New on the Bench

Learning again the Father Ted way....

I was pleased with the clean lines of the crossbones and the quirky skull as designed by my client. Both components were pierced with a super fine saw blade and meticulously filed.

Here are the pieces ready for soldering together

I’d worked through the grades of paper from coarse to fine,  and polished both units to within an inch of their lives  (well they are bones so not much life left there)

Polishing with rouge - Filthy Job!

Cleaned with mild acid solution and fluxed, the solder ran beautifully between the skull and the bones with hardly a trace. I say hardly, because there was a feint trace (as you would expect on a joint) which you could pick up through my magnifying lens… but I hasten to add, not the naked eye and here started the beginning of the end…

For those of you who have seem the Irish Comedy ‘Father Ted’ where Dougal spots a small ‘dent’ in a new car (the viewer can’t see the dent) you’ll know what can happen when really you should leave well alone.

For those who haven’t seen it, here’s a link.
The Dent

I really should have known better. I cut a disc of 3500 grade paper and used it on my flexshaft drill and proceeded to slowly buff that invisible solder off. Grade 3500 usually tickles away next to nothing, however, it still takes away, especially with a soft metal such as silver. Within seconds, the lovely crisp edge so lovingly preserved thus far had disappeared off one of skully’s crossbones within a few revolutions of the motor.

Being in denial, I even finished with my barrel machine which ‘planishes’ the piece with steel shot.
I tried every light in the studio and outside in daylight to examine it – Pah – you can’t hide your mistakes with metalwork!

I’m a perfectionist and I knew all along I was going to be remaking those bones, I was just humouring myself.

Well at least the skull part was completely fine, and I knew I could salvage it and cut some new cross bones. But... what happened next was totally unexpected. I heated the piece up to make the solder run, so I could gently pull apart the offending crossbones …when this happened. Lesson #2 ‘Work hardening’

Poor Skully!

I had not counted on all that polishing, filing and barreling work hardening the silver, and before my very eyes, the piece fractured (pardon the pun)

Even though I had to abandon Skully #1 to my jar of sweepings to be sent back to the refiner, I have thoroughly enjoyed making this great little design my client doodled! I think it turned out awesome in the end!

Skully

Skully 2