 

[Bill Tokyo]

Dinking dies

Can aluminum be used to make dinking dies? I have a number of fairly simple shapes I want to cut
out in series. The metal, sheet brass is thinner that 18 gauge. I would say either 20 gauge or 25 gauge.
It's for making clock hands, which are not very complex shapes, but which are longer and
thinner that buckles.

A few tips on what types of shapes the top anmd bottom of the die (die and hobb?) should take would be very, very much appreciated also.

Bill

 

[Haraga.com]

dies

I'm not sure if I can answer that question Bill. There are more qualified people on this forum than I. What I can tell you is that I used sheet metal tin on this die to test the clearances of the die. Because the silver prices are high I annealed the silver in the kiln before I domed it just to be on the safe side. If I can be of any help answering any questions don't hesitate to ask. I know that the real die makers on this forum can help you for sure.