- Joined
- Jul 26, 2011
- Messages
- 4,142
My wife and I have a jewelry making business. I sometimes make master models. She makes most of them by now. She has gotten to be more independent in the 17 or so years she has been working metal,and learning from me.
I've just finished hardening and drawing this 01 steel coining die for a locket. Maybe tomorrow I'll put it into the 50 ton coining press I made,and press a piece of sterling silver into it. It will take every bit of tonnage I can bring to bear. I may have to press,anneal,and press again to get all the details. It takes 75 tons IRC,to coin a quarter(25 cents).This will be the front of the locket. I will post pictures when I coin the silver,and more when the rest of the locket is done.
So,what was machined? (This is a machining forum) Some parts. The border was machined. It is about 1" tall and about 5/8" wide. You can see from the steel rule. The face of the Sun was done with an end mill. The Art Deco Sun rays were rolled into the steel by a "knurl wheel" I made. It was mounted in the vertical mill. The die was super glued down to a round,thick steel "table" about 3" in diameter,that was chucked into a Hardinge indexer in the vertical position.I would roll out a Sun ray,roll it back,index about 10º and roll out another ray. By being careful to not disturb the position of the knurl after I rolled a ray,I got very even rays.
The Sun rays are reminiscent of
ancient Egyptian Sun Rays seen in their chiseled pictures,though I invented a variation thereof. In fact,Art Deco stems from the excitement over the major Egyptian archeological finds in the 20's. It started in France. Certain elements,the waves, incline towards the earlier Art Noveau period,however. The way the waves are terminated in small curls is reminiscent of the Japanese style.
I posted a picture of pewter practice pieces. You can see the art deco clouds,but with styilized thunder bolts I made too,for another future project. The Delphia name stamps are only 1/32" high and were hand chiseled on a GOOD day! They are intended to be
evocative of an "Ancient Greek" style. I always check out how my punches punch before finally hardening them,to make sure they read well. I coined the name Delphia for a line of ancient Greek style jewelry that we no longer make.
The Mycenaean Dolphin was hand chiseled in relief. So were the Japanese style ocean waves. The round Art Deco clouds were punched in from a punch I made. There is a school of playful little fishes coming up from the water. The Dolphin sees them. I added a raised eyebrow to the dolphin for effect. I made the little fish punch,too.
As you can see,I have combined the styles of several disparate cultures that work together in this piece.
I made the chasing hammers used to drive the engraving chisels also shown. I have a lot more of them,but this picture came out best.
Also seen,a small portion of the rifflers I made. I have made dozens more,but this is the best picture. They were used to smooth out the dolphin's body before final smoothing with polishing stones(tiny ones) I ground them out from Arkansas slip stones on my belt grinder. When I pick up chipped slip stones,I make smaller stones from them.
I posted a picture of a knurl with classical greek style waves. I made a single wave,Then I punched it around the edge of a "mother" knurl. Then,the mother knurl was used to make the final knurl.The final knurl can be seen in the group of knurls that I also made. I have many more,but my pictures of them did not focus well. This wave was not used in this locket,but will be seen in another when I get it done.
So,actually,I made all the tools used to make the locket ,except 2 end mills,from scratch!! I didn't realize that until I made this post.
I've just finished hardening and drawing this 01 steel coining die for a locket. Maybe tomorrow I'll put it into the 50 ton coining press I made,and press a piece of sterling silver into it. It will take every bit of tonnage I can bring to bear. I may have to press,anneal,and press again to get all the details. It takes 75 tons IRC,to coin a quarter(25 cents).This will be the front of the locket. I will post pictures when I coin the silver,and more when the rest of the locket is done.
So,what was machined? (This is a machining forum) Some parts. The border was machined. It is about 1" tall and about 5/8" wide. You can see from the steel rule. The face of the Sun was done with an end mill. The Art Deco Sun rays were rolled into the steel by a "knurl wheel" I made. It was mounted in the vertical mill. The die was super glued down to a round,thick steel "table" about 3" in diameter,that was chucked into a Hardinge indexer in the vertical position.I would roll out a Sun ray,roll it back,index about 10º and roll out another ray. By being careful to not disturb the position of the knurl after I rolled a ray,I got very even rays.
The Sun rays are reminiscent of
ancient Egyptian Sun Rays seen in their chiseled pictures,though I invented a variation thereof. In fact,Art Deco stems from the excitement over the major Egyptian archeological finds in the 20's. It started in France. Certain elements,the waves, incline towards the earlier Art Noveau period,however. The way the waves are terminated in small curls is reminiscent of the Japanese style.
I posted a picture of pewter practice pieces. You can see the art deco clouds,but with styilized thunder bolts I made too,for another future project. The Delphia name stamps are only 1/32" high and were hand chiseled on a GOOD day! They are intended to be
evocative of an "Ancient Greek" style. I always check out how my punches punch before finally hardening them,to make sure they read well. I coined the name Delphia for a line of ancient Greek style jewelry that we no longer make.
The Mycenaean Dolphin was hand chiseled in relief. So were the Japanese style ocean waves. The round Art Deco clouds were punched in from a punch I made. There is a school of playful little fishes coming up from the water. The Dolphin sees them. I added a raised eyebrow to the dolphin for effect. I made the little fish punch,too.
As you can see,I have combined the styles of several disparate cultures that work together in this piece.
I made the chasing hammers used to drive the engraving chisels also shown. I have a lot more of them,but this picture came out best.
Also seen,a small portion of the rifflers I made. I have made dozens more,but this is the best picture. They were used to smooth out the dolphin's body before final smoothing with polishing stones(tiny ones) I ground them out from Arkansas slip stones on my belt grinder. When I pick up chipped slip stones,I make smaller stones from them.
I posted a picture of a knurl with classical greek style waves. I made a single wave,Then I punched it around the edge of a "mother" knurl. Then,the mother knurl was used to make the final knurl.The final knurl can be seen in the group of knurls that I also made. I have many more,but my pictures of them did not focus well. This wave was not used in this locket,but will be seen in another when I get it done.
So,actually,I made all the tools used to make the locket ,except 2 end mills,from scratch!! I didn't realize that until I made this post.
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