Ferrule Making Success

niall Y · 23 Sep 2023

Following on from my thread "A Practical Maths Problem", here are a couple of photos showing my experiments with making ferrules from sheet metal.
First shows the bending jig along with a series of my experiments. The second is a close-up of these experiments. And, from left to right:
1, is an attempt to bend before marking and cutting.( Fail )

2, cutting to size before bending. ( Fail )

3,brass ferrule silver soldered. ( Moderate success )

4, copper ferrule, silver soldered. ( Success )

5, ferrule cut from brass tube, as a comparison.

Sideways · 23 Sep 2023

Genuine point.
I've experienced a brass ferrule cracking open end to end when damp caused the wooden handle to swell.
Having a ferrule with a soldered seam, if this ever happens to you, it should give way cleanly and you can solder it back together.
I figure that copper is more likely to stretch than snap, or thick steel to simply overpower any attempt to swell.

Nice work

Phil Pascoe · 23 Sep 2023

^^^ Ashley Iles ferrules seem prone, amongst others.

Ed Weber · 23 Sep 2023

I buy thick wall brass tube from McMaster Carr and cut to length

niall Y · 24 Sep 2023

Ah.... as ever, context is everything. This is a trial run, before I make a set in sterling silver for a whistle I want to make.. When you are looking for tubing in metals other than the usual suspects - steel, stainless, brass and copper. Then there is a problem with availability. It follows from this, that the only way forward is to make them oneself.

Other than casting, the usual way precious metal bands/rings are made by jewellers is with the use of solder, so I don't have any real concerns about this method.

I too. have encountered problems in the past, with brass ferrules cracking on my chisels. I put this down to shrinkage in the very cold weather. ( I believe Napoleons troops encountered similar problems with their metal buttons on the retreat from Moscow, Though I believe, in that particular case, it was down to the high tin content )

Because the splitting of brass ferrules I now fit my tool handles with stainless steel ones.