Sterling Silver

[spatters]

Does anybody out there know of a source for reasonably priced plain sterling silver rings or other jewlery for engraving?


Thanks

STEVE PATTERSON

[Tim Adlam]

Steve,

I would try:

http://www.silversmithing.com
http://www.swestinc.com
http://www.metalwebnews.org/suppliers.html

Tim

[gravertom]

Don't know if you are still looking, but you might try Rio Grande.


http://www.riogrande.com

[falconhawk]

Some of the Native American silver smiths wwill make you plate rings all day long as long as you want to pay for them and they are reasonable in price.

I am a native silversmith but most of the items i make i also finish, engraving, stampings ect........

But it really depends on what you are really loking for........
Pls feel free to contact me if you have any q's....... I some times sell plain plate rings for as little as 10-15.00.

Good luck.
Falconhawk

[Jerry V]

You know...strips of sterling silver aren't terribly expensive. A ring mandrel doesn't cost an arm and a leg. A plain sterling band isn't terribly hard to make (he says after making his own wedding rings ) Give it a shot, you might find its just that much more enjoyable.

[falconhawk]

Jerry V is quite right!

The rings are not hard to make and anyone who can make a knife SHOUILD be able to make rings too. you do not even need a ring mandrel. A bolt of the proper approximate diamiter with a section of un-threaded shank between the threads and the bold head works fine. Just cut off the threaded part and there ya go. Add a small, light weight hammer and you can even buy the ring stockk in half round or as in my fave, crazy 8, and form and silver solder the rings togather an viola`. Finished rings!

For cheep and easy rings to practice engraving on you can cut "rings" out of copper tubing with a tubing cutter. Super cheep practice rings, just a thought in casse someone out there is considering trying engraving on rings........... .

Falconhawk

[yahooty]

Hi ,New Poster here. If you still want to find silver rings ,and things try Indian Jewelers in Gallup,NM. They have ANY type of ring,finding,pendant,etc. you ever wanted,or need. Also tools of the Silversmith trades. At very reasonable prices .
I made a Mexican Loop style sheath for a Fighter , I put a Silver Concha in the center,and was going to make a Naja (Spanish luck symbol) on a ring loop hanging from the bottom of the sheath. Spot PRICE on silver is around $4.50 , Indian Jewelers have CAST Naja's at $6.45 . By the time I cut and polished one It would be considerably more expensive.
Their web site is www.ijsinc.com
Several catalogs are available Tools,Findings,Stones,and I believe another one.
Sounds like a commercial doesn't it ? ?/:- )

[Jerry V]

Originally posted by falconhawk
[
For cheep and easy rings to practice engraving on you can cut "rings" out of copper tubing with a tubing cutter. Super cheep practice rings, just a thought in casse someone out there is considering trying engraving on rings........... .

[/B]

AND.....there's a market for copper rings! Something else to consider.

[jdlange]

Restating that simple silver rings are not difficult, if you have the tools to make knives you can make the rings our of strips of silver, I have worked with silver quite a bit in the past and can do these in about 10 minites a piece including a quick polish on the buffer, it wont take much practice or anything for someone who works with metal already, just be sparing with the solder as you dont want to have to mess with cleaning it up. Also make sure to use a high heat solder for the initial joint that way you can add things later on with softer solders without damaging the intial solder joint (stones, other embelishments) if you like.

[Jerry V]

You know, combining sterling silver and Damascus steel makes a REAL pretty ring...

Check out Dona Meilach's book, Decorative and Sculptural Ironwork, for an example done by Jim Wallace of the National Ornamental Metals Museum

Making rings like that are on my "to do" list.

yes, its a long, long list......

[jdlange]

Does anyone here have any experience reticulating silver (silver with a high copper content heated to produce buckling etc in the sheet), it produces extremly eye catching textures if worked correctly and can be a beautiful addition to other metal work or on it's own. I am considering using this technique on embelishments on some of my knives.

[J.Arthur Loose]

See Tim McCreight's The Complete Metalsmith.

Basically you take a piece of Sterling or 14 k gold and heat, let cool, pickle and repeat. What you are doing each time you do this is making a layer of copper oxide. After you've done this a bunch of times you heat the piece to near melting- the center will melt before the outside since gold and silver melt at a lower temp than copper. It gets this great texture as a result.

I think it would be excellent to start seeing more techniques like this show up on knives!

[jdlange]

Yah,

I have never done this with gold before but was taught by a 60's era jeweler who used this a lot in silver and I love the effect, I think I will be using this in some future knives for sure.