Signet week

This week I will have made four signet rings. If I had to have done this without casting, it would be a tiring endevour. I used silica sand for the mould making. The boss lady discovered that motor oil makes for a better binding agent than water. This was stumbled upon when trying to moisten the sand. 

Handled it

I managed to source some hammer handles from the hardware shop. They just need a run-over with some sand paper and they're goo to go. 

Punch and drift

In order to forge a hammer there are two tools that are used to crest the hammer eye; a punch and a drift. So I made these two for the hammer making I will be doing. The ouch is used to make the actual incision and the drift is used to drift the hole bigger o size. 

File knives

As I was just busy cutting and welding a together a tool I needs for the hammer forging. I let the old files I got from work heat up to get them annealed. 

Making a hammer

I've have always wanted to have a hammer that has a flat and round face on it, as a jeweller we use either of the two. I would like to have a hammer with both faces much like the blacksmith rounding hammer. I went to a spring manufacturer and bought an on old spring, the diameter of the round stock is approximately 30mm it semed like a good thickness. 

Reflection

Looking through all the blog posts from last year in order to continue writting my research report, I was amazed at how much I did. More than that I was surprised to see the shear load of things I have learned. It makes me excitted for the years to come. The things I've been making over the last term have been a culmination of all these things learned, the tool making to to forging and welding.