Cheshirechappie
Established Member
I wouldn't worry about the illegality of defacing coins of the Realm. Andy's was a French franc, and defacing them is probably compulsory!
bugbear":11n5lgy4 said:AndyT":11n5lgy4 said:Wuffles - it's only a 5kg miniature and was under £12. But almost any bit of steel would do. A lump-hammer hld in the vice would be ok, or the little anvil at the back of an engineering vice.
I've used a 14Lb sledge hammer head for this purpose for years. I mirror polished one face for finer work, and left the other rough.
Buying tip - for some reason heads with bits of broken handles in sell for much less than "clean" heads.
I don't know why, since removing a head is quick and easy.
BugBear
Benchwayze":1bpjmn1l said:I wonder if this is how jewellers make a plain, gold wedding ring? Start with a gold disc? I never notice any kind of join, but then they are fiendishly clever these craftsmen. :-k
Old pennies and halfpennies were better, they were softer. The secret was to get away from a station so the train wasn't braking hard when it went over them - then you kept the design for longer. We could get an old penny up to about three inches.adidat":1c65ls95 said:this reminds me of my days of putting 2p piece on the tram tracks in Croyden and getting back squished coins, when the trams run them over.
the follies of youth!
adidat
Yes, I was taught that way as well, but I suspect/believe that new rings are cast.AndyT":2ish42bk said:Benchwayze":2ish42bk said:I wonder if this is how jewellers make a plain, gold wedding ring? Start with a gold disc? I never notice any kind of join, but then they are fiendishly clever these craftsmen. :-k
No, it's far too slow. The normal method is to bend thick wire (of similar cross section to the finished ring) round a tapered former to the required size. Cut and file the ends square, twist the ends together, solder together invisibly, and make the ring properly round by hammering on a mandrel. At least, that's how I was taught for silver. (I was only playing at it and didn't get onto gold.)
phil.p":108gz8kq said:"Waste gold" = oxymoron
phil.p":2ogvf323 said:If you wish to make rings in gold, it's wise to buy colour matched solder when purchasing the gold as every slightly different alloy is a slightly different colour. Different metals are alloyed for different properties - some harden or soften, some colour. E.g. pink has copper in it, white palladium or platinum (often rhodium plated commercially), chromium, cadmium, nickel, zinc and others give a broader spectrum sometimes with only a tiny tweak in the proportions. A jeweller near me sells 18ct wedding rings of gold and Cornish tin which is a nice soft grey gold - and I saw in Changi airport duty free some absolutely stunning purple gold.
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