Argentium Silver Bracelet Finally Bent

[graniteguy52]

Finally got this bracelet bent.
I started by shaping the dome by placing it between heavy leather and 2 slabs cut from PVC pipe in my vise.
Then, bending by hand on a jig made by bolting another piece of the PVC pipe (with a gap between) to a smooth board. I lost the dome, but got close to the final shape without a hammer.
I finished the fine tuning with a wood carvers mallet over a chunk of the PVC - with the silver covered with a layer of blue painters tape.
Next time, I be using an orange soft mallet, painter's tape, and polished trailer hitch ball so it will be dome too.
Thanks for all you impute - I would have made a mess of the bracelet without it! - especially labeling the two sides of the bracelet!
Gordon Alcorn

 

[ddushane]

Great job!

Dwayne

 

[John P. Anderson]

Good job, cleaning bending without the perfectly round bender syndrome.

John

 

[monk]

i'm a serious fan of makin useful tools from junk. but if you're doing many, the grs metal former does a great job forming bracelets. the bottom, soft part, will usually deform a bit. this is easy to remedy-- just heat the bottom part and the metal will level out again.

 

[Haraga.com]

What is the "perfectly round bender syndrome"?

 

[John P. Anderson]

What is the "perfectly round bender syndrome"?

It's just my preference. I prefer bracelets bent by a soft mallet and a keen eye. It may be the operator but bender bent bracelets seem to be very even in the cross section and the cusp. I do notice the difference when folks post their work.

I like Gordon's bracelet. He did a great job.

John