This being Thanksgiving weekend and I could have 4 days in the studio, I planned on my biggest box to date and the next step in this journey - 4 corners. 

The box would be 3" wide by 3" long by about 3" tall. 

I set up my metal last weekend, a 12" by 6" of 20 gauge brass by drawing the scoring lines and clamping it to the table with my guide.   And then I went to the day job for three days....

Thursday, I woke up at 6:00 am with the shop cat (Boots) announcing her presence at the bedroom door (the shop elf was fast asleep) so I got up and went to have my cuppa coffee. I went in to the studio and turned on the lights and the heater as it was about 65 and a wee bit nippy.  Then it was to the kitchen to brew my cuppa and feet the cat. While having my cuppa, I read a sci-fi book I started on Monday was getting rather disappointed with how the author was ending it. By now it was 9:00 am and it was time to go to the studio which was a comfortable temp.

I took off my wedding ring and my good glasses and put on my safety glasses; sat down at the work table and started to work on the first of three scored joints. After a few minutes I realized I was not staying on the line and was making a real mess of it as the scoring tool for 90 degree had a very shot arm and my cutting point really wasn't 90 degrees. I tried to fix it and decided it was just easier to make a new one from another old rat tail file I had. That took over an hour and finally I was away and scoring and creating lots of nice brass curls. I did a check of my cutting and found I was a hair under 2" from the end so all my other scores would have to be moved to the left and a sliver of brass cut off one end.  I stopped scoring at 5pm, as I knew I would not get the third one done and I was very tired.  It was time to make dinner and relax for the evening.

Friday morning, a certain cat announced her presence not only at 7am but at 2 am.  I was able to roll over and go back to sleep for a bit but when a cat walks on you and purrs in your ear it it rather impossible to go back to sleep. Once again I went downstairs, fed the cat and coffee-d myself. I headed into the studio around 9 am and sat down to finish the scoring and beveling of the outer ends. 

I will mention that when scoring, which is done on the inside, you watch the outside for a line to appear. This is from the pressure the tool puts on the metal because it is so much thinner having been scored. When you see this line you go very slow as removing too much will result in the joint giving out resulting in one part separating from the rest. The scoring continues until you can just begin to bend it by hand.

Finally it was time to solder. I started with the center joint, then doing each of the other two. I then cleaned it and then using binding wire, closed up that last corner nice and tight. 

After soldering and cleaning it, I drew a line at the top as to where I would cut the lid from the bottom body. I also cut the top and bottom plates. After I soldered the bottom plate and the bottom was in the pickle, I took the top piece; annealed it and used the hydraulic press to form a design.  The design, having lots of little details required me to anneal the brass three times and to use lots of little pressure pieces to push it all out.    

Using a cut off wheel I cut the lid from the bottom and soldered the top, with the design, on.  It was now time to file and mate the two parts; fit the bezel and polish it. 

Of course, along the way I had a few unintentional learning experiences (documented below) which I am a bit disappointed with but now I can see that doing something this big is not easy... It may not be perfect but I did make a box with FOUR corners and lots of soldering, filing, sanding, measuring.  The next one will be sooo much better. 

For the next part of the box project, I will continue to make a box but this one will have a hinge which will require me to make many samples of hinges before I add one to a box. That starts next weekend!! 

Big Learning Experience Number 1: 
That is a machinist square so that is a true 90 degrees.
I have a side wall that is bowed inwards, this happened while soldering the base on and I didn't see it until I cut the lid off! And my walls were square when I was done soldering the joints because I did this with the square, hanging off the side to check. 

The silversmithing books warn of walls warping either when quenching or while soldering. The book makes mention of getting it up to temperature and clamping it and letting it air cool but since it was soldered I don't know what could have been done except to start over. 

Big Learning Experience Number 3:
Yes, the top seperated from the wall; this happened while soldering in the bezel. Originally, it was just at the corner and as I tried to fix it but it opened more which is what you see here. I stopped while I was a head. 

There are two parts to this installment of the box project

Part A was 2 weeks ago and B was finished today.

