Chrissi don't you have an ultrasonic? Big time saver. Removes all compounh in 10 minutes. I throw stuff in after triipoli then again after polish. The liquid is a concentrate so it makes a ton out of a quart. I just got a small one, love it
Wow, Pennee, I want to come play in your studio. You have all the cool equipment. Do I need an ultrasonic? My guess is that it's something that would be nice to have, but not essential. I'll add that to my growing list that includes a bench shear, rolling mill, better disc cutter.....
Earrings are completely soldered! A lot of soldering time spent on this pair. Hopefully nothing falls off, or breaks while finishing.
They are pretty cheap Dianna. I don't have one but one of the stores that sells my stuff does, and she lets me use it if I need to. It really does make things sparkle. They aren't expensive compared to lots of other equipment.
Rachael from TheSerendipitousFind says I'm really lucky; I live in a rural area but there's a mineral specimen/jewelry supply shop with classes within walking distance. ______________
That sounds wonderful.
Btw welcome to the team Rachael!
Speaking of clean-up, I was soldering balls and bezel cups to a pendant and managed to make a ginormous mess of the whole thing. Haven't been this sloppy in ages. Now to see if I can clean it all up. I will start with silicone and mizzy wheels, then the 3M ones, and hopefully iy will be good enough. Otherwise it goes in the scrap pile.
I was ready to give up after that but I got a little more bench time after that and I managed to turn it around. Phew.
. Pennee, I am finding it easier to do heavy sanding before I add doo dads. It doesn't take much heat to add a doo dad, so I figure it shouldn't cause much fireshit, if any. ____
I do this too, but with my messed up pendant I had a little too much solder on my doodads and they just swam around and stuck themselves to the nearest bezel in sight. It's so annoying when that happens, and so messy to clean up afterwards. Maybe I should just scrap this one.
Doo dad soldering is not one of my favorites. Mine tend to move around too. Balls are not so bad if you make a divot for them to sit in but my domed pieces always give me some trouble.
I've got a serious bench day ahead today. Lots of pieces to replace!
Good morning. Those files look interesting. Just put one in my overloaded cart. Had a bad day yesterday and got almost nothing done. Hope today will be better.
I fear that fall is never coming to Texas. Going to be 94 today. The weather God keeps teasing us with a day or two of 70s, then shoots back up to the 90s. I'm tired of it.
Re: Falling into October with the Chatty Metalsmiths
byFormer_Member
Not applicable
10-17-201603:39 PM
Good Morning! Catching up.
Kathy...for polishing, I use a small horsehair brush on my buffer with brown Tripoli, then I move to green. I then go to my muslin buff with just green. Both from Gesswein. This was how I was taught, and it has worked well. I don't put my pieces back in a tumbler, because polishing is one of the last things I do even after stone setting. I usually soak the pieces in hot water and then use a toothbrush with Dawn dishsoap to remove what compound I can. At my mentor's he had a steamer, and that worked great for removing polishing gunk from crevices.
Dianna...me too. When I was young, filing was my "job" in my Dad's woodworking shop (he had a woodworking business). I would file and sand for hours. I'm pretty quick at it, but I have to be careful to not work for too long...for the same reason, my hand's become pretty tired.
It's not the quickest method, but I feel that I can be more thorough that way. I will move to the flexshaft for small spots or areas I'm not able to reach with the buffer for a final clean-up.
I use the steamer after ultrasonic with gemstones- there is nothing that will make a stone sparkle like hitting it under the steamer- no gunk is safe from that
Re: Falling into October with the Chatty Metalsmiths
byFormer_Member
Not applicable
10-17-201603:42 PM
Pennee...yes, I have a small ultrasonic, and I will put pieces in there, but it still doesn't get all the compound off. I probably need to invest in a bit bigger one. What liquid do you use in yours? My instructor had us use diluted Simple Green, but I hate the smell.
Susan...thanks for that link! I was looking for those sanding strips the other day!
Re: Falling into October with the Chatty Metalsmiths
byFormer_Member
Not applicable
10-17-201603:44 PM
I know Kit...same here. It's suppose to be about that today, then upper 70s tomorrow. I wish we would finish up with summer already. It's been a very long and hot one. I would like to see at least a bit of Fall before we get slammed with winter.
Re: Falling into October with the Chatty Metalsmiths
byFormer_Member
Not applicable
10-17-201603:46 PM
Oh, quick question. does anyone remember those polishing strings? I can not for the life of me find them. I checked Rio, Gesswein, Otto. I remember someone talking about them eons ago (like 2-3 years).
Pennee...that is so true about the steamer! Nothing makes a piece sparkle like the steamer!
The only place that sells string is Otto Frei. I just ordered polishing ribbon from my friend in France from Facebook- she is ordering for a bunch of us. I'm getting 3mm and 5mm- she swears the stuff is far better and lasts way longer than even using bias tape which is what I was using but it frays too quickly for thrumming. It's the stuff they use at all the major houses in France so it must be pretty good stuff and last a while. Can't hurt to try it right?
