More "Scrap" Items

Laredo7mm

Laredo7mm

Joined
Jul 8, 2002
Messages
1,240
Hey all, I found another use for "scrap." Here are some copper and nickel silver mokume rings that I made yesterday after finishing up the mokume folder. They are a random patterned mokume inlaid into a sterling silver band.

All I know is that Dave Larson and I both need soldering lessons. I melted down three rings out of the seven that I tried to make. Not good turn out so far, but the last two came out really nice.

Let me know what you think, and if these things could be a potential seller.

Thanks again in advance.

rings1.jpg
 
They look nice, Sean. What kind of torch are you using? Get one of those teenie-weenie butane mini-torches and try that; you won't be sorry. (The one that sorta looks like the otoscope-thingy the doctor sticks in yer ear. Cheap on Ebay.)
 
punch mokume into ebay ,there are a lot of people selling now. not sure how JL is doing with the damascus rings.i'm looking for your next big project with a 1.5 inch hollow mokume sphere on the pommel.
 
Fitz - I am using a propane fired torch and I think that is my problem. My torch is too big to get the temp control I need. It seems like a darn fine line between solder flow and sterling band melt down.

Shakudo - I saw his post a while back. They looked nice and I don't understand what all the "hub bub" was about since I had seen guys making damascus rings long before he posted. Not to belittle his work or anything, they are beautiful.

Along the same lines as these mokume rings, they are not original, nor am I going to try to get hundreds of dollars for them like the people on ebay are trying to do. Plus the fact that the mokume is not made from precious metal either. They are more of a novelty item for me, but who knows what will happen in the future?

I was thinking about that 1.5 inch diameter hollow sphere last night. Can I do it in two pieces and solder them together? ;)
 
you need a dapping block and mokume sheet large enough,make 2 hemispheres.wire them together and solder the edge joint,making sure you have an expansion hole for the gases inside or you may end up with the rotten smashed orange look instead of a sphere. :)
 
It was a different project entirely, but I had trouble controlling heat when I used solder to fill the lettering on the first pair of spurs I made. With them, I was dealing with a large area and I had trouble getting the whole thing hot enough to flow the solder everywhere I wanted it it without heating the whole band of the spur so hot that the solder ran right off the side.
What I ended up doing was using a 1000 deg heat gun to preheat and get the solder started towards where I wanted it. Then a quick shot with the torch made it fluid and got it to stick.
The heat gun by itself would only get the solder soft, but it was much better for starting. You could get the whole peice close to the right temp without taking any part of it too far :)
 
really nothing works better than an oxy/actyl torch with a #1 or #0 tip. it's not how hot it gets,it's control of the heat.
 
i guess they may have been around for a while but ive never seen anything like that before. theyre really cool, not flashy but not something that everyone has, i would buy one.
 
well, I can do sizes 5 to 13 in increments of one and from 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, and 3/8 wide. I was thinking about $50 each for the random pattern and a bit more for the developed patterns.

Don't forget, Valentine's Day is coming up soon.... ;)


Edited to modify price.
 
Shakudo said:
it's not how hot it gets,it's control of the heat.
Click to expand...

Yeap, I sorta think control of the heat was what I was talking about, too.....

I've used both. I prefer the mini-torch for low-temp soldering. The same size flame, a 2400F flame will heat slower than 5600F.

Different strokes....
 
I ordered up a mini torch so we will see how that works. I have been wanting a full oxy/actyl set up for years. Maybe this will be a good excuse to buy one. :)
 
Ah, the good old creme brulee torch... I've been using a small butane pencil torch recently - it's good, but the CB torch has an air adjuster that the pencil one I've got doesn't.

Peter
 
Lost my wedding ring at show a few years ago. Might just be interested in one of those. Could you inlay the mokume into a titanium band?
 
RW - I wish I could do the titanium band, but I haven't figured out how they dow it yet. Titanium can't be soldered, well not in the typical way. So I think the guys out there are buying titanium tubing and making the rings from that. I will do some more checking and see what I can find out.
 
OK, looks like I was wrong. From what I found out, most of the titanium rings are cut out of solid round bar. Sure makes me want that metal lathe even more.
 
Sean, those rings are really cool! I can't see any problem in selling them. Let's see, a new torch, a new lathe, I think that would be a good way for you to start out the year. Yep.
 
It is darn temping to buy a lathe with the money I got from selling the Viking Dagger, but Homeowners Insurance and winter taxes are due next week. I suppose I should spent the money on that. But hey, I will have a $100 left over after paying those off. Time to scout out ebay and find me a steal of a deal on a lathe for a hundy.
 
You can do it on a mill but it is easier with a lathe. If I got you a pre-channeled titanium ring, could you inlay the mokume?

The idea of the mokume set off by blue titanium has me going.
 
RW - I use my mill as a vertical lathe to turn my mokume and damascus pens. I use expandable mandrels to hold everything concentric on the quill when turning the O.D. The only problem with the doing the rings that way is I would need a whole bunch of mandrels for the different ring sizes. At least with the pens, I only have three mandrels that I use.

Yes, if I could find a pre-channeled ring, I could easily inlay the mokume and annodize it blue for you. I searched the net but couldn't find a titanium channeled ring for less than $200. At least I wouldn't have to worry about melting the titanium down when I solder. ;)
 
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