Unusual job on the bench today

[ecain63]

Celtic Dragon said:

Ecain, you are demonstrating some stunning work on this thread, please keep posting your work. Its great to see what a craftsman can do.

If you don't mind me asking, what tools do you use for the final fitting etc? You mention that claws etc are filed to shape. I dabble in making knife handles, (I can make blades, but now live in a flat so had to stop), and tried making the below. The plan was to have a Wolf paw print cut into the Mammoth Ivory but the attempt didn't quite quite turn out as I wanted due to my needle files not being fine enough.

The black is Water Buffalo horn, the white is Warthog ivory and the infill is Mammoth Ivory. The paw is copper dust encapsulated in clear resin.



All the blocks were cut, filed and glued by hand.

Hi mate. Interesting knife handle there. Maybe you should do a 'build thread' for one.

Final finishing is dependent on what the job is:

For claw work the final shaping and filing is done with a grade 4 triangular needle file, scorpers and a fine bladed hacksaw. The file does the shaping, scorpers do the picking and the hacksaw takes away any slivers that the above wont shift. After that the claws are smoothed over with a graining tool (hollow ended tool), which also serves to ensure the claws are left flush with the stones.

For bigger jobs like shanks, signet ring finishing and sizing i use a medium half-round file to make the correct profile followed by 3 grades of emery paper to remove file marks and prepare for polishing.

There are loads of finishing attachments for the the pendant drill too. Everything from drill bits to silicon wheels and grinding tools. All of these play a part and the closer to the finished item you get the finer the tool you need.

[MikeO996]

Some recent posts probably needing deleting, wouldn't be hard to identify the couple now given their cars aren't exactly common.

[ecain63]

Sorry for the delay / break in posts on this thread but ive been a bit manic of late.

Surgery to get rid of my bowel cancer was on May 15th (went really well), my son was born on May 21st (12 days overdue with wife have emergency delivery under general) and follow on chemo that started in June has left me a bit tired. Nevertheless i've been at work the whole time, making you guys the odd bit here and there.

Made this silver cross for a PHer to replace a base metal one they lost:




Servicing your watches still.

And currently i the middle of turning this 18ct white gold, 40 diamond bracelet



into a 40 diamond 18ct white gold ring:


Finished article pics and more projects go follow.

Eddie

[xuy]

Your thread is fantastic

Great to hear that you are well, and a new born

Congratulations

[ecain63]

Thanks loads. My little man is my new inspiration. He's a bit of a miracle given the state i was in when we conceived so I need to look after him.

I'm not 100% sure if i'll continue my work as a jeweller, the cancer thing has been a big wake up call. Got some decisions to make regarding the future of my business but the truth is that it was never how i imagined myself. I'm an outdoors kinda guy and i think in time i need to find a role where i can get back to what i enjoy and not just what i'm good at / been railroaded into. Jewellery repair / manufacture is a fantastic business and pays really well but id rather and average wage and fresh air any day of the week. You only live once and life is too short at the best of times.

[GC8]

What do you do now?

[buzzer]

one of the best threads on PH. glad you are getting better and congratulations on the little one.

do what makes you happy!

[ecain63]

buzzer said:

one of the best threads on PH. glad you are getting better and congratulations on the little one.

do what makes you happy!

Wouldn't go that far but thank you all the same.

Once I've got the all clear health wise later in the year I'll start looking more seriously at what im doing in life. Give me £1.5million and I know for sure what id do (buy a local trout fishery) but until that day........

[VinceFox]

Only just caught up with this thread again. Glad to hear you're improving, bloody hell you've had a busy year!

[Cotty]

ross-co said:

Thanks for the insight its something i have never really put much thought to, but now i have i find it fascinating, love the level of detail etc.

Is there a large chance when working with some materials of damage occurring, for instance when doing the "claws" and cutting and shaping in such close proximity to the stones do they get marked by processes being completed around them or are the tools designed to help avoid this?

