The Joy of Metals

CO2 Cartridge fittings

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:14:15 GMT

My apologies, but would any of you good people be able to direct me to a source for fittings and valves for threaded 12g CO2 cartridges? Neither Google nor eBay has been particularly helpful in this respect. (I've also looked though McMaster Carr, Granger, and MSC Industrial Supply catalogs, all to no avail.)

My projects

Sat, 17 May 2008 17:06:42 GMT

Hello, I am presenting some of my projects ... I'm only an amateur to the work metal...

I have big problems for small parts welding metal (copper, brass) to parties much larger ... For example, legs virus (little fire) to the body of the virus (thick copper tube ).... any suggestions? Thanks...

Others projects...

Please forgive my English is: made in google.
Cornelius Sagan
More information in my blog: alrededor del mundo steampunk

Photo Etch Resist

Thu, 01 May 2008 19:01:18 GMT

Greetings,

Have any of you tried out this photo etch resist kit for inkjet printer?
Think champleve or poesy rings, for instance.

The reason I ask is this: I use laser-printed PNP-blue transfer paper for fine-line etch resist. When I iron it onto copper or brass sheet, PNP adheres only where I want it to adhere. Other etch resist media I've tried adheres and must be cut away with an exacto knife, requiring hours of meticulous, steady-handed work. I'm hoping Micro Mark's photo etch resist adheres only where I want it to.

cross-posted to metalsmithing metalsmiths fire_enamel jewelrymakers

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:21:24 GMT

I built this switch with some really nice castings, fabricating everything else as necessary; figured some of the people here might be interested. (Nickel-silver components, laid on individual wood ties.)
Cut contains more detail shots.

Spikes, with dime for size comparison:

Seen here is one of the rail joiners soldered to a rail end, with the sprue still untrimmed:

Here's the parallel rail, with the joiner sprue filed to match the rail profile. The new rail will be slid into the open end, and soldered in place:

Usually the rail is laid in 3-foot lengths, far longer than the scale 39 foot length of standard american rail. To make up for this, i use plastic fishplate castings spiked to the side of the rail, spaced appropriately:

I can post details on construction of the switch later, if people are interested.

Edit: some basic construction details can be seen here.

So I went to this lecture at the university....

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:16:54 GMT

Posted on jewelrymakers too.

Here is a link to an "essay on design" http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/composit.htm by Charles Lewton-Brain, and for those you unfamiliar with him, yes, that is really his name. He's a high profile academic who has contributed much to the world of jewelry making. Among other interesting things he has to say is "There are a number of design systems for formal composition and these can be found in libraries. They are not much taught in art schools any more in my experience, perhaps because the teachers were not all taught by their teachers."

While on the subject of academia, at the university here last week there were two artists who juried the Nation Ring Show and then spoke about their work giving slide lectures.
Jamie Bennett who made his reputation in enameling, and Jim Cotter of the Jim Cotter Gallery whose work I'd never seen. Bennett was pretty typical for an academic metalsmith, giving a flawless presentation of his work which was excellent but in that academic way, aloof and all very identifiable as his. His enamel surfaces aren't slick, but under fired and rough giving his pieces a very cohesive look. It was not about craftsmanship, but using the media in service of his vision. In my opinion any academic, because they are supposed to be teachers, should show the work of their students. This is a valuable component in how good they are at their job. The presentation of their art is one aspect of it but how well they teach should hold equal importance. That this wasn't and isn't a normal part of reviewing the work of this class of artist I see as a shortcoming and in the service of the ego. This is a huge failing of academic metalsmithing. Many artists can't teach.

In the study of painting it's common to trace the lineage of a teacher and their students and the ones that they taught too. Did you know Pollock was a student of Thomas Hart Benton? Ok, that's not a good example of what I meant. Titian studied painting in the shop of Gentile...uh oh art history is starting to show.

The other presenter Jim Cotter is a producing artist and gallery owner. http://www.jcottergallery.com/
As such is in touch with jewelry on a whole different level. I'd seen the ads for his place in Colorado in Metalsmith magazine but had no idea of the scope of his work.

