Processes in Making the Porpoise Necklace

[george wilson]

I posted a porpoise themed necklace I made a steel die for here some time ago. Today,my wife asked me to press out 4 more of them for her,so I got her to make some pictures as the process went along. I can't recall if I've ever made a photo essay of making an object.

The first picture shows the sawn out silver blanks being annealed for the first pressing. The camera refuses to show low red heat,somehow. It takes 3 pressings in all to form the coined necklace. The 2nd. picture shows the partially coined pieces being re annealed for the final pressing. I only have 50 tons of pressure,and that isn't a lot in the realm of coining. The image takes 2 pressings to come out complete.

The 3rd picture(sorry,they're out of order),shows the steel die and a blank,annealed,and pickled clean piece of silver ready to be assembled into the home made press. The silver is 16 gauge. At today's prices,that's about $20.00 worth.

The 4th. Picture shows a brass sheet that will be used to press the "fingerprint" pattern onto the back of the necklace. You can see the back of a piece pressed into the steel die. The brass sheet will be laid over it,and the fingerprint design squeezed on. We always have a pattern embossed on the back of our jewelry. It makes the piece more interesting on the back side,and makes a nice surprise when it is turned over.

The 5th. photo shows a porpoise that has been blacked after pressing,so the details show up better. It is difficult to see the school of playful little fishes in front of the dolphin,and the other details if the piece is not blacked a bit.

The 6th. Photo shows 4 coined dolphins. The die behind it is a heart shaped necklace or brooch die I made also.

The last image is me,bearing down on the jack handle as hard as I can with 242 pounds of weight. Red faced from the effort. You can see two fully hardened steel blocks over 1" thick each inside the press. The die and the silver are between them. The hardened steel surfaces are a must,as the die and the silver would sink into soft steel and damage,probably shatter the die. The die is pretty hard itself,being drawn to a medium brown color. So far it has not gone PING!! and shattered.My wife could not begin to press out this necklace. She weighs only 112 pounds. I have to strain to get the porpoise fully coined. It takes 75 tons of pressure to coin a quarter at the U.S. Mint,I believe.

I have a 100 ton Enerpac jack and its hydraulic cylinder and plan to make a more powerful press someday. This involves very heavy metal,though,much heavier than this press is. And,this shop is upstairs from mine. All press parts will have to be lugged up the stairs with my spinal stenosis. The 50 ton jack can warp the 3" thick top of the press here. I lay a piece of steel across its top. You can see the 3/8" square piece of precision ground stock laying there. When the top shows 1/32" of curve,I stop pumping,lest the top take a permanent warp.

The porpoise is still far from finished: My wife has to file down the margin and file in a deckled edge. She has to fine sand and polish the margin also. I left plenty of metal for her to do so. She has to make,and solder on 2 loops,and make up the chain and its clasp to suit the customer in length.

We tried casting the dolphin,as this process takes a good deal of time and effort. But,the casting just doesn't have the perfect crispness of a real coining. So,I guess we keep on coining them. I'm retired anyway,so she gets my labor for free.(Not really,it's part of our living).

The wooden "tree" is a holder I made to hold several different sets of needle files and die sinker's files. It's on a small lazy Susan for easy access. There is a thick sheet of urethane about the hardness of a rubber shoe heel (Shore 80 hardness). It is useful for putting behind objects I want to form,like the heart pendant. The brass thing seen there is the forming die to place behind the heart. Then,the heart is forced,face first into the urethane,"inflating" it. The urethane does not damage the delicate engraving and embossing on the heart. Sometimes I use a block of nylon to press into.

I don;'t know how those "Bonny Doon" 50 ton presses made out of square steel tubing hold together. My guess is the jewelers who use them,especially the women,can't really bear down on them hard enough to ruin the press. This solid steel one barely makes it. The threads in those large,hardened nuts shift sideways a bit!!

[David Barnett]

If I didn't have to go to bed by 10pm tonight, I'd have lots more to say, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. still... I can't go without remarking again not just on your technique but the sheer lively artistry of the piece, the Art Deco sunburst, the Japonisme waves, the Mycenæan overlapped concentric circles and dolphin itself. I know I've said it before but I can't help saying it again, this combines the much of the best of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco ancient revival styles. It totally kicks butt.

[george wilson]

Thanks,David. Hopefully I won't pop an artery bearing down on that press!! I'm getting a bit old for some of this stuff at 73.

