Berel of fun

[donwrob]

OK, here is a couple I've been working on. And Otter, tell your husband that as the 1200 grit diamond wears in there will be less scratches to get out. I think another step would help too, but it does get better with use.
In the first pic is a dopped opaque emerald I got from a trade with puppies. Pretty stuff, I really like the black lines in the piece. The pic was taken during faceting of the crown. It measures 11mm square. In the next set you can see it finished with a big faceted piece of red Fenton glass I have been working on for the last 7 days in the back ground. It is 16 mm in dia. and turned out good. I wish you could see how it flashes in the light. Really hard to get good pics of these. It is my fathers 77th B-day on Saturday and I have been working like mad to get it done in time. He has been hinting to me that he wanted a ruby, Julys birthstone. So I made him this giant Po-mans pocket gem ;D. He will treasure it as if it were an actual ruby I'm sure. Later all, Don

[stoner]

WOWWW! Hey Don, excellent job on those pieces man. I've got to hand it to you, your getting really good at this faceting stuff. Puts those emeralds in a whole new light(pun intended). And you made that red glass look very elegant.
Keep up the great work.

later, Ed

[sandsman1]

hey don lookin good man --and im sure your dad will just think thats the best gift he ever got cause you made it ---great job ---seeya--john

[llanago]

Don, those are really pretty! I love the emerald. And I like almost anything that is red, except blood! What a nice gift for your dad. I'm sure he will love it.

You are turning out some wonderful stuff with that facater, esp since you haven't been at it very long!

llana

[BearCreekLapidary]

Hey Don,

Those pieces are gorgeous! They look GREAT!

I have been contemplating buying a faceting machine ...
and seeing your work, makes me want one even more ;D.

Keep up the great work,

John

[krazydiamond]

beautiful stones, way too much patience for me tho.

KD

[rockyraccoon]

don you really do have the knack for this. are you going to start setting them? your father will treasure that and tell everybody he sees that you did it.

kim

[donwrob]

Thanks guys, I wish the pics were better. I don't know why, but they really got blurry this time when I down loaded them to my photo site, they are much sharper here when I view them on my photo program. They usually lose a little, but it seems much worse this time. Man bear John, I've been lusting after a faceting machine bad ;D. I wish they weren't so pricey, even for used ones. I am going to just keep my eye out for that special deal and keep practicing and cranking out these on the lap-lap hand faceter. It takes a lot of time and work to get one done by hand. I think I'll post a thread on the general board and see if we can get doc's take on different machines. Thanks again for the kind words guys, later, Don

[hermatite]

Hey Don...excellent job! I think the faceter manufacturers should be giving you a cut of the profits since now we all want one.

[RiverOtter]

Those are really pretty. My hubby is really going to enjoy seeing that emerald. He's had his eye on the one we have with the clear nob on it. I will pass the info on to my hubby. Great job Don!!

Otter

[Banjocreek]

Super Job Don.
I took a little time off since I have about 7 tumblers running.
I'll be back shortly.
I just got two new laps (one for 3000)
and a coupla polishing films from Jack today. (Still cerium)
So I should be getting into it again.
I'm trying to locate a grinder, to get some of my stones to a more managable size.
Beautiful work Don.
What's it taking you now to complete a stone, a few hours?
Keep em' coming, you are an inspiration.

[Tom]

VERY nice Don,,,,,,,,,,VERY nice!!!!

Tom

[puppie96]

Yay! Beautiful!

[deepsouth]

Terrrrrrrrriffic Don I am realy amazed at your abilities to turn them rocks and bits of glass into desirable gems

Truly masterly WTG


Jack

[docone31]

Don, good stuff. Now you have to try silver or gold soldering. If I can do it, you can do it. I will help you with as much advice on what I know as I can.

[cookie3rocks]

Yes Don, youve mastered the first step. Learn to set those stones! They are, and will be, awesome
Great job, make your Daddy proud!

cookie

[RiverOtter]

Our jewelry guru offers info?? So Doc do you have any advice or tips for a novice who has never even touched a soldering iron before? Looking to get into this now that hubby is doing the faceting thing. Anything would be appreciated since I know nothing.

Otter

[docone31]

Otter
I am eating up my grace posts however, I will sacrifice anonymity to give advice.
Soldering, technically brazing, is using an alloy to join two compatible pieces of metal together. Simple. When you heat metal, the grain opens up under heat, the alloy(solder) flows into the openings in the grain. Upon cooling the grain contracts and the joint is made. Fusing is when the heat of the material to be soldered(brazed) partially melts and the metals join.
Flux. This is the material that when heated acts as a wetting agent. Flika is done with the 20 mules and the left over is borax. Borax is a universal flux. It works on anything but lead and tin. Of course that makes it less than universal however for this purpose it will suffice to generalize.
When a metal is heated it accepts O2 easier than when it is not. Flux helps to prevent oxidation which will interfere with soldering. Flux also acts as a wetting agent to help the solder flow.
Flux must be removed from the piece when it is ready to be polished. Pickle, Sodium Bisulfate, Pool Acid, is a mild acid that when heated to 140degrees will dissolve flux and oxidation. Pool acid is a lot cheaper than Pickle and they are the same. A crock pot is a great pickle pot. Never use ferric components in pickle. It turns it into plating agent. Makes finished work look lousey.
Carbon, when heated absorbs oxygen. This slows down oxidation. When I first started soldering I used a piece of 2X12. I would place the piece on the 2X12 and heat away. On the rare occasion it would flame, I would put borax on the flame and it would go out.
A standard hardware propane torch is what I use for doing my silver work. Ace Hardware and Walmart sells one for 14$. Works great. Make the blue cone 1" long and hold it upside down for soldering.
Untill you get some silver solder, I always use hard solder, get some 16ga., Romex wire. About one foot. Strip the casing, cut into 1/4" pieces and melt into balls on the 2X12 with the torch. Practice. Put the balls into the pool acid. Practice melting with borax on the wire. Watch its properties from powder to full heat. Mix some borax with 92% alcohol. The excess will puddle on the bottom. Dip into the alcohol and melt. Another way to control fire scale, oxidation. Once the hard solder arrives, snip a very small piece. Get a piece of coat hanger, sharpen one end. Melt the solder into a ball and touch the sharpened end of the coat hanger to it and pick it up. Put two pieces of wire together on the 2X12. Flux. Heat the joint untill the flux melts and touch the piece of solder to it. It should pop onto joint. Put it into pickle, take it out with copper tongs or plastic pickeruppers. A soldered joint.
It really is that easy if you do it the way I told you to. Once control is accomplished on the basic joint, you can move onto bigger things.
Control the heat.
Have Fun
May the Schwarz be with you.

[hermatite]

so which is easier for soldering? torch or iron? I've only ever used a jeweler's torch and had pretty good luck with it. I was a rank beginner and I followed the steps pretty much as doc as described. That was in a class though, with an instructor there to tell me what to look for. Before I invest in a torch set up, because we've already got an iron, I was wondering what opinions folks have.

[docone31]

An iron only goes to about 600 degrees, to silver solder you need at least 1435 degrees. The propane torch from Ace, or Walmart is about 14$. I still use the first torch I learned on. I can also melt sterling and 14k with it, in an hollowed pit in the 2X12.
Do not melt gold more than two times or you will have to add easy cast to the melt. Another lesson learned the hard way.