Post subject: Re: Learning To Became Bench Jeweler
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:57 am
Gold Member
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:44 pm Posts: 1079 Location: Washington State
If you take some classes, you can get to be a passable bench jeweler in as little as six months to a year. To just mess around with silversmithing you could learn the basics in a weekend. The problem is that there are so many facets, ( ), to metal working that it can take a long time to master them all. "Master" means to make few mistakes and end up with consistently high quality work. Some parts are easier than others. Wax carving and casting seem to be fairly easy, while fabricating assemblies with multiple parts can require enough experience to develop a workable strategy to actually have the piece you're making stay together during and after construction. Setting stones offers a whole range of stress and is also a very strategic operation.
Many benchies start out doing repairs and this covers all of the different parts of bench work and can show you quite graphically all of the ways to make things which do and especially DON'T work well. It also offers one the experience of developing much better torch control, since it's much easier to melt worn out metal into a puddle than to do the same to new pieces. It's all a great learning experience and if you want to get better fast, find a older, experienced bench person to show you some of the best ways to approach this craft or take some classes. This will save you a lot of frustration, time and money in the long run.
Thank you very much for your replies. I found a person who can teach me about silversmith and goldsmiths. I will be taking a weekly classes here in Minneapolis, MN. Thank you.
Post subject: Re: Learning To Became Bench Jeweler
Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 7:48 am
Site Admin
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 11:24 am Posts: 7523 Location: Rome, Italy
michael_e wrote:
Many benchies start out doing repairs and this covers all of the different parts of bench work and can show you quite graphically all of the ways to make things which do and especially DON'T work well.
ok i can share a bit of the old "italian way" since i run an historical workshop (the plate from the mayor of the city outside says that) opened almost 70 yrs ago, the familiy is goldsmitting since mid 19th century. repairs are something the "apprentice" faced as the VERY last thing, actually, after 5 or more yrs of apprentice and when he would be able to perfectly master all the bench procedures. The reason is quite simple: you can made an irreparable mistake building the most difficult piece, no worries, you've lost time only, likely you wouldn't reply the same mistake again, that's part of the learning curve. Repairing stuffs is a no-mistake-allowed task. you can't simply damage client's stuffs.... ..................of course shit may happens and, in that case, if you're lucky, you will loose a customer.......only............
ok here another way it happens the guy is buying stones and setting to fit them one day he gets stuck with a ring with a setting that doesn't fit so out comes the saw and file and suddenly the ring is ready for one that fits the stone. he hits the internet and finds one that will fit, ok now here's where he goes down another road (the benchie one) now he has to put it on the ring so he looks at what he is going to need minimum to do it .... oh well 200 300 dollars later its soldered on the ring polished an the stone sparkles in the sun and he has a grin and has forgotten how many rings and settings he could have bought for 300 dollars his new found ego says i can do this and another soul has started the long trip to benchie heaven
_________________ A Chinese proverb says "Gold is valuable, Jade is Priceless."
Post subject: Re: Learning To Became Bench Jeweler
Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 4:30 pm
Gold Member
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:44 pm Posts: 1079 Location: Washington State
Alberto wrote:
ok i can share a bit of the old "italian way" since i run an historical workshop (the plate from the mayor of the city outside says that) opened almost 70 yrs ago, the familiy is goldsmitting since mid 19th century.
just my 2 wothless Euro cents.............
ciao albé
Your two Euro cents are worth a lot more than you give them credit for Alberto. I just wish that I could have experienced working on the same level of quality pieces that have passed through your hands.
My experience was with repairing mass produced stuff that started life as one step above junk, (Walmart and department store stuff), and by the time I got it in my hands for repair it was not really worth repairing. It did give me a really good experience in learning torch control though, since looking at it wrong would melt these paper thin pieces into little puddles. After thinking about it, I think that you're right in that doing repairs does take a level of experience that a new bench person would be hard pressed to obtain quickly enough to keep from destroying both jewelry and client relationships. I retract that recommendation and thank you for pointing out the drawbacks in it.
