Thynk, welcome to the wonderful world of metal smashing, it's an art, ya know? Wire work has inherent problem, you've discovered it. What do I do with these ends? Best approach might be to solve the design problem before beginning the smashing. Here's a way. It's an on line thing, you'll love it. Suppose that your braiding was done with only one wire? and then further imagine that this wire came back to itself, end meets end? Ok I know you are in like with copper and iron. Mentally lay them beside each other and treat them conceptually as one line. Do a search on Turks Heads and Spanish knots. These line workers have solved your ends problem. There are people doing this kind of work in metal.
Hope this helps. I'm not a blacksmith But I'm pretty sure sometimes those guys are quenching the metal just to cool it off, cause last time they didn't and well. Or they are thinking about the iron from a molecular level and trying to control the spacing of the molecules.. enough for now
good luck BJ

Hi Thynk, and welcome to Artmetal. Odds are, the best way to join the ends with some sort of fusion is to braze or silver solder the ends together. In order to acheive that however, i think you're going to need a a torch with a finer and hotter flame then what you can get from a normal propane torch. Ideally you want to use a micro torch, probably Oxygen/Propane. Usually the trick to solders is the prep, flux, and locality of the heat so the problem with the soft solder and steel might be that, although I'm certainly no expert with soldering. I do know that trying to solder small pieces can be a bear since it's so easy to get the whole piece hot instead of just where you want the solder.

As for the quenching, there are many reasons. The most common are that your finished with that section and are cooling it to handle it, or your cooling it down past it's malleability point so it won't move while working on a section adjacent to it. That dark coating is scale, and occurs when ever red hot metal interacts with the air. If you wire brush the red hot metal before cooling you can remove most of it and be left with a nice silvery finish. If you wait till it's completely cooled it can be a real bear to get off.

As for protecting the finish, there are many options from waxes, to clear coats, to lacquers. Permalac makes a clear coat "specifically" for steel and Nikolas(sp?) makes a clear coat specifically for copper/brass. Kind of need to imagine how much abuse/handling the piece is going to take before picking a protective coat.

As for tools, you'll have to pick the brains of some of the jewelry experts on the site, but you might look up Ganoskin(sp?) which is a site dedicated to the jewelry arts i think.

Hope this helps and keep posting your work

Jake

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

I would recomend The Complete Metalsmith any version (there are three.) I also that you can braze the ends of the copper links together with the propane torch. You must have the ends meet with no space because silver solder does not fill space. It runs as thin as water. You will need the proper flux which you can find welding supplies. The white paste kind will probably work the best for you. Silver solder can be bought from jewelry suppliers such as Rio Grande. Clean the metal with sandpaper where you are going to solder. It must be clean.

marilyn

Welcome to ArtMetal, Stu!

I'll address a few of the issues you brought up:

For small wire such as you're using, your little propane torch should work okay for silver soldering, but it probably won't quite develop enough heat to actually braze steel using brass rod. SilFos, a phosphorous bronze alloy used by refrigeration techs will work fine with that torch if you keep the work small. The underlying issue is one of available Btu's of heat more than flame temperature. You can maximize the available heat of your propane torch by doing your soldering on a surface that retains heat and radiates it back to the work piece. Soft lightweight insulating fire bricks work well, as does a piece of refractory fiberboard such as Duraboard (alumina fibers and binder formed into a rigid board), a jeweler's charcoal block or a piece of soft asbestos board. All these materials will retain the torch heat and radiate it back to your work, essentially almost doubling the effectiveness of your torch. Even a shallow pan filled with Perlite or vermiculite will do wonders.

For soft (lead, tin or lead/tin) soldering of steel you need the proper flux. Muriatic acid will work, but there are proprietary fluxes (such as Johnson's) sold that are a bit better. These usually contain both muriatic acid and ammonium chloride (sal ammoniac), and serve to clean the oxides off the steel and slightly etch the surface for better adhesion of the soft solder. Check with a plumbing, heating or A/C repair place to see what they have available and recommend in your area.

For hard (silver) soldering of steel you need to have the steel clean and free of scale or oxides. Sanding it lightly with 400 grit wet/dry paper works fine. Then you need the proper flux, usually one containing borax and/or boric acid. A bit of 20-Mule Team borax (NOT Boraxo hand cleanser) dissolved in water to a paste consistency with a bit of isopropyl alcohol added works decently but, once again, there are proprietary fluxes such as Battern's that work better, particularly if you're going to be soldering non-ferrous metals as well. Apply the flux before you heat the metal, as it is intended to prevent oxidation.