His show was very slow to get started as there was trouble with the disk he brought not being Mac friendly which sent the tech support people scurrying around in search of a PC. It allowed time for questions about what it takes to get into a gallery, what he looks for in an artist's work, and questions about his background. When the show started it was with work using tin cans from the 60's. He used the Campbell's soup can before Warhol even thought about it. I'd say his body of work exhibited a creativity and humor I'd never seen in any academic before. The guy was fearless in his use of materials. He wasn't out to make a reputation by constantly copying himself in the tedious way stereotypical of academia. His work was about exploration of material and technique. His work was about craftsmanship and materials as well as ideas. He actually used high polished surfaces on some things. No academic would ever do that in this age unless of course it was ironically. He used steel, aluminum, experimented with powdercoating and auto body paint. He also used cement before it was "the thing" in artschool. He was consistently in front of the curve in discovery and experimentation. He was setting river rocks 20 years ago. He drills holes in rocks, lines them with metal then inlays stones in them...he's been doing it for years.

This is the kind of guy who needs to be teaching, someone who actually IS a master of his craft yet willing to explore other areas not already pioneered by legions of others. He's not the "one trick pony" so often awarded the MFA and thinking themselves masters.

I was surprised and delighted by the two presenters and the sharp contrasts between them.

my first attempt

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:13:40 GMT

we have started our silver smithing class. i made five rings and a pendent, i seem to have a knack for this. i guess i will be making a new living out of this. these are my first attempt at making any kind of jewerlly.

crossposted to metalsmithing, hope that's okay!

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:24:09 GMT

Hello all, this is my first post! My name is Dorothy Cheng and I'm studying metals at the University of Washington. I'm notoriously bad about getting photos of my less "serious" work but since I started my website on etsy, I was kind of forced to do it!

Here's a little pendant that I'm proud of:

I took a workshop with Keith Lewis (amazing artist and intellectual and hilarious to boot) and learned how to embed gold leaf in enamel. Here's an example of that:

And some simple, bamboo inspired earrings:

I have some more up on my etsy if you're curious: www.dorothycheng.etsy.com

ACETYLENE question

Sun, 27 May 2007 22:53:33 GMT

Hi there. I was lighting my acetylene torch a bit ago and I accidentally lit it when the valve wasn't letting enough gas through. it made a rapid succession of quiet popping noises and some smoke came from my torch tip. I closed the torch valve and the tank valve and went out of the room. A little while later I came back and turned on the torch valve. gas came out, so I turned it off, got my striker, turned it on again and emptied the hose. then i turned down the pressure gauge.

what should I do now? Was it a backfire? flashback? or am I crying wolf here? It seems okay now. should i get the hose and torch inspected?

help!

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 14:09:52 GMT

Here's a picture of a brooch I made recently for a competition (Ars Ornata - Inside Out), but it also counts towards my degree work (I'm in 2nd year and loving it!). It's a composite skeleton, essentially, and the pin and catch are formed by the hands (one of which is a bat's arm and the other is sort of human).

(Click to enlarge).

He's all bundled up, a little like a bronze age burial - that was the idea, anyway! He's made from mild steel wire (about 1.5 and0.7mm thick), with one silver rivet and one finger made from stainless wire to form the pin, and was spot welded together. At the end of making him I blackened him with heat and then sprayed him with furniture polish to try and stop rusting.

Metals networking site?

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:40:56 GMT

I stumbled across this site today, and it looks potentially intriguing. It doesn't seem to have a lot of members yet, but the idea of a metals-specific social networking site does appeal to me! I've joined, though I haven't participated yet, and thought others might be interested.

Please note that I am A Bad User and did not wade through all the terms and conditions, so I'm not vouching for them.

I am cross-posting this, so you may see it more than once.

