Pattern-welded (twist core) Budiak

Battara · 17th November 2010, 02:56 AM

Greetings Folks!

Lee asked me if I would comment on my end of the silver work. Here is a quick synopsis of what I did:

Well, when I got it, as Lee said, I thought it would be thicker stuff. However, it found it to be almost literally paper thin (no kidding!). This in itself presented a problem in trying to braze sections together - they would melt!

The area that was torn in half was not only too thin, but the metal was warped and stretched. No way to pull it all together without melting, and if I were by some miracle able to, the sleeve would bend over. Instead we decided to cut the parts and I soft soldered them together, covering over the area with the original intact ring.

One of the rings was also in this kind of shape. In this case, however, I had to make an entirely new one from scratch. The silver I used was a little thicker so that I could braze it properly as well as use a dapping block and mandrels to give the ring some semblance of curvature on the sides. I also incised lines on the outside of the ring to match the others.

Another thing I had to do was to reshape the top and bottom of the piece - they were dented and misshapen. This includes reshaping the bottom ring. Lots of hammering and re-hammering on different mandrels.

Finally I took off all the dirt and corrosion. I gave it several levels of buffing and polishing to get rid of all the 100 years of oxidation. This brought it back to life the way it was meant to be.

There you have it. More work than I was expecting, but well worth it. Very pleased to do it.

17th November 2010, 02:56 AM	#25
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,272	Greetings Folks! Lee asked me if I would comment on my end of the silver work. Here is a quick synopsis of what I did: Well, when I got it, as Lee said, I thought it would be thicker stuff. However, it found it to be almost literally paper thin (no kidding!). This in itself presented a problem in trying to braze sections together - they would melt! The area that was torn in half was not only too thin, but the metal was warped and stretched. No way to pull it all together without melting, and if I were by some miracle able to, the sleeve would bend over. Instead we decided to cut the parts and I soft soldered them together, covering over the area with the original intact ring. One of the rings was also in this kind of shape. In this case, however, I had to make an entirely new one from scratch. The silver I used was a little thicker so that I could braze it properly as well as use a dapping block and mandrels to give the ring some semblance of curvature on the sides. I also incised lines on the outside of the ring to match the others. Another thing I had to do was to reshape the top and bottom of the piece - they were dented and misshapen. This includes reshaping the bottom ring. Lots of hammering and re-hammering on different mandrels. Finally I took off all the dirt and corrosion. I gave it several levels of buffing and polishing to get rid of all the 100 years of oxidation. This brought it back to life the way it was meant to be. There you have it. More work than I was expecting, but well worth it. Very pleased to do it.