Steel is hardened by heating and then quenching it, from a heat that is above the A3 transformation point. That is, the steel is heated until it just becomes non-magnetic and is then quenched in the proper quenching medium. Depending on the steel alloy, the proper quench can be anything from warm oil (slowest quench) to brine (fastest quench). After hardening, the steel needs to be "tempered" to reduce the hardness somewhat so it is not so brittle it breaks. Tempering is, like hardening, done by heating, but to a much lower temperature, say between 350 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit, depending once again, on the particular alloy of steel you're using.

Non-ferrous metals, on the other hand, become annealed (softened) by heating to red hot and quenching. They are hardened by working them, usually by hammering or compressing. The percentage of compressive reduction affects the hardness. Too much compression and the metal becomes so brittle it cracks. Once it is hardened, you can anneal it again and start the process all over. Of course, you can work the steel while it is at a red to yellow heat and save yourself a lot of work as it becomes much more malleable at these temps. To anneal steel, it must be heated to the A3 (non-magnetic) point and then cooled very slowly. Some specialty steels require cooling at a rate of no more than 25 degrees F per hour - a very time consuming process that requires computer-controlled ovens. Regular mild steel such as you get at the steel yard or hardware store can be annealed by heating to red hot and slowly cooling in a pile of ashes, vermiculite, perlite or dry sand. Like the non-ferrous metals, steel can become hardened by working it with a hammer when it is at room temperature. Overwork it and it cracks, too.

If you get one of the many books on silversmithing available at bookstores and/or online, you will get an idea of the various tools that are commonly used. Keep in mind that many of these tools can be adapted from common hardware store items and work just fine for your purposes. A selection of round steel rods of various sizes is sometimes even better than a real ring mandrel as the rods are cylindrical, not tapered, making it easier to get your rings cylindrical. Flea markets are a good source of old punches, taper pins, drift pins, transfer punches, etc that all make good ring mandrel substitutes. An old sledge hammer head polished up and set end-up in a stump makes a great small anvil/bench plate. You can re-grind flea market or discount house hammers to do a lot of the tasks usually done by specialized smithing hammers. These are just a few examples - I'm sure you will think of many others after you've looked over the list of tools.

There are a couple of tools that you really can't fudge on. A good jeweler's saw frame and blades is one. I recommend only Herkules or Scies jeweler's saw blades, by the way. Cheap ones are an abomination. Likewise for files - get good ones, not Harbor Freight cheapies. Rio Grande or Santa Fe Jeweler's Supply can provide all the tools and supplies you'll need, and the Rio Grande catalogs are an education in themselves. You'll also probably find that you need a good small bench vise, preferably one that rotates. Get a good one with smooth, parallel jaws. It doesn't have to be an expensive machine tool vise, but you don't want a cheap POS that is out of whack and mars your work. Make some covers for the jaws out of soft copper sheet to protect the finish on your work.

One area in which you simply can't afford to scrimp is safety gear. You absolutely must have a good pair of ANSI z-81 approved safety glasses with side shields, a pair of acid-proof gloves and a proper respirator if you're going to work with metals, acids and heat. If you're going to do much hammering, get some hearing protection. Hearing damage is progressive and non-reversible, as I can sadly attest. Lastly, get some burn ointment - you'll need it sooner or later, believe me. The best one is Silvadene cream - you'll need a scrip from your doc to get it, but it really is the balls for soothing burns, preventing infection and speeding the healing process.

One final piece of advice: get a decent 5-10 megapixel digital point-and-shoot camera and become familiar with it. Use a flood light or shoot outdoors in the shade on a plain background. Take lots of pictures of your work, both in-progress and finished. They are good to have for selling your work to prospective clients, they make it easy to illustrate questions you may ask or answer here, and most of all, WE LOVE PICTURES! :-)

I look forward to hearing how your work is progressing, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have. There is a wealth of talent here on ArtMetal and someone will know the answer to pretty much any question you could imagine, so ask away.

Rich Waugh
ArtMetal Moderator

Good grief! I do go on and on, don't I? Maybe in the future I should break it up into chapters or something. (grin)

Hope I didn't bore anyone.

Rich

A good basic book is The Complete Metalsmith. It has good explanations of processes and drawings intend of pictures. What do you want to do with these rings? Big wall pieces of chain mail patterns or rings that can be worn?

Hey there thynk,

Ahhh, Copper... One of My favorite metals to work with.