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:33:32 GMT

Here's an idea for an art project. I want to construct a hanging metal sign. The support will be a basic pole with an arm on it that I can construct at my forge. The sign I want to be a piece of sheet metal that I've cut holes and lines through to form the Japanese kanji for rain. It will hang from the crossbar of the pole from two supports on either side of the top and will be able to swing forward and backward in the wind. I suppose snow might be more appropriate at this point here in Wisconsin; maybe that will be my second one. Maybe I'll make them interchangeable; that would be kind of neat.

Anyway, I've never done work with sheet metal, or even really thought about it. What's the best way to do that sort of thing? Do you cut out pieces with a torch? What kind or torch would I need? I have a feeling the little propane one I have wouldn't do the trick if I'm using sheet steel. Speaking of what I'm using, what's a good compromise between durability against weathering and expense and ease to work with? I certainly don't mind if it turns colors and begins to rust a bit as long as it stays in one piece for a good long time. Notable signs of weathering would be part of the aesthetic I'm going for anyway.

This just came to mind this morning, and it's not something I've ever really done before, so I thought I'd just throw the idea out and ask for comments, any comments. I'll ask my grandfather too when next I see him since he's been working metal longer than I've been alive and will probably have good ideas, but more perspectives never hurt.

Thanks!

(Cross posted to volundsforge and my personal journal.)

My bad

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 03:49:40 GMT

In earlier comments, I said "Ar" referring to silver. I meant "Ag." Sorry about any confusion.

Questions about gold alloys

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 01:20:35 GMT

OK, I have seen pink gold that's really pink, peach gold that's really peach, yellow gold that's really yellow, white gold that's really white, and purple gold that's really purple though it's not really workable. Green gold is only slightly green-ish, and apparently blue-green gold isn't much better. Deep green gold may be green, but the cadmium makes it a Bad Idea. That leaves me thinking about red gold - Au with Cu - and blue gold - Au with Fe - as possibilities.

With gold prices being so high, has anyone here used these before? Are they indeed red and blue? How tarnish-resistant are they?

Thanks,
Jeannette

Hi y'all!

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 00:38:11 GMT

I'm a newbie here, a lapidary whose muse is pushing her to explore metalsmithing, specificaly alloying some 14kt blue-green gold. I have a small oxy-propane torch, scale, files, buffer and the like - what else do I need? How do I stir the molten metal? How do I turn it into wire and sheet? I'm thinking about sand-casting a pendant setting - is this hard?

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:49:43 GMT

Thank you all for your responses to my last post inquiring about welding. I have more questions...ya'all cool with that?

In my last post I'd mentioned that I had learned that a journeyman welder was 3yrs of schooling. What I hadn't realised, and no one mentioned, is that you have to apprentice for those 3yrs. I've also learnmed that apprenticeships are rarely advertised and usually found out by word of mouth.

Questions:
Does anyone know if there is some sort of preliminary schooling for welding that I'd need to take before embarking on this 3yr deal, without an apprenticeship? Just a community college class or something? It seems odd that I would seek employment for an apprenticeship without any education, ya know? I know-dumb question...but still.

Do anyone have any advise on seeking apprenticeship?

Thank you again........and again.

Advise?

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:55:18 GMT

I apologise if this entry is inappropriate, but I'm hoping it's not and you'll all be jazzy and good natured. I'm looking for advise...

I've reached a crossedroads in my life after turning 30yrs old and not having anything more to show for it than when I was 20(which is about ZIP). After living in B.C. Canada for 7yrs I moved back to Toronto with a plan:the plan was to get a welding ticket of some kind and head for Alberta, where they're supposed to pay upwards of $150,000.
Now, of course I know nothing of welding-and I mean nothing. How long the schooling takes, how much the potential cost is etc The college websites are rediculous in how little any information of substance they offer, but after some net searching today, I learned that these Alberta jobs that I covet($40hr with an $80 a day living allowance) are actually looking for a journeyman welder. Ok, so I look that up because, again I know nothing, and what I learn is that this is 3yrs of schooling *gasp*.

I don't know anyone in the field, or in schooling for it. I think right now I'm looking for words from anyone that might've taken this path, or has stories/advise from their own paths. I'm going to leave this post rather open ended, without asking anything specific because I'd dig ANYTHING that anyone has to share.
Thank you all so much.