PART A
This box is a triangular box with corners; I figured doing 3 corners was easier than 4 which is why this box is triangular.
Before starting this phase, I pulled out my silversmithing books, again and read up on this subject.  Some of the books say to file a bevel on each edge of the corners where the angle depends on how many corers you will have; 45 degrees for 4 corners (45 times 2 equaling 90 degrees) and 30 degrees for 3 corners as the total of all the angles is 180 degrees, yes geometry comes into play here. Then using binding wire and supports, you solder all the corners together.  Other books say to scribe the angle into the metal such that the metal is still all connected, for n-1 corners and then you only have to bevel the 2 outside edges. The scribes/grooves are then bent to close up the box and it is easier to solder them all closed.  I asked my mentor what is best and she said to scribe but to do that, I had to make a tool to do the scribing cause no one makes them for you to purchase; welcome to silversmithing!!

Time to make TWO tools one with a 60 degree and another with 90 degrees.  One of my books gave information on how to make these tools out of old files or other tool steel and the shop elf sacrificed (handed over) two files he no longer used for the cause.  First you bend the handle down, as this will be scribe and the file become the handle. Then you file and grind in the angles and taper it so there is a very sharp edge right at the tip. I then hardened and tempered the tip.  After a few starts, trials and restarts I had my tools and sat down to scribe some lines.   

Let's just say it was a bit of a learning experience (not a failure!). I measured a 6" by 1" wide brass piece and drew lines for where the joints would be and then used a tungsten carbide tipped tool to do a shallow scribe using a machinists square. Using some C-clamps and a piece of wood I held the brass to my work table and started to scribe pulling towards me.  My tip was not sharp enough to actually pull off metal so I had to keep going back to the bench to refine the point. I also kept popping out of the groove and really scratched up the brass. Eventually I was able to bend the join and form the metal. Then I realized that my measurements were off and the sides were all different lengths and would not meet. 

Again, it's a learning experience and the next one would be, damn it, correct!  Here are pictures of my tools and my first trial at scribing 60 degree joints.  

PART B
Yesterday I started another piece of metal, this time copper, for a triangular box. I measured 3 or 4 times and this time I used a piece of steel as my clamp and guide which I could hold the scribing tool against to get a straight line. I also used a "three square" file to get a good 60 degree groove. I went slow and careful to get the two grooves and when that was done, I then used my belt sander to put 30 degree bevels on each edge and then it was time to bend; and YES! they met up and when I measure, only one side was 1/32" off.   

It was now time to solder. I fluxed the inside two joins and the inside and outside joint that was actually open. Then I heated and using hard solder just put a small ball at each open end and using heat, from the outside, I was able to pull the solder to the other open end  - isn't it wonderful when things go as they are supposed to. 

Now to put on a base. I found some scrap 20 g copper that was just the right side and so I soldered on the base and I took another piece to the hydraulic press to another impression for the lid.  After trimming up the base, I cut off the lid wall with a separating disk and soldered up the top for the lid.

Once the base and top were cleaned up, I tackled the mating edges and added a bezel and just a little bit of sanding to make sure the lid slid into the body; then did a quick polish and I was done! 

Next up, over the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend, a square box. 

This past weekend, Sherri, came back to my studio for another 2 days of workshops and another student, Barbara, joined her on Saturday.

Saturday’s workshop was a Fold Formed Cuff project but the following skills were also covered: using a rolling mill to texturize the metal, stick soldering with hard solder, fold forming basics, and liver of sulfur patina. We started the day at 10:00 am and the cuffs were completed by 5:30 pm.

On Sunday we started the day with working on Sherri’s on soldering skills. We started with copper scrap taken from my cut off pile, and I set up for a butt joint between 2 flat pieces; starting with a smaller torch flame that she was comfortable with Sherri quickly saw that the copper never got hot enough to melt the solder. We increased the tip size and had a slightly larger flame; again the solder would not flow. We then increased the flame, a lot, and Sherri was able to solder the two pieces together. The copper went into the pickle and after we cleaned it, I then bent another piece of copper and stood it on the 2 pieces of copper that had been soldered together. This time, using hard solder we put a small ball at each end of the joint and Sherri started to heat everything. With a slight adjustment of the flame (larger) the copper got hot and the solder melted and using the heat of the flame, she was able to pull the solder along from each end and completed filling the joint. Sherri now had a better understanding of how to gauge how much flame/heat is required when working with more metal AND how to practice soldering without doing on a production piece!

