george wilson
10-14-2010, 9:01 PM
Well,actually,I chiseled out the punches to stamp the flowers. This is a hardened 01 steel die that I made in order to make a retirement gift for a long time secretary at Williamsburg. She was the purchasing secretary,and I felt that I had caused her a lot of work over the years!!! Eventually we got issued our own credit cards in the last few years.
I asked her what she wanted for retirement,and she said a heart brooch and matching earrings. I doubt she knew what she would be getting beyond something plain,though!!
I had made a 50 ton press out of a bottle jack that could squeeze gold or silver into this die.
The die is about 1" in diameter. Notice that the little holes become larger,then smaller as they go around the perimeter.
For scale,the "Wilson" stamp is a jeweler's standard size name stamp,about 1/40" high. I did not make that stamp. They can be bought for about $75.00.
I also made the earrings by pressing 22 karat gold into the central portion of the die,and sawing just around the outside of the holes.
The heart was also 22 karat gold. I made an additional forming die of brass,shaped into an inflated heart. The flat pressed heart was "inflated" by putting the brass forming tool behind the heart,and pressing the finished heart face down into a block of nylon,to keep from hurting the design work..
Generally,the way I do this sort of work is to make hardened steel punches with the flowers cut into their ends,and punch them into the annealed 01. It gives beautiful results,as the polished punches transfer their polished surfaces into the die.
Drilling all those little holes in exact line was a tricky part. Stamping the heart with the flowers wasn't too difficult,because I knew the punches were perfect before I ever stamped them into the die.
The recipient's initials were hand engraved into the blank area in the center of the heart,and into the earrings.
I have not made pictures of the punches,nor have I scanned a picture of the gold jewelry,but will do so at some point.
This is not wood work,but,like the flintlock pistol,it is Neanderthal hand work.
The "sunken" area around the heart is from proof testing the die with silver before it was hardened. It hurt nothing because the areas just beyond the dots was sawn out and filed smooth. I usually use pewter,but that day had none on hand. 50 tons pressed the steel harder than I realized it would!!
You can also see a few Rockwell hardness diamond test punches on the die.
P.S.: I added a second picture for better scale.
I asked her what she wanted for retirement,and she said a heart brooch and matching earrings. I doubt she knew what she would be getting beyond something plain,though!!
I had made a 50 ton press out of a bottle jack that could squeeze gold or silver into this die.
The die is about 1" in diameter. Notice that the little holes become larger,then smaller as they go around the perimeter.
For scale,the "Wilson" stamp is a jeweler's standard size name stamp,about 1/40" high. I did not make that stamp. They can be bought for about $75.00.
I also made the earrings by pressing 22 karat gold into the central portion of the die,and sawing just around the outside of the holes.
The heart was also 22 karat gold. I made an additional forming die of brass,shaped into an inflated heart. The flat pressed heart was "inflated" by putting the brass forming tool behind the heart,and pressing the finished heart face down into a block of nylon,to keep from hurting the design work..
Generally,the way I do this sort of work is to make hardened steel punches with the flowers cut into their ends,and punch them into the annealed 01. It gives beautiful results,as the polished punches transfer their polished surfaces into the die.
Drilling all those little holes in exact line was a tricky part. Stamping the heart with the flowers wasn't too difficult,because I knew the punches were perfect before I ever stamped them into the die.
The recipient's initials were hand engraved into the blank area in the center of the heart,and into the earrings.
I have not made pictures of the punches,nor have I scanned a picture of the gold jewelry,but will do so at some point.
This is not wood work,but,like the flintlock pistol,it is Neanderthal hand work.
The "sunken" area around the heart is from proof testing the die with silver before it was hardened. It hurt nothing because the areas just beyond the dots was sawn out and filed smooth. I usually use pewter,but that day had none on hand. 50 tons pressed the steel harder than I realized it would!!
You can also see a few Rockwell hardness diamond test punches on the die.
P.S.: I added a second picture for better scale.