Jerry

Faceting inquiry

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 22:29:27 GMT

I'm afraid I've been a rather inattentive community owner this summer, but the major distraction in my life is finally over so now I can move on to being distracted by 10,000 other things. I hope everyone has been having a fun and productive summer. The bulk of my studio time was spent in the alloying and forging of our wedding bands, which ended up being simpler than my original plans, but beautiful nonetheless. I'll post photos when I have them.

In the meantime I would love to know whether anyone here has ever gone through the process of having gemstone rough custom cut either on a small scale, or with a foreign commercial cutting service? The main focus of our honeymoon was digging sunstone in southern Oregon, and now we'd like to get the better pieces cut. I am willing to send the less spectacular material overseas; however I do have a few pieces that I hesitate to entrust to a commercial service. I guess the real issue is, how do I find someone I can trust?

For those who are curious, here is a bit of what we collected over 3 days:

Reds and greens.

Pieces with Schiller (copper inclusions).

Mostly clear to light yellow (the bulk of our findings).

I'll be writing up a description of the mining trip and will post it here if anyone is interested. It was a wonderful experience and I am looking forward to making jewelry around stones I found.

Studio Safety

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 19:42:47 GMT

I work as a Studio tech, mainly my job is to yell at students when they aren't following the rules. One rule that they all love to break is wearing flip-flop sandels to the studio. yeah. And today was no exception.

in a class of about 15 students only three students wore studio appropriate shoes. Well that left 12 studenst in flip-flops. Over by my computer station we have a box of old mens shoes that we make the students wear if they are in open-toed shoes, bad thing is that we only have about 4 pair. I don't think we have ever had so many students conveiently "forget" about the rule ( even though they have been told it everday this week). So my Shop manager made all the students in flip-flops wear plastic grocery bags on their feet. It was funny to see. Granted we know that the plastic bags won't do much protection wise, but it definatly will make the students remember to bring appropriate shoes next time they are in here... well hopefully.

All the professors and older students were laughing thier butts off.

yeah this made my day.

soldering on the cheap

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:57:30 GMT

I need to solder one sterling jump ring. Only one! I have a butane torch, and some pieces of solder left over from my jewelry class, but I don't have a shop setup at home. What would be an economical way to get this one ring done? I would prefer not to buy large amounts of flux and pickling chemicals while I am doing metalwork only infrequently.. though I can, if I have to.

pricing question

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 03:05:15 GMT

Pricing question for you guys: a friend of mine is looking to buy a piece of 14ga sterling silver (for use in a technical application, not jewelry) and have it cut to 1.2x3.0" and polished to a high gloss - close to mirror finish. He has located a local jeweler who can do the work, but he's curious about how much he ought to pay for it, including both the cost of the silver and the labor to finish it.

Here's his quote:

Assuming this person has the equipment to
cut silver plate to size, how much is she likely to charge / how much
should I expect to pay for that sort of service? Suppose she has
1"x6" plate, and I want that cut in half to two pieces of 1"x3". By
monsterslayer, I'd expect to pay $25 plus shipping for the silver,
plus some amount for the cutting service. Like $10 for the cut? Plus
some sort of markup on the silver?

What if I want her to do the polishing?

How much would you charge for this work?

Thanks for your input.

nice work

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 20:47:43 GMT

I suppose this entry falls under the general category of "sharing the joy of metals"; in this case, sharing some joy I just surfed into. Here are a few links to photos and information about a remarkable sculpture in precision-milled bronze and stainless steel by artist Mark Ho of Amsterdam. Amazing, no?

Photos

Some info about the sculpture

The story of the sculpture's creation

An email from the sculptor, with contact info and his current selling price of the sculpture

stock removal knife

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 03:09:31 GMT

Hi everyone,

First off, thanks for having this group up, it's really cool to look over some of your amazing projects. =)

By way of introduction, I'm an apartment dweller, no next to nothing about metal, and have next to no equipment.

