First attempt at silversmithing

[Twapster]

keep it up, looking good!

 

[Lefty]

And I can finally start to feel the effects of being over 40 when I dig all day now. For about half the year here, a lot of the impact on the body is heat stress more so than just ending up knackered from moving dirt. At Lowmead yesterday, I wore only a hat, singlet and shorts (and boots of course) and didn't feel anywhere near as hammered as when I wear the more sun-safe neck to wrist to ankle thick cotton drill.

Good trade off huh? In order to protect yourself from skin cancer you have to keep giving yourself borderline heatstroke by being covered head to toe in thick, heavy clothing through which excess heat just can't escape (or just don't dig for half the year which would drive me crazy). Think I'll just go for the minimum clothing and smother all exposed parts in a gallon of 50+.

The bloke who came with me is 73 and I hope I'm still as sprightly as him at that age. We found the usual bunch of broken crystal bits and chunky bits of transparent quartz - and again, more beer bottles. There might be more crystals in the ground up near the road but there is also scarcely a patch that has not been dug over already. Think I might look for virgin ground next time.

 

[Dughug]

G'day Lefty

wondering which club you are learning faceting through?

 

[Lefty]

I'm in Gladstone Dug.

 

[Dughug]

G'day Lefty,

the Gladstone District Gem, Rock and Minerals Club looks like it offers a variety of activities you can try. How is your faceting going? After a couple of weeks you should almost have finished your first stone or at least be almost through the crown. Look forward to seeing a 'photo of your efforts.

In your earlier post you mentioned trouble with the silver solder floating in the flux - That used to frustrate the hell out of me until I started to use silver solder paste comes in a syringe and makes life so much easier especially with fiddly bits and repairs such as claws. If your club has some try it out.

Cheers
Dug

 

[Sodabowski]

In your earlier post you mentioned trouble with the silver solder floating in the flux - That used to frustrate the hell out of me until I started to use silver solder paste comes in a syringe and makes life so much easier especially with fiddly bits and repairs such as claws. If your club has some try it out.

Cheers
Dug

I use the same stuff for the occasional silver on silver solder (made two pendants so far). Works nice for me. Still have to give borax a try though.

 

[Lefty]

G'day Lefty,

the Gladstone District Gem, Rock and Minerals Club looks like it offers a variety of activities you can try. How is your faceting going? After a couple of weeks you should almost have finished your first stone or at least be almost through the crown. Look forward to seeing a 'photo of your efforts.

In your earlier post you mentioned trouble with the silver solder floating in the flux - That used to frustrate the hell out of me until I started to use silver solder paste comes in a syringe and makes life so much easier especially with fiddly bits and repairs such as claws. If your club has some try it out.

Cheers
Dug

She's been going s-l-o-w-l-y Dug I chose a big chunk of smokey for my first attempt, in hindsight it should have been smaller. I figured if I made it big that would allow me more margin for error but it's been a bit of a pain in the bum. Being very careful and not wanting to stuff it up, it's taken me ages to get the pavillion pre-form dead round. But I understand now that the sound and feel of it is a much better guide than just trying to look at it all the time. Put all the mains on the pavillion last Friday evening, slightly chiseled the point but I will fix that tomorrow night. Not sure how much further I'll go tomorrow night after that - the bloke who is teaching me retires tomorrow and has said he will be absent from the club tomorrow night due to inebriation But there are a number of experienced facetors there and if one is there I'll push on.

Might do some casting shortly, see how financial I am - it seems i might have been going a little fater than you're supposed to on the way home from up north, according to the letter I just got :8

Cabbed another garnet last night, should be a near-identical shade to the one in the photo in the first post of this thread (will finish it tonight). I think they look good cabbed, a vivid, glowing crimson that apparently often comes out a bit dark in a faceted stone. Might make a "work ring" for the missus, she works with young children so a ring with a stone sitting high in a claw setting is prone to getting caught on things. A smooth cabochon sitting lower and embedded down in the ring might be more suitable.

Thanks for the tip regarding the solder, I'll check that out.

Cheers

 

[Dughug]

Bugga about the boys in blue with their hairdryers or even worse are those sneaky camera's - What a way to end your trip North.

A good size to start on is 10 - 12mm you can see where you are going and it is a lot quicker to cut than a really big stone - But if you found that smokey it will be all the better when finished. Your first faceted stone something to keep and look back on every now & then.

I've still got some of my earlier stones cut 40+ years ago on a jam peg machine my Dad made me. Jeez you can really see how much I've improved since the first stones- better machines & much more experience.

I can understand the need for a ring that won't catch on everything for your missus - with a decent sized garnet cab you may be able to make a decent knuckle duster for her to keep the kids she looks after under control!

As your tutor is retiring try to get a copy of Peter Collins & John Broadfoots book "Cutting Gemstones, an introduction to faceting" costs around $55.00 and is the ideal starting manual. I have spoken to many facetors in remote locations that do not have the benefit of a club or a tutor and they have been self taught from this book.

You can contact the author John Broadfoot by Email [email protected]

Your Club may even have a copy in their library that you can borrow.

Cheers Dug

 

[Lefty]

He's only retiring from his day job at the alumina plant (he's a fitter by trade). It probably means he'll be bored soon and be at the club every single night

I'll suggest the knuckle-duster idea to the missus - maybe I'll cab a few big bomby sapphires for that, stones hard enough to crack heads without getting cracked themselves