How can I polish a chain?

I'm very much a beginner in silversmithing. I think to practice soldering I
will make a chain. The book I have suggests using steel shot to debur teh
links before soldering and using a tumbler with the same shot to polish the
finished chain. I've got enough to buy without the expense of a tumbler, so
I'd like to hear about alternative methods. I assume I can debur the liks
with a needle file, but how do I polish a fished chain?

Thanks

Mike

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 16:47:56 GMT, "Mike Dodds"
wrote:

I'm very much a beginner in silversmithing. I think to practice soldering I
will make a chain. The book I have suggests using steel shot to debur teh
links before soldering and using a tumbler with the same shot to polish the
finished chain. I've got enough to buy without the expense of a tumbler, so
I'd like to hear about alternative methods. I assume I can debur the liks
with a needle file, but how do I polish a fished chain?

Thanks

Mike

Loose buff and a dowel. Run the chain over the dowel, hold it against
the buff and let the chain run over the dowel as it polishes.

Also great for finding weak links. :-)

--RC
Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine?

On , in Ìõ wrote:

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 16:47:56 GMT, "Mike Dodds"
wrote:

I'm very much a beginner in silversmithing. I think to practice soldering I
will make a chain. The book I have suggests using steel shot to debur teh
links before soldering and using a tumbler with the same shot to polish the
finished chain. I've got enough to buy without the expense of a tumbler, so
I'd like to hear about alternative methods. I assume I can debur the liks
with a needle file, but how do I polish a fished chain?

Thanks

Mike


Loose buff and a dowel. Run the chain over the dowel, hold it against
the buff and let the chain run over the dowel as it polishes.

Also great for finding weak links. :-)

--RC

Frankly, I'd have significant reservations against suggesting that a beginner try to
polish a chain on a power driven buffing motor. Chains can be notorious for snagging
and catching on a buff, and when that happens, they get pulled into the buff. That is,
at best, a minor annoyance if the chain is sturdy and ends up not being damaged. But
many times, chains can be broken and damaged this way, and if the person polishing the
chain has been holding the chain too securely, or has it wrapped around a finger or
anything else, then it's possible to get one's hand pulled into the buff as well. That,
with anything but very small motors, can result in serious injury. Chains are indeed
polished routinely on such buffs, but generally not be self taught beginners just
starting to learn how to polish.

In particular, with the above suggested method, the chain is allowed to move over the
dowel while being polished. WARNING. Thats even more than typically dangerous. It
can, when done by someone experienced, be just fine. I often do much the same actually
using the end of my thumb instead of the dowel. but the trick is you MUST know exactly
where your hands and fingers are, where the chain is, how it's held, and how it will
release if it catches. And when I do it, the chain is never moving against it's support
when actually in contact with the buff. I buff an inch or two, pull the finger or other
support away from the buff, shift the position of the chain, and repeat. I feel it's
important that the chain always be in close and fixed contact with whatever is
supporting it, so that the buff cannot get behind the chain and catch it. And the short
length of chain addressing the buff is held taught, and held tight to the support just
below, and just above, the short section being buffed, so that if the chain were to
break somewhere in the section being buffed, the loose ends produced would be short
enough to control, too short to reach the spindle or any significant distance around the
buff. All in all, this is an area where it's best to learn with an experienced person
watching you the first or second time. I've never yet seen someone get it just right,
and do it perfectly safely, the first time without at least needing a few pointers.

If you try it on a buff, wrap the chain several turns around a somewhat larger diameter
dowel (maybe about an inch and a half or two inches), and be sure you're holding the
chain securely and tightly to the dowel, so that when buffing, nothing loose or flapping
can reach the buff. And this way, your fingers are not pinching the chain, but pressing
it to the dowel only, and chain is not wrapped around your fingers. So anything that
pulls away does not have to pull your hand into the buff to do it.

For a beginner, though, it's much simpler to hand polish the chain without a motor.
extend the chain it's full length, hooking one end over a nail or something to hold it,
and holding the other end, so you can hold it out, not quite taut. Now take a soft
piece of flannel, rub it briskly with some white diamond or brown tripoli, and fold that
section over the chain, and rub briskly back and forth. Repeat with rouge.
alternatively, do this with very fine steel wool, for a bright but matte sheen. The
steel wool will reach further into the structure of the chain than will the cloth.
Neither will get all the way into the insides of the chain links, but neither will a
machine buff either.

