Western Buckle Fabrication

Here are a few pictures of some buckles that I have made. All of the letters and designs are cut out by hand with a jewelers saw. Please review and let me know what you think and the areas of improvement.

WOW
great work, I dont see much room for improvement. I think you have done a great job, and given me some inspiration. How long have you been doing this kind of work? I would say you have it figured out. Thanks for the pictures.
God Bless
Mike Pardue
www.parduesilversmith.com

Elk,
I think they look good, I like the cutting horse buckle. It is hard to get the solder good enough so you can engrave right up to the figures without a bunch of stippling. On the black buckle with the gold overlay I would suggest that you take a flat graver and cut out the pieces that join the letters together after you finish soldering. It's not hard to do and will make your work look more professional I think. Keep up the good work. Ken

Thanks for the input guys.. I've been doing this work for 14 years, and I'm entirely self taught. I have only seen the inside of one other makers shop. Used to buy work from other makers just to disect their engraving hoping to learn from it.

Thanks

Elk

Hello buckle makers,

My name is Doug Arnew and most of you have never heard of me. I was building buckles in the 80`s and 90`s for the some of the PRCA rodeos Like EL Paso and the Amateur Rodeo Associations while riding bulls. I am mostly self taught and studied Gist and Skyline`s work. I did have the fortunate opportunity to spend some time with Brian Marshall, at his shop, while he was healing from a near death car accident and me from a near death bull riding accident. I have not touched an engraver for over 8 years but plan on getting back into the silver work and also getting into the gun engraving. I will be going to Reno to test drive all the latest and graetest equipment. I hope I get to meet some of you and the others that post on this site. Anyway here is my take on soldering buckles,

I solder the rope edges on first with hard solder wire, but if I am soldering on beads or half round i use solder chips cut from the wire. Then I will use medium solder chips for my overlays and figures. If I am using 10k filled sheet to cut my overlays from, I buy it pre-tinned but still put a chip or two along side my overlay to make sure I do not have any gaps. (gaps look like dung) I try to solder all my overlays down at one time to cut down on fire scale. I like to use propane and oxygen with the biggest tip you can get, it is a softer and more even flame. If you have mutiple layers of overlay, such as a red flower on top of a yellow scroll, I will solder the scrolls with medium solder and then come back and solder the flowers down with soft solder. The reason you use different tempature solder is so that when you reheat your piece you do not disturb the overlay that is already solderd down, stuff likes to move. I will then shape the buckle and then i change my tip to a smaller one and then solder the loops on with soft solder wire. Use a smaller tip so you can concentrate your heat to a smaller area. (TIP) when using chips to solder your overlays down with they are going to move around a lot, so get the piece hot enough to melt the flux but not hot enough to melt the solder, than use a pic to push the chips back into place. MAKE sure all the chips are in place before you bring the piece to tempature or you are going to have solder spots all over your engraving areas. I also use holders to hold every thing in place. Good luck.

Doug Arnew, Silversmith, Austin, Tx.
arnewd@aol.com

Doug. sounds like we do things pretty much the same way.. I solder down the backs with hard solder just like I do the lettering.

I would like to know how Skyline and Gist make those flowers they use. Really nice.. I have never been exposed to that infp.

I would like to say that I remember you from some rodeos back in the 80's & early 90's , but I don't. I am a retired saddlebronc rider.

Elk

i've been thinking of learning to do some western style stuff. yours looks quite good to my eye.

monk

I will be glad to help in any way I can. I think there is a lot more qualified people here on this forum to be giving instructions than I , but I will do what I can.

Thanks

Elk