It was now time to start the anticlastic bangle, similar to what I had made last month. We started with brass and then moved to silver. We discussed getting a good seam with hard solder so it does not split during the forming and how to recover if a split does start; forming the bangle with sinusoidal stakes and the correct hammer(s); and cutting the metal length to get a proper sized bangle when done. The bangle was finished by adding some gold ball accents and edge thickening.

This project is from 2 weeks ago, I thought I posted it but I guess not.

This is an oval box (1 seam) but I put a hydraulic pressed stamping on the lid.  I did the stamping twice just to practice getting a good impression. Actually this is the second oval box too; the first was out of 24g copper which is just too soft and this one was made with 20g which is still a bit too thin, for copper but these are all about practice.

I spent a good amount of time working on the bezel for the lid and I am getting better at fitting it and soldering as I am not doing as much clean up.  This box is about 1.25" tall and a 6" circumference resulting in about 1.25" wide on the short axis and 1.5" on the long axis.

​Next up scribing corners, I am starting with a triangular box.

... and reflections.

This weekend I tackled another box shape - a leaf which has 2 seams. As with last week’s boxes, I first made one in brass, on Saturday, and then I made one in silver on Sunday.

The brass box, with its two end seams requires beveling so the edges line up properly. The beveling is done using sand paper after the wall curve is formed. I used a large tapered mandrel that is oval in shape to form the sheet and then gently held on to the pieces and used 220 sand paper to create the bevels, checking every few minutes to see how the edges match up. Once that was done, I used a small amount of binding wire to keep everything together, which I then fluxed and soldered. After I pickled the brass, I then placed it in super pickle to remove the copper layer; I mixed up a small plastic tub of the super pickle, to just cover the brass.

Time to measure the base, stamp my makers mark, solder it to the walls and file/sand all the edges flush.

The design of the box, which was based upon an article I have from long, long ago, has the lid sitting on top of the base walls, with the bezels for the slip fit, soldered directly to the top plate which also over hangs the box by a scant 1/8”. It was now time for me to make the lid of the box. I traced the box outline on some more brass, then marked 1/8” outside of the lid outline to mark the edge of the lid. From there I cut the lid out and did a pre-polish on it. Then I had to mark where the bezels would be soldered – 1/8” (0.125”) in from the outside edge of the lid PLUS the thickness of the wall which was 20g (0.032’ ) totaling 0.157”. I then used extra brass rolled to 22g to form the bezels, which were fluxed and soldered to the lid. After cleaning it up, I then tested fitting to lid to the box base – at that was a problem, the bezels must have shifted on the lid or my math was off because it would not seat. This was solved by a little bit of sanding on the bezel and the inside of the wall in the box base but eventually I did get them to fit AND because the box is not perfectly symmetrical, the lid only fits on in one orientation.

Next up was the little “handle” which is on top of the lid. I used a 1” disk which, because it is polished to a high shine, can’t be gripped such that you can pull the lid off the box.

But the brass box was done and for Sunday it was time for a silver version.

On Sunday morning, I started the silver box with a few executive changes:

• I decided to take a small amount of the bottom wall and add it to the lid;
• I would to use my rolling mill to add a texture to the walls and the lid;
• A tongue shaped agate cabochon would be used for the lid accent/handle.

It was all going very well – walls soldered, base soldered, lid wall cut off, lid and lid wall soldered and then I fit the bezels into the wall that was attached to the lid and I went to solder them in – and this is where it went horribly wrong.
One of the bezels split; it must not have been fitted properly and when I applied heat, it gave way.
Then one of my solder clips got soldered to the wall which I was able to eventually remove but it left a solder blob on the texture.

While waiting for the various pieces to get clean in the pickle, I made a bezel to set the agate in the lid. Despite the problems that occurred with the bezel for the slip fit, I was still going to mount the stone to finish the project. This bezel soldered on perfectly and that is when I realized the bezel was a little too big (another learning experience!) , I mixed some epoxy to help set the stone and then pushed in the bezel to complete the box.