There are also risks when the stones are being worked on. I am currently dealing with a claim for a diamond damaged whilst laser sawing. We placed the insurance as a processing risk, when the damage came to light I became involved. One of the stones will have to be made smaller to avoid the damaged area so it will be a case of determining how much value has been lost, estimated at about USD 20,000.

[GC8]

NeMiSiS said:

As little as possible.

I even got a straighter answer from Alan Pastor than I can get from you!

[longfellow]

Eddie, I've been reading your posts for some time now , mainly on the RS246 forum but I just wanted to say that it's great to see someone who's kind enough to spend so much of their time giving others insight into their profession and other aspects of their life. :thumb up:

Hopefully by now, you've fully recovered from the chemotherapy and are fully enjoying life with the new additions.

Thanks again for taking the time to post and I look forward to reading some more of your thread/posts especially as I'm currently considering an M5 touring .

H

[Mr Daytona]

I second the above comments, very interesting and great to read.

Ps, love the new Bremont, though I think the purchase price (and I don't mean the financial one) is somewhat out of my reach.

[traffman]

Ive been looking at some of your work , very impressive.

I was serving an apprenticeship at Greame Jewellers in Dunblane for a while . I was working with silver and some gold aswell.

That bench pin brings back many memories.

[Rjm25r]

Great thread, really interesting to read!

Regarding the cancer, I'm glad you're beating it.......


How much (approx) would it cost to replicate this:-




It's a rugby superleague winners ring, made in 9ct gold.

Ta

[ecain63]

Rjm25r said:

Great thread, really interesting to read!

Regarding the cancer, I'm glad you're beating it.......


How much (approx) would it cost to replicate this:-




It's a rugby superleague winners ring, made in 9ct gold.

Ta

Hi mate, send me an email and I'll see what I can do.

Eddie

[ecain63]

ecain63 said:

Sorry for the delay / break in posts on this thread but ive been a bit manic of late.

Surgery to get rid of my bowel cancer was on May 15th (went really well), my son was born on May 21st (12 days overdue with wife have emergency delivery under general) and follow on chemo that started in June has left me a bit tired. Nevertheless i've been at work the whole time, making you guys the odd bit here and there.

Made this silver cross for a PHer to replace a base metal one they lost:




Servicing your watches still.

And currently i the middle of turning this 18ct white gold, 40 diamond bracelet



into a 40 diamond 18ct white gold ring:


Finished article pics and more projects go follow.

Eddie

Sorry for the delay in updates again. Young child, holiday season, last rounds of chemo etc are all playing havoc with my evenings and spare time.

Here is the finished article that i made from the white gold and diamond bracelet:


With the weather being so damned horrid today i went in to work early this morning to crack a big job that needs doing before the end of the month.

Take 1 x knackerd 8.6ct diamond and 18ct white gold tennis bracelet from Bonhams auction:



Spend 3 hours with a fine drill disassembling it: In that 3 hours i broke 7 x drill bits, drilled 2 fingers and strained my eyes to the point where i was almost blind.




You can see how worn out the links are: There are 53 links!


Take some (a lot really) 18ct wire and draw down to 0.7mm to use as hinge pins:



Then spend an eternity remaking the tubes for the pins to go through (apologies for crappy phone pic). 159 tubes all in!!!! My eyes need a service by now!


Once the tubes are all rebuilt, push wire through each and trim the excess:


Each pin is then soldered at each end. Thats 106 solders! And then deep cleaned before being tidied up and adjusted ready for polishing:


Ready for a polish and Rhodium plating:


8 1/2 hours after i started it's all done. Home time!



Chemo finishes for good on Sunday so hopefully i can start to get some more stuff up over the coming months.

Eddie

[Fas1975]

You have an amazing talent. been following the thread from the start, glad to hear the chemo is coming to an end too. Look forward to future projects.

[tvrforever]

superb quality work - would love to watch you do repairs like that, ever videoed any of it?

[longfellow]

Awesome, intricate skill you have Eddie. Another fine piece restored to like new condition.

Hope the health distractions have stayed away.