The joining of Copper and Steel can be a bit of a challenge but you can do it quite easily with 'Silicon Bronze' (TIG ROD) or SILPHOS of any type. Heck, even 95/5 solder will work and there's no LEAD in it either...  Here's the problem.... because you're using a 'hand-held' torch, it's going to LIMIT your use and accuracy of welding ANY metal together, much less FERROUS and NON-FERROUS unions. I think the answer to your 'dilemma' would be a 'proper' set of tools. Either way you cut it, you are going to need a 'DECENT' torch.

TOOLS

A "Smith Little Torch" sound like just the ticket for you.  They basically come in two flavors, but the most popular type is the OXY/ACETYLENE setup.  This will give you a VERY concentrated, VERY hot flame and will allow you to even 'Fusion Weld Steel' (to a limited degree of course).  The "Smith Little Torch Kits" come with the hoses, the tips and even the proper regulators (some kits).  Either one of these will be sufficient for your 'current' needs.  Personally, if you don't already own or have access to a 'small OXY/ACE' torch, I would go with that one, simply because it will give you more heat when you need it.  If you eventually find the need to go to a REALLY CLEAN gas, that torch will allow you to use HYDROGEN as well (cleanest gas available..., period)  The "Tips" used with the "Little Torch" are good for ALL gasses.  The exception is the #1 and #2 tips as the orifice is just too small to use with any LP GAS.  You can also buy "ROSEBUD" torches that will allow you to melt just about anything !  They are also SUPER FREAKIN' FANTASTIC for heating up keystock and rounds for twisting and forging !  You'll LOVE IT !

I've seen the kits on sale for $109.00 (includes Torch, Tips, Hoses)

Acetylene and Oxygen Tank:  You can get these at your LWS.  You'll only need the small tanks (around 70cu/feet) as those will last a LONG time with such a small Torch.
Total cost: Depends on location and whether you buy or lease but filling them is pretty inexpensive (20.00 for Oxy, 30.00 for Acetylene as a maximum ?)

 Regulators and Flash Back Arrestors:  Both are a must and don't let ANYONE tell you any different !  The regulators obviously regulate the gas, but the Flash Back arrestors keep your Garage or Workshop from BLOWING UP, thus keeping 'YOU' from blowing up.  Have your LWS sell you the proper regulators and "REGULATOR FLASHBACK ARRESTORS".  Take your torch into them and they will match them up perfectly with your Torch and Choice of tanks.
Cost for 'Good Quality' regulators and Arrestors will set you back between $135.00 to $200.00

Flint Sparker to light torch:  Around $2.00 bucks...

Welding Rods, Fluxes, etc:  Around $30.00 to $200.00 dollars... (depends on what you buy...)
I would seriously buy only 'small amounts' of these things to see what seems to work best for you.  Here's a GOOD TIP,....  Contact some of the bigger Alloy manufacturers like "Hasteloy, Aufhauser, Harris, etc... as they can send you 'Samples' of their product for FREE ! (you might have to pay a small shipping fee...)  I've done this a couple times before I started buying large amounts and it paid off HUGE !  I ended up with about 50 rods from one manufacturer for a $7.00 shipping fee !

Play around with Copper Phosphate 0 (ZERO)  It's pretty amazing stuff and you'll love it for copper.  You can also buy one, two or three Silicon Bronze TIG Rods at your LWS if that's all you want to try...  Don't forget the LFB (LOW FUME BRONZE !) that is another GREAT welding media that will join metal and copper quite easily.  It also produces an AMAZINGLY beautiful golden color that adds incredible contrast to a ring, bangle, sculpture or Wall Art piece...  I highly suggest those rods as well.  Stick to 1/16" rods and 3/32 as a MAXIMUM width of any rod type when using such a small torch (unless you plan on using a rosebud tip).  While at the LWS, pick up some white "Handy Flux".  That stuff is great for a TON of applications.

Silver Solder:  (about $15.00 for a tube / Syringe) and about $7.00 / Gram in Sheet form)
Solder comes in 3 types: EASY, MEDIUM, HARD and a EUTECTIC type (not generally used)  The EASY, MEDIUM and HARD denote the solder's flow point / Melting point.  Personally I don't see the need for EASY or MEDIUM solder when first starting out.  I think HARD solder is the best solder to use for joining ANY type of metal to copper, but either way.... I would suggest that you buy BOTH TYPES of HARD SOLDER ONLY.. to start.  The syringe which is filled with PASTE is truly wonderful stuff !  It is GREAT to use when you need to get in 'behind' things or 'sweat pieces' together, or merely need a dab for a REALLY odd shaped wired or piece of copper / silver.  It also produces a strong bond when it is needed.  The strip solder which you cut into tiny pallions is perfect for closing tight seams and joining ring shanks or attaching bezel to sheet.  It works just as well on Copper, Brass and Bronze !

