Forging a Ring

[Clay]

Has anyone ever tried forging a ring for jewelry?

Right now I've been drawing our some steel extremely thin and wrapping it tightly around a piece of round stock and just twisting the ends together. If I hammer it while it's on the round stock it just deforms the circle, so I don't know how I'll be able to weld the ends together. Any ideas? I couldn't find any blueprints on it.

[ThomasPowers]

I start with a chunk of silver, punch a hole in it and start working it on a bic. I do the same thing with steel.

One thing you can do is to weld the ends and then round it.

[larrynjr]

You could try punching a circle that is the outer diameter of the ring you want and once the hole is punched use a bicken to enlarge the hole to the desired finger size. No welding involved.

I have never done a successful forge weld, so I can't advise on how to do it with a small ring. Using a bicken though would be key I think.

[Dutchmancreek]

I have never made a ring in steel, only in silver but if you're serious about making rings, then you need to buy a ring mandrel. They are tapered and etched with the sizes. They can also have a flat or groove for bezel clearance. I bought mine from MonsterSlayer.com ( they sell jewelry making tools and supplies.)
.

Remember, welding heat is lost very quickly from small pieces. The only way I can manage to weld small things is by having a small "anvil" right on the forge at the edge of the fire...no turning around or moving the piece (and I don't have a high success rate at it then).

Steve

[LDW]

Here is a link to some horse shoe nail rings.
Horseshoe Nail Ring

[Clay]

what exactly is a bicken?

[Phil Dwyer]

It shouldn't be that difficult. You'll definitely need a slender long tapered mandrel to shape your circle. If you want to forge weld it you might want to try something like this:

• work with a length of stock the approximate thickness and width you want,
• heat up a few inches (a couple of inches up from the end),
• wrap hot rod around your mandrel (just a bit smaller than the intended finished diameter),
• it should look like a coil from a spring (overlap, don't try to butt fit),
• you don't have to make the end wrap (just cut the extra end metal off),
• scarf and forge weld to the remaining loop (with the long rod as a handle)
• cut off long rod,
• heat and strech/shape by tapping down on mandrel,
• file/grind weld to match stock,
• texture/finish as desired.
  

Now you got me wanting to try it.

If you don't want to forge weld it, you could cut your loop off at the intersection point with a fine saw blade (see illustration). Both ends drop off and you're left with a pretty nice jump-ring-like circle. Slide/push ring ends up and down until they lineup with each other and make a nice and tight butt joint. Arc or wire weld or braze or solder together. Again, tap down mandrel for final shaping and sizing.

This works with non ferrous metals real well.

[larrynjr]

what exactly is a bicken?

It is a small, rounded, pointed hardy tool. Like this one.

[Frostfly]

Rings are usually cast when using other materials. What about starting with a small bit of pipe?

[ThomasPowers]

I've made several bic's/bickirons/mandrels using old spud wrenches bought cheap at the fleamarket---forge the open end wrench part to fit the hardy and bend over or leave straight the tapered shaft. Bull pins work well but are usually6 not as slimly tapered.

[Mende]

Ask someone with experience in chain making. There are some videos on youtube. . type "forging chain" and browse the results.

[Ben Hartley]

This probably isn't relevant to steel, unless you want to braze it, but the video is worth a watch anyway: YouTube - Forging a ring