Yes, there are pictures of these issues, below. I am more mad at myself than embarrassed; remember making these boxes is for learning and I certainly am.

Observations and What’s next:
I will not use the tapered mandrel to form the walls, the taper makes the top opening slightly smaller than the bottom. I have stepped mandrels that I will use for the next one and I am also hoping that this makes the box more symmetrical and the lid can be put on easier.

I did not like the lid just sitting on top of the base, so I added a small amount of wall, to the lid which just looks a bit better as I did on the silver box.

The accent on the lid will no longer be a “handle” but just a decorative stone or maybe enameled dome. If I do make a handle, it has to be bigger and have some texture so your fingers don’t slip off while trying to grip. Also make a bezel and check it again and again, even again just before soldering so you know it is not too big or too small

I am still struggling with the bezel added to the inside of the wall for the slip fit, as evidenced by the mess I made in the silver box lid plus last week I did struggle a bit with the bezels on the oval/round boxes. I need more practice with technique/skill so this coming weekend, I will a few lids, only, and practice cutting, fitting and soldering bezels.

As an adventurous silversmith, making boxes should be a part of my skill set; but was not up until this past weekend.

Two weeks ago, I set about planning how I would accomplish that skill set via planned projects and every increasing difficulty.

Here is the progression of projects done in bras as brass is the closest to sterling silver in how it behaves so I can work out the process before committing to sterling.

• Small round box with a flush seam and slip lid
• Large/Tall “round” box with a keyed seam and slip lid. The taller the box, the harder it is to heat resulting in the flush seam possibly shifting where as a keyed seam locks it in place.
• Square/Rectangular box with mitered corners and slip lid
• Square/Rectangular box (mitered corners again) with a hinge and a small clasp which has yet to be determined if I can make – I have a book on various clasps
• A round box with a hinge and small clasp

I will eventually do some chasing and repousse on the boxes, not these but others made for a C&R project but first, one must learn to make boxes. To that end, pulled out my silversmithing books and read up on box making. I also sent a list of questions I came up with after my reading, to my mentor Liza, the Silversmith.

Saturday morning, I went into the studio, pulled out some brass and got to work. I was in the studio about 8 hours though not all of it was making the box. First I had to design the box and figure out what I could make with the brass I had and cut it. Then as the box construction progressed - soldering, sawing, filing/sanding, and polishing, there was quite a bit of down time as I waited for the metal to have the oxides to be removed in the pickle, then washing and scrubbing; calculating the size and making of the bezel to fit the lid. I normally track my time but for this I did not since I knew that with all that thinking, the manufacturing time would not be valid. At 5 pm I was done and I was quite proud of what I had made and accomplished let alone not screwing it up! I was also so focused on making the box, I did not take any process pictures but here is the box finished. It is about 1.7” in diameter and just over 1” tall, with a slightly domed top.

With my first box under my belt, I decided to make another “round” box, on Sunday, using sterling. My brass box was made with 20 g but the silver box would be from 18 g and I would have to coat all the silver pieces, with borax when I did any heating or soldering to prevent fire stain. When I first went into the studio at 9 am, the first thing I did was turn on the hot plate with my enamel pot filled borax water to re-dissolve the super saturated solution as the borax which had precipitated, as crystals and fallen out of the solution over the past few weeks as it had cooled. I found a good piece of silver and made my measurements and cut the pieces for the walls, top and bottom plate, and the bezel. I stamped my makers mark on the top and bottom plates marking that for the bottom, the mark was on the outside but for the lid, the mark was on the inside; and I marked the material as “sterling”.

First up was borax-ing and then annealing the piece that would be the walls, pickling and cleaning. I filed the edges where the side seam would be, formed a tube and used binding wire to hold it tight, against heat expansion; I then coated it in borax, soldered the seam, and put it back in the pickle. I formed the shape of my tube, into an ovoid so there was only one way to put the lid on. Next up was soldering the base plate with more borax coating of course. I then cut what would be the wall for the top, from the part that was the bottom of the box followed by borax coating the top plate and soldering it to the wall for the top. Then everything was cleaned, again.