Crucibles: $2.00 to $15.00 dollars each (depending on type (I just use lot's of the $2 and $4 ones.)
You'll only need a ceramic crucible if you plan on melting Copper, Silver or anything else for simple casting or to make buttons, reclaim silver, create funky alloys, etc.  Oh yeah, don't forget some decent TONGS !

Borax Soap: ($5.00)
Small Box of borax soap can be used with a bit of water as a paste to coat your crucibles before melting metals.  It provides a nice barrier of glass between the crucible and the metal.  Apply the paste or flakes and melt into the crucible, gently coating the inside as the torch heats it up to a molten glassy state.  Once coated, allow the crucible to cool and the inside is now ready to accept metal.

It is also used as a homemade flux and tends to work very well for me !  I use it on everything from Mild Steel to copper and then to my crucibles.  It is the primary additive in many fluxes at the LWS.

CLAMPS, CLAMPS and MORE CLAMPS... (Hey, did I mention CLAMPS ?)
Seriously, you can never have enough of these things when welding, building or brazing.  A third and fourth pair of hands comes in 'Handy' also....

Hand Tools:
Well we know that the sky's the limit here....  Most everything you own will be fine, but you'll notice that some of the 'Little Things' that you 'don't have' would come in really handy (like forceps!)  Just another clamp really, but a few of those can REALLY help line things up or HOLD things together while you're trying to 'fusion weld' the 'ends of a ring' or something like that.... :)

One of the best things about owing a TORCH is that you can make your own tools !  Well, maybe not Super Vice Grips or Electric Shears, but you'll find at least 100 things to make in about a week !
Things like,...Modified Clamps, Third Hands, Wire Benders, rod and tube benders, jigs, stakes of all sizes and shapes (should you want to pound some wire or sheet copper) etc, etc...

Other Things:

Advice !  It's always free !  Some of it's good, most of it's so-so and the rest is just 'plain-bad'.  Fortunately, places like this are one of the BEST places for someone like you (and me..) to learn and ask questions. The other GREAT place is at your local Library.  That's where I found MOST of my initial answers to MOST of my questions regarding Jewelry, Welding, Art, etc...  And the beauty of it is that it was ALL FREE ! I was able to obtain books that were hundreds of dollars through Amazon and E-Bay and read them at my leisure.  The LIBRARY is a very UNDER-RATED source of information!

Other metals, other Media:  Don't be too afraid of playing around with other metals.  There relationship between Copper and Silver is truly fantastic.  Playing around with Silver (Eventually..) is a must.

Okay, that's it for me.....  I've basically written a small book here...
There's LOT'S of other tools you may or may not need but there's no need going into them here.... Unless someone has a nice little list that is ready to copy / paste !  Either way, you'll find all the tools and their various uses at your local library !

So Enjoy !  You're about to have a WHOLE LOT MORE FUN once you acquire two or three CRUCIAL TOOLS for Jewelry making !!

Cheers,

/JMAN....

Oh yeah, almost forgot....

The black crap left behind is Carbon / Oxidization.  OXY / ACE is the WORST for that kinda' thing, while OXY / HYDROGEN is the BEST for NOT leaving CARBON behind.

The safest and best product that I have found for removal  is "Sparex #2" for Copper and "Sparex #1" for Iron.  Although you can't use either on 'both' without some issues, it does work GREAT independently.  The SPAREX #2 is good for EVERYTHING except ferrous, so that would be my first choice.  Once left in for a bit, you'll see it turn color and a light brass brush will take care of the rest.  You can use the solution over an extended period of time but it will lose it's strength as time goes by...  Sparex #2 comes in granule / powder form and you merely mix it with water to your desired strength.  It' neutralizes completely with baking soda so it's not an environmental 'disaster' if it goes down the sink.  I normally store mine in sealed containers or better yet, outside...

/J...

Hey Stu!

Nice to meet you...welcome to ArtMetal! I think everyone else has pretty much covered it as far as advice on your project making.

I too, do a lot of Chain Mail work...I've recently joined the SCA (Society For Creative Anachronism) and took a class in making chain mail armor. It was very cool! Most of my creations are made from Sterling Silver, and focused mostly on Wearable Art.

Hope you have a great time chain mailing!

Jamie Santellano