Practice on stainless steel

vm00

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Jan 3, 2014
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Location
Manvel, Tx
This is some practice on a stainless steel pendant I just finished. I wanted to try wire inlay, but it didn't turn out very well. I did't want to use gold my first time, so I used gold colored copper wire from a craft store. The wire would become pretty hard if I didn't get it set on the first blow. I think I will order real gold for the next try. :beatup:

After all of the trouble with the inlay I decided to switch gears and try engraving a pheasant. This was time consuming, but I enjoyed it very much!

Thank you for looking and critiques are appreciated!
 

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Omar Haltam

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Raleigh, NC
try inlaying copper wire in steel
in straight lines and curved lines before jumping into gold
you can save money that way
 

stick

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Aug 11, 2016
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Slovenia
Great job for the first inlay. Thumbs up!
I am also learning to inlay. Just reading on the subject for now. I will start with the same line/border type of inlay. I think this is the easy one to start with.. ?
Can you please give me just a quick explanation on how this was done? I would love to know more about it if it's not to much trouble.
Keep up the good work.
 

Cloudy

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Hardware stores sell copper wire in several gauges. ANNEAL it before you even start and you should be okay- Copper is nice stuff to work with once it's annealed!
 

vm00

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Jan 3, 2014
Messages
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Location
Manvel, Tx
Omar and Cloudy, thank you for the advice! I annealed the wire before I started, but it would become pretty hard if I didn't get the wire set on the first strike. I will definitely try some better copper.

Stick, thank you! There is a ton of info on this forum about inlay. I used a 116 graver to cut the outline of the border, then a flat to clean out the channel. Then I used the same flat graver to under cut the sides and raise teeth in the middle of the cavity. I then used a hammer and brass punch to set the wire. To clean it all up I used polishing stones from gesswein. I hope this helps!
Victor Maitland
 

jerrywh

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One problem with practicing on stainless steel is there are at least 21 different types of stainless. Their properties very a lot. On the inlay here is a tip. When there is a joint in a wire inlay or any other the two adjoining ends need to go down at the same time together. If not you may end up with a ragged joint or a overlap that can rise up later. Also, When inlaying copper wire or any other harder metal in a line it is best if the cut has vertical walls. Gold or pure silver can be inlaid in a V groove without problems but a harder metal will not always take to the undercut in a V groove.
 
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Dani Girl

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NSW, Australia.
You're right to try to get harder metals seated pretty well with the first blow with the hammer and punch. To get the join neat don't hit the first end down... go all the way around then tap both ends down together. If you had a real heavy solid lump of steel and super glued the piece to that it might go better held between the jaws... just minimize the movement and vibration everywhere in the setup. The energy has to be going into the wire being moved not absorbed by anything else.

The bird... a note about crosshatching for bulino is try to avoid right angle crossing lines ... your graver has to be sharp sharp, but bring them in on more subtle angles to each other and just more finer lines. Bank notes are great places to look for art made with lines. Gustave Dore art... you can great some great $10 books of his work. It's cheating and most on here would shudder at the thought but you could stipple over the bird to soften it a bit ... practice making light grey to dark grey stippling on something else first.
 

dlilazteca

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Laredo, Texas
You're right to try to get harder metals seated pretty well with the first blow with the hammer and punch. To get the join neat don't hit the first end down... go all the way around then tap both ends down together. If you had a real heavy solid lump of steel and super glued the piece to that it might go better held between the jaws... just minimize the movement and vibration everywhere in the setup. The energy has to be going into the wire being moved not absorbed by anything else.

The bird... a note about crosshatching for bulino is try to avoid right angle crossing lines ... your graver has to be sharp sharp, but bring them in on more subtle angles to each other and just more finer lines. Bank notes are great places to look for art made with lines. Gustave Dore art... you can great some great $10 books of his work. It's cheating and most on here would shudder at the thought but you could stipple over the bird to soften it a bit ... practice making light grey to dark grey stippling on something else first.
Thanks,

Found this image a great study piece for clouds, i remember someone asking in the past.


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