Above all, be careful. It's annoying to spend lots of time making a chain only to
carelessly break it by snagging it on a buff, and it's worse yet to do it in a manner
that can cause significant injury.

cheers

Peter

Mike Dodds wrote:
I'm very much a beginner in silversmithing. I think to practice soldering I
will make a chain. The book I have suggests using steel shot to debur teh
links before soldering and using a tumbler with the same shot to polish the
finished chain. I've got enough to buy without the expense of a tumbler, so
I'd like to hear about alternative methods. I assume I can debur the liks
with a needle file, but how do I polish a fished chain?

You're on the right track, Mike, by starting with a file.

I expect they recommend a tumbler because it is safe and effective. If
you use the usual motorized buffs, they can grab the chain out of your
hands, whirl it around, and possibly give you some serious injuries.

You can't go wrong if you just rub some tripoli on a cloth (like a small
towel) and smooth the chain by rubbing it byhand, and then follow up by
hand polishing with a polishing compound. Slow, but effective. (And
inexpensive.)

Some books show a chain being polished on a motorized buff, with the
chain wrapped tightly around a flat object, like a board, to keep it
secured. However, if the chain breaks, or gets loose, you still have
that safety issue. I can tell you from personal experience that
polishing a chain on a buff can be treacherous. I thought the cautions
were over rated... and subsequently got one heck of a surprise, and
fortunately no injury.

Anyhow, that's the reason for the tumbler, I expect. Handmade chains can
be a lot of fun. And hand polishing will work just fine. Good luck!

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 18:54:23 -0800, in ?? "C. Gates" wrote:

I expect they recommend a tumbler because it is safe and effective.

The other thing is that with small media, smaller pins, or the tiny ones in magnetic
tumbers, you can actually reach much farther into the chain, getting all the way inside
the individual links, than you can with standard buffing methods. Standard methods tend
to leave the chain with a bright high finish on exterior facing surfaces of the links,
but a frosted un polished surface in the inerior areas where buffs are too large to
reach. With the right media, tumbers get everything, or nearly so, and do it with an
unusually uniform surface all over the links. Also, steel shot brightens by burnishing
the metal, not buffing it, so the metal does not get thinned out from buffing, a
distinct consideration with some chains. On the down side, some chains can have a
nasty habit of trapping small pins inside hollow areas or the inner structure of the
chain (hollow rope chains and some other such dimensional types can do this), so then
you have to spend a bunch of time picking the shot or pins out from inside the spaces in
the chain. Hollow beads are also prone to this is the media is too small and can fit
inside the stringing hole...

cheers

Peter

Thanks everyone, I'll see how I get on with a cloth for the first attempts
and then think about a tubler for future. I dont have a buff yet anyway. I
do have a 6" grinder, which I think can be reversed, so I'll look at that
(but not for chains)...

Cheers

Mike

"C. Gates" wrote in message
...
Mike Dodds wrote:
I'm very much a beginner in silversmithing. I think to practice soldering
I
will make a chain. The book I have suggests using steel shot to debur teh
links before soldering and using a tumbler with the same shot to polish
the
finished chain. I've got enough to buy without the expense of a tumbler,
so
I'd like to hear about alternative methods. I assume I can debur the liks
with a needle file, but how do I polish a fished chain?

You're on the right track, Mike, by starting with a file.

I expect they recommend a tumbler because it is safe and effective. If
you use the usual motorized buffs, they can grab the chain out of your
hands, whirl it around, and possibly give you some serious injuries.

You can't go wrong if you just rub some tripoli on a cloth (like a small
towel) and smooth the chain by rubbing it byhand, and then follow up by
hand polishing with a polishing compound. Slow, but effective. (And
inexpensive.)

Some books show a chain being polished on a motorized buff, with the
chain wrapped tightly around a flat object, like a board, to keep it
secured. However, if the chain breaks, or gets loose, you still have
that safety issue. I can tell you from personal experience that
polishing a chain on a buff can be treacherous. I thought the cautions
were over rated... and subsequently got one heck of a surprise, and
fortunately no injury.

