A Christmas order, twisted bracelets a galore

That's a nice pile of work there Gerald. 

Any stainless or silicon bronze?

What size stock do you start with, and length? I would like to try making some myself. 

 

7 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Any stainless or silicon bronze?

No, just steel.  the color on some of them is a reflection.

 

5 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

What size stock do you start with, and length? I would like to try making some myself. 

 

These are mostly 7 1/2 inches long.  I started with 6 inches of 1/4 square.  Flattened the ends and that gave me 6 1/2, which curved around a wrist mandrel works out to 7 1/2.

Thanks, I think I may be able to move similar items where I am. 

Those are very nice sir, that's a heck of a pile of work for sure!

Tried to make something similar for my wife.  Had issues with losing the inner definition of the twist when forming into a bracelet shape (I just used my anvil horn).  Can you share your wrist mandrel design?  Thanks.

try low heat (red) and a wooden mallet (2x4 is OK)

Ric

You can also use a wooden mandrel to forge on---old wooden baseball bat can be repurposed for both the hammer and mandrel.  I have a commercial bracelet mandrel I found in the dirt at my local scrap yard and have used a large tinsmith's stake before that.  I am usually wanting to smooth down the inside of the bracelet while not messing with the viewside of it so wooden hammer on a steel mandrel works well for me.

Thanks guys, very helpful, as usual.

I use a jeweler's bracelet mandrel and a leather mallet.  I do the initial curve the same way as you would make a ring, that way I never actually hit the twisted section and then open it to the desired size on the mandrel.

Sorry to belabor this, but a couple more questions:

1. Is your bracelet mandrel wood or metal, and is it tapered or cylindrical and stepped?
2. Do you do the final sizing hot or cold?  If hot, doesn't that eat up the leather mallet?

Thanks for your patience.

Mine is oval and tapered and is made from metal

Final adjustments are done hot or cold depending on how much and how heavy the piece is.

And yes they don't call the rawhide mallet "the stinky hammer" for nothing in my shop as it's not in contact long there is not much damage per strike.

On 12/9/2016 at 8:46 AM, Latticino said:

1. Is your bracelet mandrel wood or metal, and is it tapered or cylindrical and stepped?
2. Do you do the final sizing hot or cold?  If hot, doesn't that eat up the leather mallet?

Like Thomas' mine is metal, oval and tapered, it has a base that fits into a stake table or vice.  I got it from one of the jewelry supply companies. 

As a rule, I size and shape hot, but check cold.  I've done enough to have a fair idea how much far down the mandrel to go so they are the correct size when cold.  If I'm off, it's easy enough to do small adjustments cold.  Yes, the leather burns, but I'm not holding it against the hot iron, only lightly hammering.  My current mallet has see hundreds of uses and is still 90%

I was hoping this thread would talk about treating the bracelets so they do not rust.  I'm working on a piano wire Damascus so I really want what ever pattern there is to show.  Oil and wax hot will destroy the pattern and was looking for something other that a clear coat of lacquer or acrylic.  Anybody got any ideas? Present for daughter so I can't do any maintenance on it after it leaves.

 

Thanks

That’s a tough one. If all the wire are the same composition all you get is a very minor etch due to carbon loss/migration at the weld line.  You might be able to sneak up on the etch using weak ferric chloride, clean off the oxides, repeat to try and get a bit of topography, that’s about the only way to get it to last. Once you can get topography you can make a concentrated coffee etch/stain, or something similar then polish the high points. Then a coat or carnuba or the clear coat to fix it.

In the future try and mix alloys and carbon levels to get more variance. Nickel will stay brighter, higher carbon etch more, manganese can be darker

Thanks Stevo. This one is special in that this was her piano. It was beyond repair/retuning so I salvaged it for the wood and metals. She actually asked if it could be done so ya I did it.  I'm not expecting much pattern but I was hoping for a new way to "finish" it so it wouldn't rust.  Guess the important thing is that a piece of it will be with her.

Again try dilute FC, and a couple coats of carnuba car wax. Make sure the wax doesn’t have any polishes in it aka rubbing compound as it will take off the little etching you got. Thats a great keep sake you made her, I applaud you and the sentiment!

Lovely work with the bracelets, Gerald.  I admire the consistent symmetry of your reverse twists, and the way one twist flows smoothly into the other. Well done.

Thought I would post this.  I'm surprised with the pattern.  Soaked in 8 month old FC about four hours.  Piano wire 

Awesome results!

Thanks for an idea on how to use some piano wire I recently was gifted.

Any tips on how you welded up the wire?

 

Das

The copper came off real easy but I was in the front yard by the time I was done.  It's amazing how much length there is.   I saw your piano wire find earlier.  It welded real easy for me.  I twisted it cold then heated and twisted some more and welded.  I had some inclusions but for what I was doing it probably helped.  I started the weld in a small round bottom swage and used borax.  Easiest forge weld I have ever done.  Good luck I'm sure you will make something beautiful.

Thanks so much 51. Plan to give it a try later this week. I'll post results good or bad.

To piggyback on the question of keeping the damascus / steel from oxidizing: Has anyone of you tried Balistol for a longer term? I'm not sure if it exists in the States, but since it was introduced as a gun maintenance oil, they would be crazy not to cover your guys market.

On paper it looks good (even food safe), but I can't tell how it would work when being used on jewelery (wear and tear from skin contact). I sprayed a cross with it to protect it from rust, which I gifted to my sister but I lack the long-term experience.