[Kees Heiden]

Good work George. I can't comment on the artistry, because I really have no idea about that stuff, but I can see the craftmanship is excellent.

[Bill McDermott]

Here in the woodworking forum, mixed materials resonate. Seeing a thread like this that illustrates the building of a coin is interesting, useful and best of all... inspirational.

For me, sharpening blades and fettling tools offered an introduction to metal working. That led to bits of brass and aluminum sneaking into woodworking projects. Steel is starting to become a material with which I can build things. Baby steps. This type of true craftsmanship and artistry tug and pull me forward.

Thanks for taking the time to document and share your work George. You are feeding thousands with a few loaves of silver and a couple fish!

[george wilson]

It is a big help if you are able to make the metal bits that go on furniture,such as drawer pulls,knobs,etc. A drill press and some files sufficed me for years as a "metal lathe" for knobs and such.

Whenever the furniture conservation people needed a lock,or an escutcheon,they were helpless,and over to the toolmakers next door to get them made. Learn to be independent. That is the best thing to do. Then,you aren't at the mercy of whatever you can manage to buy. Especially important if you are trying to repair an antique with missing metal parts,which I do all the time.

Glad you found the post useful.

[Shawn Pixley]

I don;'t know how those "Bonny Doon" 50 ton presses made out of square steel tubing hold together. My guess is the jewelers who use them,especially the women,can't really bear down on them hard enough to ruin the press. This solid steel one barely makes it. The threads in those large,hardened nuts shift sideways a bit!!

George, nice work as always. I don't think a bonney doon press can emboss 16 ga silver (annealed or not) without being torn apart. Just curious, why 16 gauge? That is heavier than most would use.

[george wilson]

16 gauge because the work is 3 dimensional,and we do want the piece to be of high quality.

[Halgeir Wold]

George - for lack of better english words at the moment, the diversification of your work is just astonishing....
Except for my professional work in electronics, I concider myself a jack of lots of trades, but master of none, whereas you seem to master most of them....

On another foot - I'm no hydraulics expert, but I dabble in the borderline of hydraulics and electroinic control....
small, low capacity electrical HP pumps seems to pop up here and there these days...... that would take the load off manual labour, no ????

[george wilson]

Halgier: I have looked at pumps,and they are very expensive,over $1000.00. And I don't do that much work in the press. What I have waiting in a 100 ton Enerpac hydraulic jack with a separate hand pump with a reservoir. The pump has a pressure gauge on it which will be very valuable. I can tell exactly how many tons of force I'm putting on something,and get consistent results. I get consistent results now through feel,but the effort is quite strenuous. Fortunately,my weight helps a lot,but it can get tiring!

Every time I do the first pressing of the dolphin,I get the image pressed,except for a little area on the dolphin's back which doesn't quite make it. The silver hardens as it is pressed. I re anneal it,and on the 2nd. press I get the whole image nice and brilliant looking,like a new coin,from the polished die.

I think with the extra mechanical advantage(hydraulic advantage) the 100 ton jack will deliver,it will be a LOT easier to coin objects this size. Perhaps my wife might be able to handle it. She is only 54,and I'm going to get too old for this some day.

I'm also afraid that some day this Chinese jack will fail,and spew hydraulic oil all over the wall and floor. The Enerpac is an American unit,and much more expensive. I got it and the separate pump used,luckily.

My wife says I'm "building a monster",but once she finds out what these tools and presses can do for her,she quickly accepts them.

When I bought her a heavy duty sheet metal punching machine nearly 30 years ago,she was horrified that I paid $500.00 for it.(It was worth $3000.00) Now,and for many previous years,she cannot live without it. I have made her a few dozen punches and dies. Most of her jewelry has little images in them. The punch press will punch out the pictures,and exceedingly neatly will punch out the polycarbonate window that goes over them. She started out sawing out these things,and taking hours to do what she can do in a minute now. I have made her all the tooling,including bezel formers that match snugly the polycarbonate pieces the press will punch out,as well as the pictures inside. The punch and die sets are like scissors,with no clearance around the edges.

If you Google Bijou Graphique,you will see what I mean about the images.

[Julie Moriarty]

Hopefully I won't pop an artery bearing down on that press!!

Well, we don't want that George. You gotta stick around for a long time and keep producing this beautiful work! The extent of your knowledge and skills never ceases to amaze me.

[Jim Koepke]

George,

Great work as usual.

Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

It is inspiring.

jtk