Anyhow, that's the reason for the tumbler, I expect. Handmade chains can
be a lot of fun. And hand polishing will work just fine. Good luck!

I've got enough to buy without the expense of a tumbler, so
I'd like to hear about alternative methods.

You might want to try a "home made cheap tumbler". Take a can that you
can tightly close and insert your chain, steel shots & pins and soap &
water (fill approximately half the volume). Wrap the closed can with a
few towels and run it in your washing machine or clothes drier.
Caution: Do not use a glass jar or any other material that could break
or open during the cycling process. You don't want to damage your
washing machine...
When you're ready for the real thing, buy it. It's a useful tool that
you are going to use a lot.
Sarit.

Sarit Wolfus - Silver, Gold and Gemstones, handcrafted jewelry
http://sarit-jewelry.com

Mike Dodds wrote:
I'm very much a beginner in silversmithing. I think to practice soldering I
will make a chain. The book I have suggests using steel shot to debur teh
links before soldering and using a tumbler with the same shot to polish the
finished chain. I've got enough to buy without the expense of a tumbler, so
I'd like to hear about alternative methods. I assume I can debur the liks
with a needle file, but how do I polish a fished chain?

Thanks

Mike


To make it as easy as we can,ensure you dont damage the metal surface.
1.Polish your wire as soon as you get it from your silver dealer
to do this hold one end in a bench vice the other end in a pair of
pliers use any metal polish like Brasso or silvo on a rag to do this. ,
stretch tight and rub back and forth.
2;. Before you wind it onto your mandrel, polish the mandrel.
3. Cut off your individual rings with a jewellers piercing saw
supporting the coil on the mandrel and moving the coil up one each time
you cut one off. If your careful you wont get any burrs. Cut from the
top of the coil..
4. Use polished inside of the jaws pliers to set the rings true to make
up the chain. you only need to open every alternate one to put in the
already 2 closed ones.
5. Use plenty of flux to cover all the silver surface to prevent fire
stain and solder up on a charcoal block not a ceramic one as that will
scratch the silver.
6.Boil gently in water to deflux.

Assuming you have finished all your metal assembly work and soldering
heres what you do next
7.get a piece of 2 by 1in softwood. as long as your chain plus say 6 in
8. Take a wood saw and cut a groove down the middle wide enough to take
the chain link width.
9. drive a 1in nail into the groove say 2in from one end of your wood at
an angle . cut off the head with some nips and put one end of the chain
over this nail. put a loop of string through the other end of the chain
and stretch tight and tie off throgh a hole in the other end of the wood
or over another nail.
10. now you have set you chain onto a safe and proper support you can
eiither take a soft polishing brush with your prefered compound there on
and brush up an down till your satisfied with the finish. Rotate the
chasin in the grove to polish all the sides.
If youve a rotary polisher this wooden support is as safe as youll ever
be with polishing chain by machine. Its always dangerous.So dont do it
unless your supervised or have been taught.theres many an apprentice
thats learned the hard way and been flailed by a by a polishing machine
and a chain that got caught up on a mop.

Hello

You must be very very carefull to polish a chain. I do it this way: I roll
the chain in the "false finger" or some rubber piece and press very well the
both tips of the chain with my own fingers, so I pass it in the polish
brush. Ans I polish well one side of the chains and after, the other side.
But remember: always PRESS VERY WELL THE TIPS or you can hurt seriously your
hands.
Hope it can help you.

Carolina Drews

Yknow those rock tumbler kits your kid sees in toy catalogs? The ones
that they want $80 or so for? It's amazing how many of those you
find, used once or not at all, at garage sales and flea markets for
$5.

I just use the rag-and-rouge method. It doesn't get the inside of the
links, but I like the appearance when done better. Brings out more
depth.

Cheers!
Neil

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 16:47:56 GMT, "Mike Dodds"
wrote:

I'm very much a beginner in silversmithing. I think to practice soldering I
will make a chain. The book I have suggests using steel shot to debur teh
links before soldering and using a tumbler with the same shot to polish the
finished chain. I've got enough to buy without the expense of a tumbler, so
I'd like to hear about alternative methods. I assume I can debur the liks
with a needle file, but how do I polish a fished chain?

Thanks

Mike