It's our tenth anniversary this year and the missus has been hinting for a posh ring. Never one to back away from a challenge, I've decided to try for champagne on a beer budget by making her a bentwood ring.
The plan is to have a walnut band with holly (for dark/light contrast) sides, three stones set along the circumference (4mm/5mm/4mm) in a sterling silver tube setting, and a silver wire inlay around the circumference. Which is all well and good, but I've done NONE of this before ...
So i thought you folk might enjoy the journey with me. First, getting thin enough veneers on the bandsaw - easier said than done. Micro adjustment of the rip fence is non-existent, so when you're getting .9mm and you'd like to get to .6mm ... well, you get the idea! I did alright - got three pieces out that varied in thickness from just over 0.5mm at one end to about 0.9mm at the other:
After sanding the thicker side was reduced to about 0.7. Now to boil the SOBs:
The pan is a poaching pan I nicked from the kitchen, to the consternation of SWMBO. If this doesn't work I'm in for the high jump! Used a gas hot plate, which took some persuading to get the water boiling consistently but I got there in the end. After about 20mins I took the wet veneers out and wrapped them around a 15mm diameter mandrel. No pics - I was too cold by then! I also made up a mandrel to hold the ring in the lathe chuck - will add that as I go.
Today, my order from Cooksons Gold arrived:
Two sizes of Tube settings, 1mm square silver wire, and 28 Cubic Zirconias (Yeah, like I could afford diamonds!). Looks like this bus is rolling - only time will tell where it goes!
The plan is to have a walnut band with holly (for dark/light contrast) sides, three stones set along the circumference (4mm/5mm/4mm) in a sterling silver tube setting, and a silver wire inlay around the circumference. Which is all well and good, but I've done NONE of this before ...
So i thought you folk might enjoy the journey with me. First, getting thin enough veneers on the bandsaw - easier said than done. Micro adjustment of the rip fence is non-existent, so when you're getting .9mm and you'd like to get to .6mm ... well, you get the idea! I did alright - got three pieces out that varied in thickness from just over 0.5mm at one end to about 0.9mm at the other:
After sanding the thicker side was reduced to about 0.7. Now to boil the SOBs:
The pan is a poaching pan I nicked from the kitchen, to the consternation of SWMBO. If this doesn't work I'm in for the high jump! Used a gas hot plate, which took some persuading to get the water boiling consistently but I got there in the end. After about 20mins I took the wet veneers out and wrapped them around a 15mm diameter mandrel. No pics - I was too cold by then! I also made up a mandrel to hold the ring in the lathe chuck - will add that as I go.
Today, my order from Cooksons Gold arrived:
Two sizes of Tube settings, 1mm square silver wire, and 28 Cubic Zirconias (Yeah, like I could afford diamonds!). Looks like this bus is rolling - only time will tell where it goes!