Now that both parts of the box were soldered to their respected plates and separated it was time to file and sand the mating edges to get them flat as and smooth as well as filing and sanding the plates flush with the walls – that took some time. After that was completed, I created and soldered the bezel into the top of the lid, again applying the borax coat and cleaning afterwards in pickle and finishing with warm soapy water.

The box construction was done, time to polish it all up BUT I had a problem, there was a lot of fire stain all over the box. This was rather annoying considering the care I took to coat my surfaces with borax and it then required me to do a “polish” with an aggressive compound to polish it out which removes the silver on top of the oxides and the oxide layer to get to un-oxidized silver below it. I probably spent almost an hour polishing, cleaning and verifying each surface until I had it all removed; then I could finally do a 3 step polish and be really really done.

Overall I was in the studio over 8 hours on Sunday, I remember to take some pictures and record the actual working time which was about 5 hours but I know that with every box I make, the time it takes will go down as I now know the basic process.

After I completed my Art Nouveau cuff last month, a friend asked to make one for herself (she is a cuff person, like me) so we scheduled a private session for her but I should note that she is a metalsmithing novice having only made a small bowl back in June. Barbara was aware that making the cuff was going to be intense with lots of information about technique and tools to absorb as she worked on the cuff but she was game.  Oh, and I would be making a cuff, as well, along side her since I had received a commission for one.

We started off measuring her wrist so we could size the cuff and marking it. Then it was time to saw the outside and do the pierce work. I only broke 3 saw blades but Barbara broke 12 but she now knows how to saw. 

Next up was the filing and sanding - along the outside edges and inside the pierced areas. 

After that it was on to the polishing, forming the cuff, and then patina. Barbara said she wanted a traditional LOS patina which is to get the silver black/gray all over then polishing the high points back so the nooks and crannies are dark; to which I said OK but she was getting a lesson in how to work with LOS which, if you do it MY way, will results in some colors ranging from golds, raspberry, purples, and blues - before you ever get to the gray and black.    We mixed up the LOS and started dipping and rinsing. First Barbara got golds and was surprised; then a hint of raspberry, still commenting that it was interesting but would like it to go black - I said "Patience Grasshopper!". The colors then started to darken and she had purples and blues - and she stopped! Barbara was amazed at the color and was now reconsidering. We quickly polished up the high spots, put her cuff on and decided that she was DONE!!

Here is a mini movie I made, with music, from pictures I took, of her making her cuff.

I was taught to polish my work in a few random classes I took over the years but I have never really taken a class on POLISHING.  In my private raising class with Nechamkin Silver Studios, Liza walked me through a 3 step polishing process when I finished the tumbler.   

I thought, up until then that I was "polishing" - oh, was I wrong.  

It was after that workshop that I bought an assortment of the Rio Grande polishing compounds, for silver a bunch buffs and taught myself how to polish.  I then added a few courser compounds for tools (brown, yellow and white).   I keep all the buffs and compounds marked and separated in plastic bags since you don't want tool steel bits to get into copper, silver OR gold!  I also clean my piece after each compound so they don't transfer to the next buff!

To clean the Rio Sunsheen compounds I found the Formula 409 cuts the grease and I then use a soft toothbrush to scrub it, then I put it in warm soapy water in an ultrasonic cleaner for at least 15 minutes. Of course has to be changed after each stage of polishing too.  Yes, this takes a lot of time and is a PITA (pain in the a**)

A few weeks ago, on Rio, I stumbled up a video about some compounds made by Luxi - these use a vegetable fat vs. a grease making it easier to clean.  I bought the assortment, which has all the compounds in mini-bars along with some new buffs and started to try them. 

Let's just say I will be switching - The polishing seems to go faster and the clean up is so easy.  

Today I finished my 2nd dragon scale cup and here are 4 pictures - no polish to final polish. I used the green, purple/pink, and red compounds and gets brighter and more reflective in each step.

So how can you learn to polish get 3 or 5 compounds. I can't give you colors because that varies by manufacturer but  with 3 compounds it should be a bobbing, medium, and final grade. With 5 you want course for scratch removal, bobbing, pre-polish, polish and final. 