So there's the disclaimers. I'm a bit of a pud, but I'm willing to do some study and spend time in books as necessary.

One thing I'd like to do is make a simple knife. Fixed blade, tanto point. Simple. I've decided that in lieu of scales, I'll simply do a cord wrap handle, and in lieu of finding a forge, welding gear etc, (and spending the years to learn to do this right :( ) I'll come up with a simple stock removal design that requires no hardware be fitted.

I started on paper and sketched out a few designs I like. 2 simple one sided knives, and one double sided, all under 10 inches long and only one over an inch wide at it's widest point (and that under 1.5) and I've since made cardboard mockups of the same.

Now I THINK I'm getting ready to break out a jigsaw with metal blade and cut some blanks, and ye old file to start bringing them down to a generaly knife shaped object...

So, my questions to you are:

1.) first off a general call for comment... Anything you want to say goes, even flames greatfully accepted solong as they have something I can learn from in them.

2.) more specificly. I know how to take care of a knife, and I don't need stainless, but I'd like something that will keep an edge. If this works out ok, I'll be making a sheath and keep this with me while I'm sailing and climbing and I'd like it to be able to go through rope if necessary. What metals should I look at using and where is a good place to find them?

3.) processing. I know there is a processess to tempering steal, and I also know that I live in an appartment and hence I'm willing to bring them to someone else to do.

3.a) Preferably I'd love to do the whole processes myself EVENTUALLY so if someone could point me at information on tempering, (that is what you do to harden a blade right? if not, what am I looking for?) so I can learn about it and theoretically do it in the future.

3.b) can anyone recommend a shop in the greater Los Angeles area where I could bring a knife to be treated?

Thank you all very much for your help, and I look forward to watching more of your beautiful work and hopefully eventually having some of my own to show off.

:)

-- James

Hobby CNC end mills?

Sat, 03 Jun 2006 06:58:32 GMT

I can't seem to find any communities on LJ about CAD/CAM/CNC machines for hobby use, so I'll ask here (xposting to metalsmiths and metalsmithing). I'm sorry if this is the wrong community - if you know of a better one, please let me know!

Does anyone have experience with "desktop" or small CNC end mills for hobby use? I'm looking at buying plans for a unit that I can build for around $500. The one that's caught my eye is at http://www.pdjinc.com/#Pilotkit but I'm wondering if anyone here knows of a better/different unit that can mill at least 12" by 12" stock with a z-axis of at least 4".

I plan to use my mill with soft, non-ferrous metals (aluminum, copper, brass) and wood. I may also mill plastics and laminates, but I don't plan on doing a lot of that.

Thanks,
- luno

My latest piece

Thu, 18 May 2006 06:47:10 GMT

This is my latest piece for school. The project was "The Locket" and conceptually was supposed to be about "Secret". I chose to expresss my semi-secret love of fine and strange materials as well as a few other more secret things.

I apologize for the relatively low quality of these photos, I don't normally photograph in the studio so my feel for the lighting is quite off. I also took the photos in a hurry while tired.

This is my desk last week as I was working on the "Locket" project.

A closer view of most of the components.

I finished the project on Monday around 9:15pm, here is the best photo I got of it open:

The purse is sterling silver with a 14k gold hinge, 14k gold bezels, a spectrolite, and a rhodolite garnet. Both chains involved were made of fused fine silver. Unfortunately the etching inside the lid is not very visible in this shot.

Somewhat of a top view. The lid is held down with rare earth magnets. It isn't too hard to open, but it won't fall open either.

The purse with the item it is meant to contain, a metacarpal fashioned into a pendant with sterling silver, 14k gold bezel, and a spectrolite very similar to the one on top of the lid. Fine silver chain.

Another view of the bone pendant.

This piece isn't as finished as I'd like overall, but I had a deadline to meet and I met it. I'm pleased to say that my instructor called me to tell me how impressed she was by it, and to ask if I would let the school have it professionally photographed for promoting our metals program. I of course said yes.