I'm helping a partially blind friend. He has some small pieces of polished Brazilian quartz he wants to drill a hole into. I have found several suppliers on line that will sell 1/16" and 1/8" diamond bits for reasonable prices, around $15 per. Slightly less when bought in threes. Is this...

I know this isn't quite the right forum, but I'm hoping either someone here can help me, or at least point me in the right direction. I've discovered an old photo that is probably my grandfather as a young man (aged probably about 10): http://www.sc3.net/Clifford/Portrait.png I'm trying to learn...

I am using a sliding pin vise for wire wrapping. The vise is a mild steel, but it wears very rapidly against 21 gauge copper, sterling and gold filled square wire. After about an hour's use, the vise will not hold wire for twisting. It's not that I have one bad vise - I teach a class and we have...

Recently visited China (Canton, or Guangzhou) and got pressured into buying two jade bangles. The short story is that I wanted to buy some Jade, and wanted the two bangles to be cut from the same stone; one for me and one for a certain other person. I am somewhat naive and expected US prices of...

Anyone know where to find ammonium chloride, otherwise known as sal ammoniac, in granular/powder form? (Somewhere in the Seattle-Portland corridor would be great!) I know welding supply places can get the stuff in one pound bars but I was hoping to find a small tub of it in technical grade. ...

I just want them to get a search engine thats worth a hoot. Les

Which is the stronger metal as far as rings are concerned? Such as, which is more prone to bending, breaking, etc. and will last longer under constant wear. Not necessarily tarnishing. TIA, Porks

In jewelry... which metal do you prefer.. as in appearance opinion, and the most fun, and interesting to work with? A. Silver B. Yellow Gold C. White Gold D. Platinum E. Palladium F. Steel

My wife is building a new kitchen, is totally underwhelmed by the selection of kitchen cabinet pull handles and overwhelmed by the pricing. She has dozens of silverware that is better made and nicer, and will never be used. She wants to silver solder two barrels (with internal threads) to each...

First, thank you to Peter and everyone who gave their thoughts about soldering equipment. I think that I will take the advice of having a "Y" connector and both full size and a little torch handpieces. Still haven't decided on gas, yet, although I am leaning toward acetylene and oxygen. Being...

I'm hearing differing opinions about how wear resilient titanium andosiing is. Specifically I've been asked to make a ring, with the anodising open and exposed as a wear surface (instead of recessed and protected) I'm finishing building my anodising rig this weekend, but would appreciate any...

Hello all, I am a photographer who likes to dabble in jewelry making. Here are some examples of my work, would love to hear some opinions! http://www.davidefields.com/jewelry.htm David www.davidefields.com

X-No-archive: yes Sorry if this sounds a bit like a stupid question, but what is the purpose of the bail (sp?) attached to the clasp on gold bracelets and necklaces? And do all gold bracelets/necklaces have them? What about silver bracelets/necklaces, I have never seen one with a bail, but do some...

I'm currently thinking about and designing a simple way to cast using air pressure. It would work similiar to some steam casting methods I have seen from time to time. My current thinking is a simple frame to hold the necessary parts with an air supply from one of several possible sources. The...

Pearl is beautiful and costly. How can we identify the real with the fake ones......anyone knows

Hello, Does anyone have any suggestions for what to see when visiting Pforzheim? I hear they have a method for casting stainless steel there that I can not wait to see for myself. -Chris --

I have been making ring sizer sets for our different mandrel shapes during the slow "back to school" days of September. Unfortunately, one of our most popular custom shapes has no mandrel available. A picture of this shape is available...

Judy Shaw wrote: This is something that all businesses should take note. I hope it doesn't happen to anyone else. This past Friday, I received a call from one of our suppliers as they needed a credit card number to process an order placed that day. Since I tend to make one large...

I was asked by a friend to try to produce a ring for a costume she's working on from an animation series called Utena - it's a sort of silver and pink seal ring. I managed to turn out a version I'm quite pleased with by cutting the top off a domed silver ring and filling the hole with pink Fimo,...

I have a question about a ring I have seen before. It is "A ring" made by three rings together. The three rings have different colors. I would like to know who makes it? and if it is still available? Your answer is greatly appreciated.