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Simple Hessonite Garnet Ring SRAJD

Simple Hessonite Garnet Ring SRAJD

Description

Simple, simplicity -- sounds like "easy" and "quick" doesn't it? But in my life "simple" has rarely been easy or quick, and this is yet another case.

This was not a major project. It took only about 4 hours to complete. But when I recount the steps, I think to myself -- "where did all that time go?". The making of a simple band like this involves cutting and sizing the stock - in this case, cutting a 5mm strip from a sheet of 12ga silver I had previously prepared, and then cutting that strip to exactly the right length for the ring size desired.

The strip needs to be annealed - heated to just red hot - then quenched (quickly cooled in water) - to soften it before bending it into a rough "D" shape so the ends can be joined, making it into a loop. Of course, the ends never mate perfectly well the on the first go - so several saw cuts are made right where the ends meet, so that they evenually line up perfectly.

Once the ends are aligned and tight, they are brazed together with hard silver solder. Silver solder is an alloy of silver with just a little more copper in it than Sterling Silver, so that it melts just a little bit before Sterling would melt.

Then the "D" gets quenched again while it is still hot from soldering/brazing, then is hammered into a round ring shape by slipping it onto a ring mandrel, and hitting it with a nylon or rawhide hammer until it behaves.

While it was on the mandrel, I forged the back half of the ring (hit it with a cross peen hammer to widen and thin the back of the band.)

At this point, the bit of metal looks pretty beat up, with scraches and gouges from being hammered, heated, and handled with pliers and clenched in vises. So it gets filed inside and out until smooth. Then it gets sanded with 400 grit and then 1000 grit sandpapers, and finally polished with bobbing compound, followed by fabuluster.

So now I have a very pretty, perfectly polished band. Next the location of the stone is marked, and a dimple is center punched at exactly the right spot. A very small hole is drilled to act as a guide, then a hole about 85% the size of the stone is drilled out. Finally a special tool, called a "setting burr" is used to make a partial hole for the stone to set in.

From there it takes quite a while to move the top edges of the metal over the top edge of the stone. This literally gets done by pushing on the metal with steel tools. This, of course, creates more marks on the surface, which are smoothed out with abrasives after the stone is set. The top is re-bobbed and polished, and finally the ring is cleaned and ready for presentation (except for my fingerprints!)

Anyway - I present a simple, mirror polished band of silver, size 6 1/2 flush (or gypsy) set with an orange/yellow 3mm hessonite garnet.

The band has been forged just a little for comfort. At the point where the stone is set, it's 4.9mm wide and 1.9mm thick. 180 degrees around (at the back) it's 5.5mm wide and 1.5mm thick.

It's mirror polished inside and out. One of the attractive and annoying things about mirror polish is that is shows virtually everyting on it and around it. Please forgive my fingersmudge below the stone. The retake remedied that, but was flawed by lint and my own reflection.

This ring is made from Sterling silver and weighs 4.9 grams, including the garnet. The garnet is 3mm round brilliant cut. I'm afraid I neglected to weigh the garnet before setting, but a good estimate would be 14 points, based upon the weights of garnets of same size and similarly cut.

I can make this ring for you in a different size and/or with ruby,sapphire,amethyst,citrine ... instead of the hessonite. Just convo your requirements ..

Please feel completely free to ask any questions that may arise.

Regards,
Gary

Added on Sep 16, 2009