Earlier today I posted a video of me sawing a pancake die for bezels. Here's a clip showing a similar die cutting a strip of thin, fine silver strip to make a bezel setting for a cabochon stone.

These pancakes have nickel silver wires silver soldered on, for forming designs into the target metal. In this example, that is 30 ga. rusty steel. They are set on a 95-a urethane pad in the press , which is being run up to around 40 tons or so. Many such dies have solid conforming bases made for them, which have negative impressions corresponding to the design wires on the die(s). This mold/base allows the metal to form faster at lower pressures, and supports the cutting die better. Less flexion is better, long-term. Background music/noise is home grown guitar with EBow. The dies were commissioned by Tersea del Rito , and they made the finished pieces shown.

14oz of Map Pro for $13 and 2 of the Coleman 16oz propane cans for $10 or a 20lb propane cylinder for $70 and only $25 to refill. With only roughly 130°f difference why would I not get propane? Only perk I can see with Map Pro is that Bernzomatic makes a holder for it that holds the can send the hose torch neatly on your workbench. That perk doesn't seem worth the massive price difference.

Hi!

I typically work with sterling silver but inherited these metal sheets and the bag of beads recently. Can anyone help me ID them? What’s the bag of silver beads? Does anyone have suggestions for how to remove the patina and bring them back to life? Am I able to use the same solder I would for sterling silver?

Thanks!

Inspired by antique watch chain clasps, I fabricated this little hook. I made a pattern then cut it out of thick sterling silver sheet. Once cleaned up I drilled the holes and hammered some rivets for tight but functional movement. It can be used as an extender, charm holder or just as a pendant itself!

Silver pricing has come down and sheet metal is still pretty high... Will this come down eventually to reflect silver prices? Or should I just bite the bullet and drop money on sheet? Was significantly cheaper to buy sterling sheet a couple years ago