Then I suggest taking a large piece of copper and scratch is with 220 grit sand paper. Then cut it in to even squares; 4 for a 3 phase polish or 6 for a 5 phase polish.  Set one square aside as this will be saved for your starting sample. Then take your first polish and polish all the pieces and clean and dry your metal and set one aside. Repeat with all of the compounds your bought - polish all the remains samples, clean, and set one aside; repeat. When you are done you will have a set of samples worked with each compound and through all the phases. 

And to help you get started, this is the book I recently found that I added to my library: Polishing and Finishing for Jewellers and Silversmiths

Several weeks ago I bought a fine silver stamping from PotterUSA, this was made from a die (female) that was made from the vintage hob (male) that was purchased when the Frank Morrow Company closed it's doors last year; the hob is over 100 years old. This stamping is from a die that requires a massive amount of tonnes because the die is so big and deep  and to get a good result. Kevin used 5 ounces of silver resulting in the piece being 16 gauge thick! 

So what was I going to do with it? Make a cuff, of course; even though I could do something like this via chasing & repousse, it was a challenge for me to take the stamping and turn it into something - so I started to ponder what I would do. I figured I would do some piercing but how much? What would I do to the side sections of the cuff so they weren't plain?  Would I screw it up having not done something like this before.

I started my ponderings by making a copy/scan of the stamping and drawing on it - where was I going to pierce, how long did I need to make it so the cuff would fit me, how wide would it be.  I did 3 or 4 copies with ideas. 

It was now time to stop pondering and to start the project!

So yesterday, was the day to start the project and my goal was to have it finished by this afternoon - which I did, yeah me!
I tracked the hours it took - 14 from start to finish.  I went through 5 saw blades but having never done this much piercing before, I think that is pretty reasonable. I had to use many needle files to get into all the nooks and crannies from the sawing and I had to stay relaxed by keeping my shoulders down, not using the grip of death on the saw and breathing through my mouth; this prevents you from clamping down on your jaw and that results in overall body tension.

What skills did I use that were not ones I normally use because I don't make much jewelry:

• Sawing a.ka. piercing
• Filing
• Sanding
• Drilling

When I was all done, I weighed the piece and it was almost HALF the original starting weight of 5 ounces; the final weight ended up at 2.4 ounces; that's a lot of material cut away but it will be recast into sheet for another project.

When all the sawing and filing was done, I did a pre-polish to smooth all the edges and to see if I needed to get rid of any major scratches, I did not. Then I coated the silver in flux and annealed; the flux goes glassy when the silver gets to annealing temperature. Then I did a real 3 step polish, inside and out - white, green and red to get everywhere nice and bright - plus a good cleaning in between each polish.   Once all that was done, it was time to pull out the bracelet mandrel and time to bend the silver into a cuff and my anneal was good enough that I was able to do it with my hands!

Lastly I mixed up some Liver of Sulfur thinking that the antique look would add some depth to the flower details but as I am working the piece, I see the patina going gold and I knew that I had to keep this as the patina; I slowly kept swirling the cuff in the LOS solution and knowing that LOS can go dark at a moment's notice, I worked slow and ended up with a great gold color TIME TO STOP! A rinse and dry with a clean cotton cloth and it was done.
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 I also took loads of pictures, as usual so enjoy them.

For the past 4 weekends, I have been at the Austin and San Antonio Tandy Leather stores upping my skills in leather working.  I have learned how to use a swivel knife and how to tool; hand stitching, and dying and finishing. 

Last weekend, I tried to make another cover, this time for a 8 1/2" by 5" notebook (see here for my small book covers and adventures in leather) and let's just say it was a bit of a failure, so moving on... 

I spent the week watching some more video's and asking question in the leather group I belong to and yesterday I  started another cover which I just finished.   

As you can see on this cover, I used a frame to mount a chasing & repousse panel, I did some decorative stamping, hand stitching and an overall dye color.

I did find a few things that I have to change/improve before I start making these and the smaller books, to sell.  I did not add antiquing which would put a dark color in the tools (patina as we could call it for metals)  and as you can see my panel is off center, due to the tooling, and card holder is a bit off kilter - but I learned lots.  ​
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