Redrockrods finshed pieces for 2014

[Mark]

Good point Don.  I have thought i should try out tumbling for work hardening and polishing.  I have been bad about planning my projects and usually just hack the thing together with little or no thought of how i will polish it.  In one case, i used two stones and the bezels ended up being a bit close to polish in between them.  I polished the backing as much as i could before soldering, but then there is firescale.  I had a heck of a time getting between the two bezels to polish and luckily, its hard to see the area between the two bezels because its in shadow from the bezel walls.  I ordered these long polishing rods, but they tend to come off as they hit the bezel walls and catch and get loose quickly.  I ended up just using the 3M flexible bristle brushes as nothing else much can get in there.  So it pays to think ahead and plan it out.  I have to plan my software projects at work, and nothing would ever work if i started off hacking, same with my jewelry, more than once i found myself in a situation that was pretty much impossible to do what needed to be done because i did not put the time in up front and plan it out.

Mark

[bgast1]

Those all look nice to me, Don.

[Steve]

To get into narrow places there are 'razor' buffing wheels that help................IJS has a variety  sized and materials of them.

https://eclient.ijsinc.com/eshop/default.aspx?ControlName=SubCategories&category_id=30BD2495-134B-425E-8911-0A4A7463E7A2&start_record=61&page_set=1

[redrockrods]

Thanks guys. I purchased some tripoli and took the pendants back down and spent some time removing the fire scale. I was able to get a mirror polish on them after that. I need to figure out why I'm getting so much fire scale in the first place though; if I can figure that out, I'll be happy.

[Steve]

I need to figure out why I'm getting so much fire scale in the first place though; if I can figure that out, I'll be happy.

If you ever do please let me know......................I've tried for years to eliminate it with no success as of yet.........

[Mark]

Supposedly if you use a hot enough flame and get right in there and get the solder quickly melted, you have less firescale.  When i try that, i tend to burn up my pieces worse than ever.  I have used the firescale retardant firescoff, but am not sure if that really works that well or not.  I find that the Firescoff solution tends to precipitate out into lumps in the bottom of the bottle and then the spray bottle tends to clog up and not spray.  I can heat up the bottle and get the stuff back into solution, but those bottles are notorious for clogging.   I should try one of the other products like Stop-Ox or Cupronil or the stuff you make yourself.  Someone on this board has mentioned it several times and its easy to make your own and probably a ton cheaper.  Also soldering on charcoal blocks creates a reduction athmosphere which supposedly helps.  I always heat up my charcoal to glowing to help get my pieces up to temp quicker.  Another idea to speed up the soldering, is to build up a barrier around the piece to reflect the heat back in and onto the jewelry piece to keep the metal from cooling off.

Mark

[Hummingbirdstones]

Firescale is the bane of silversmiths everywhere!  Please do let us know if you ever figure it out!!  :D

Mark, store your spray bottles upside down in a small jar of water.  It will keep the spray nozzles from clogging up.

[Mark]

Thanks Robin, I'll try that.  I have kept them in a butter container of water, heated water, to keep the stuff in solution.  I also have gotten tired of all the hot water and how long it takes to get the precipitate back into solution.  I started microwaving my bottles.  Melted the first one to a strange useless shape, but the second one went back into solution quickly, then the bottle clogged again after a couple of sprays.  So next time i will try the upside down in water idea.

I've been really tempted to try Argentium Silver, and just turned in 7 ozs of scrap silver.  The weird thing is that i swear that 7 ozs, is more than all the silver sheets i have bought.  I'm wondering if i am the Rupplestiltskin of Silver and i am actually generating more silver than i use.

Mark

[Steve]

I've been really tempted to try Argentium Silver, and just turned in 7 ozs of scrap silver.

Mark

I've used Argentium Silver on occasion and it will still get a fire scale on it.  Although it is not as noticeable as the copper alloyed Sterling Silver it still oxidizes and produces a  lighter silver colored fire scale.

[asianfire]

Wow, just saw all those wonderful creations of yours. 

Looks fantastic, lets see more! :)

[anthonyroman]

You should spend some extra dollars and buy a diamond that would be well worth your money. Spending money on a piece having a lot of weight in the girdle will not be a good decision!

[redrockrods]

You should spend some extra dollars and buy a diamond that would be well worth your money. Spending money on a piece having a lot of weight in the girdle will not be a good decision!

?????? 

[skystone]

Rod I saw your questions on polishing. If you're using Trip. then zam. You need to use red in between. Trip is great for fire scale removal. But it's an abrasive not a polish & leaves too deep a scratches for zam to take out. Red is in between in grit & is a polish as well as abrasive. Zam is a polish & has nearly no abrasive qualities. I use two or three different hardness/softnesses of wheels. From hard felt to loose muslin on each. One type of wheel & one or two stages of polish won't get you the mirror finish. Polishing is time consuming (I've spent more time on polishing a project than fabrication) & dirty. But the end product will be worth it for profesional look & quallity.

[mehoose]

oh the Priday Moss cab pendant is beautiful! Lovely orientation in the cab.

[redrockrods]

Here's something completely different. I was inspired by a cuff I saw elsewhere and decided to try my hand at it.  Had a great deal of difficulty getting everything soldered onto the base, perhaps 18 ga was too thick for that purpose. I couldn't get the solder to flow where I wanted it to, the wires heated up faster than the backing. I'll try my biggest torch tip next time and see if I just needed more heat. I think it turned out OK for a prototype.