Well it ain't pounding steel but it'll have to do. I been working silver and copper since my back hurts so blasted bad it hurts to sneeze. Made some decent silver rings, bracelets and such. I think I need to teach myself how to set faceted stones in all of my spare time. I already set cabs OK so on to faceted stones. Silver works just the opposite of steel, work it cold, heat it to make it soft enough to work (anneal). Nice to be hammering again even if it is backwards.:D

Bentiron,

There are a couple engraving sites you might want to check out for their forums. There are some stone setters in there, some do tutorials.

Sam Alfano's Tip & Tricks for Hand Engravers

Hand Engraving Tools and Hand Engraving for Jewelers and Artists ~ Steve Lindsay

Get past the front pages and get on the forums. Right now the Lindsay site has a tutorial contest going, some fine work going on there.

-aaron

The engraving is beautiful. When I have more time I will look at the stone setting lessons. Right now I'm having fun doing different textures in the metal with the hammer. Getting some of my frustrations out. I made some sterling silver pin out of 12 gauge wire for some body piercing for a girl. Some fifty of them for lacing what ever that is. I thought body piercing stuff had to be stainless steel but she said not.

I went to an estate sale this weekend. Just a spur of the moment thing. Turned to be a good thing. The woman's mother had died and she was getting rid of all of the generational stuff. I was to late for rolling mill, watch maker lathe and all of the stuff that went with it. Didn't matter anyway cause I didn't have that kind of money with me but I sure did pick three of the nicest silversmithing hammers, three pair of round nose pliers, a small jewelers anvil(2#) and a 3# straight peen hammer for a buck a piece. Nobody was looking at them. I got a century of rust off and got them all polished up and am hammer away at my copper wire. They were her grandfather's tools and had been packed since 1902. I have been trying to make some reverse twist bracelets. Such fun!:D

I make repro trade rings from the eighteenth cent. I'm wanting to get into silver smithing, but can't find a good source for materials, short of ordering online, which I abhor the thought of. anyone know if *cring* ebay is a good source for raw materials?

By raw materials do you mean silver? If so no. You would do better ordering from one of the standard suppliers of silver like Gold RefiningThey should have all of the types of sterling or fine silver you could ever need.

yes! see, I knew I had not looked hard enough, my thanks!

These are some sweet hammers! I have just been playing with them. The faces had lots of grawdue on them but they sure cleaned up fast. I tried doing some sinking with them. They are a joy to work with. Hey Joseph, If you do a search you can probably find a place closer to you. You might try MonsterSlayer.com I think that they are in New Mexico but they seem to have good prices on their merchandise. Then there is Home also in NM, lots of silver.