Hi all
Could you pleas help me to make a right choice.
I love use chain mail with my beads, and now I came to the point where I want make my own jump rings, so I need saw and blades. I use copper, silver and silver plated wire
Will you advice which saw and blades will be better for this.
I couldn't find anybody around who might help.
Thank you
Kat
I got my goldsmith's saw from Cooksons, have a look at this:
http://www.cooksongold.com/product/NEW-Quick-Release-Saw-Frame-ONLY-£11.95!/code-999-734A/
Cannot remember which grade blades I use for jumprings, though, but I'm sure someone will answer that pretty quickly ;D
I use a candle to lubricate the blades, which has worked absolutely fine, but i know you can buy special wax for it.
Julie!!! Thank you :) Can I ask one more thing how do you hold your wire(coils)? When you cut it :)
Hi, this is basically my set-up ::) (it's not always this messy on my workbench, promise!!):
(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh238/have-a-beer/sawing-jumprings.jpg)
Instead of holding my camera in my left hand I would steady the mandrel with the coils on it, and feed the coil forward as the rings fall down (NB: put a bowl underneath to catch the rings as they fall off).
In the piece of plank in the vice I drilled several holes with different diameter, to provide a snug fit for the different sized coils. From the top of the plank I sawed grooves down to each hole, giving room and guide for the saw blade. I have seen people fixing the actual coil directly in the vice, but for me that doesn't work as well as the above setup. And in some of the books I have the coil is held upright, which I don't get on with at all :)
For bigger coils I hold them in my left hand whilst sawing.
Hope this helps!! I am sure other people on here do it differently than me!!
Looks really interesting. I am definitely going to try it this way. From your experience rings after cutters and rings after saw...which have a better cut? Well how it say in English... clear cut? Less scratches?
In my experience with flush cutters, the saw is far superior when it comes to quality of the jumprings. Almost no material is lost when you use the saw, and and you can hardly see the cut when the rings are closed.
For sawing, I would highly recommend vallorbe sawblades.
I handcut in two ways, for larger stuff I thread my coil onto the sawblade, with the blade facing up in the frame, and cut from inside, (holding the coil by hand) for small coils I just wedge them into my bench pin.
And I do still handcut even though I have a koil kutter. The best lubricant is called burr life cut lube and can be bought at Manchester Minerals.
For small quantities, though, I quite happily flush cut with lindstrom pliers - you need to cut, reverse, cut and then cut away the non-flush end of the wire to get perfect closures, you can even create a tiny bit of an overlap to guarantee a really tight join. It's time consuming, but the results can be excellent.
My only warning would be about cutting plated wire. As soon as you cut, you expose the unplated end, which leaves the rings vulnerable to chipping. I don't generally work with plated wire, but would be inclined to buy ready made rings if I were going to do so.
I knew the expert would be on the arena sooner or later!! ;D ;D ;D Kat, George knows what she is talking about, if you follow her advice you'll be ok!!
Thank you. I was thinking about KK but they are maid for dremel and ....what's the other name - tool's brand. I have a drill from Wilko and quite happy with it. I do not want to spend 100 pound for KK and then it will not fit :(
other thing this blades have a different grade blades numbers....what it's for?
:) sorry for stupid questions :)