Post subject: Re: Learning To Became Bench Jeweler
Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 1:27 pm
Valued Contributor
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:12 am Posts: 484 Location: Chiang Rai Thailand
Yes, good points on repair. It requires a much higher skill level and can be very tricky compared to fabricating from scratch. Everyone will learn at different paces. Some may need their hand held for a year or more before creating a piece and others will be making a piece on their own in a couple of weeks. Have fun with it, Lee
Post subject: Re: Learning To Became Bench Jeweler
Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 3:26 pm
Gemology Online Veteran
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:55 am Posts: 543
Get yourself some decent books on bench work (the Germans are particularly good at this, and translate them into English too). Get yourself some tools (nothing exotic) and have a go. Make some nice silver rings, pendants, bracelets, earrings and bangles as gifts for all your female friends and relatives and soon all their friends will be beating your door down to buy your production.
Post subject: Re: Learning To Became Bench Jeweler
Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 3:50 pm
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Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:52 pm Posts: 1131 Location: Central Queensland, Australia
I just took delivery of the basic Delftclay casting kit. I now have a good little serious hobbyist's workshop at home with everything needed for cabbing and faceting and consider myself pretty competent at both of those but silversmithing is something new to me. I only had one or two lessons while I was a club member and then the lady who taught it got sick and I was left with a bunch of sterling, flux etc.
Question - do I need to prepare this little clay crucible before using it to melt in? Do I need to put borax in it, hit it with the torch and completely glaze the inside surface before using it to melt?
The propane torch I have has only the little pinpoint flame nozzle which they were using at the club to melt little dots of solder or wire. Not having any casting granules, I cut up a length of silver wire into bits and experimented with that. The little propane torch melted them to a shiny puddle without difficulty but the flame itself seemed too small to keep the heat over the entire area and the puddle kept solidifying before I could pour it properly. Obviously the big nozzle for the same torch (which I don't yet have) would put out heat over a big enough area to keep the whole crucible glowing and everything liquid long enough to complete the process?
The Delftclay DVD was very informative but didn't tell me these things. I also have a large book on jewellery making but I don't recall reading that in it either.
The book really brought home to me how much different people like different things and how something that is done properly from a technical viewpoint may still not be everyone's cup of tea. Some of the pieces in the book I liked, others I would class as "wearable surrealism". Some looked like machinery parts, some looked like prisoner restraint devices and some looked like a crucible of molten metal had been thrown against a brick wall.
Post subject: Re: Learning To Became Bench Jeweler
Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 4:17 pm
Gemology Online Veteran
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:55 am Posts: 543
Select the size of nozzle to suit the mount of heat you will need. If you have a Seivert rig they do a large range of nozzles to suit almost all jobs. As for the crucible, I find adding flux halfway through the melt best. Another useful tip is to throw in some ammonium chloride when your silver is molten and stir with a wooden skewer. That purifies the silver (or any other precious metal) and gives you a cleaner result.
Post subject: Re: Learning To Became Bench Jeweler
Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 4:30 pm
Gold Member
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:52 pm Posts: 1131 Location: Central Queensland, Australia
Thanks Alan. I suspected the flame might be too small but I got it because I had seen them using it at the club, albeit not to actually melt in a crucible - they only do centrifugal casting there as far as I know. However, the same torch can take a variety of different size and shape nozzles, some much bigger than the one I have. This one almost does the job, a size or two up should be good.
The reason I asked about the crucible was that the metal glob stuck to the side of it when I couldn't keep the heat on it enough to pour it. When the same thing happened on a spot where the flux had already formed a glaze on the crucible surface, the silver blob just fell off when it cooled.
Do I need to take precautions using ammonium chloride - does it release harmful vapours when heated?
Post subject: Re: Learning To Became Bench Jeweler
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 9:22 am
Gemology Online Veteran
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:55 am Posts: 543
My advice is, get a decent range of burners, O.K. they can be a bit of a layout at first, but they soon pay for themselves in convenience and time saved. The molten metal sticks to the side of the crucible because it isn't heated up enough, hence the bigger burner. Once everything is good and hot sticking won't be a problem. Ammonium Chloride is recommended because the molten metal absorbs oxygen which combines with copper and other base metals in the alloy and if it is cast in that state it is hard and brittle. The Ammonium Chloride at the heat of the molten metal dissociates into ammonia and chlorine, the chlorine combines with the copper and other base metals and then vapourises (you will see the blue colouration in the flame) when the molten metal is then stirred with the wooden skewer the oxygen combines with the carbon in the wood and passes off as carbon dioxide. That leaves the metal clean and ready to give a good cast. Ammonium Chloride isn't particularly noxious but I have an exhaust fan running and feed the smoke out of doors, just in case.
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