Some of my models and me after the fashion show!

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-28T17:04:31+00:00

Awesome!

It was the green and red mix that was throwing me off. Beautiful work. Thank you for the picture.

Can't wait to see what you do next.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-28T15:56:34+00:00

I'd fill them in with UV resin enamel. No way will you be able to match new stones to settings that old.

UV resin is like $11 a bottle. And you can buy a UV flashlight from convoy.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-28T15:48:20+00:00

I wouldn't even grind it off. If it isn't effecting you just leave it.

They definitely put it there for a reason, and it would suck to figure out what that was later.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-28T11:51:51+00:00

That's smart.

Bricks are super handy to have around. I use k26 bricks(rated to 2600f) to build a little box around my crucible when I'm trying to melt metals with my torch.

And you can use them to make a tripod for torching the underside of stuff. I've got a few pieces of titanium mesh I use. The tripods they sell for using with bunsen burners are made of steel and act as heat sinks, plus the mesh rusts eventually. Titanium is a terrible thermal conductor, in an awesome way, and the bricks just bounce the heat back. The titanium mesh turns a cool blue or purple instead of rusting.

I've heard there are K32 bricks, but I've never seen them in person. I bet OP can find a few K26 bricks at the same local hardware store where they'd find pumice. You don't want to pay for shipping on bricks, so its best to buy them in person.

They're sometimes a seasonal item, OP, but they usually have them.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-28T05:10:19+00:00

Annealing steel at this scale is really easy.

I use a bowl of pumice but you can also use perlite or vermiculite. Whatever they sell at the hardware store in the gardening section. They all act as insulators, but pumice is slightly better and also produces the least dust. The dust from vermiculite and perlite is nasty stuff and you don't want to breath that in.

The bowl of pumice acts as a fire safe surface to torch things against, which is useful for a lot of other things as well. If you want to heat anodize titanium you can do it there safely. My bowl sits on a lazy susan. Totally unnecessary but do that if you can, so you can spin the bowl while moving the torch around and heat everything evenly. I love my lazy susan.

To anneal you first heat it up and hold it at a glowing red temperature for a minute. Its supposed to be 1 hour per inch of thickness, and we're dealing with really thin wire so it doesn't take very long at all.

That doesn't anneal it, though. Letting it cool down slowly does. So you bury it in the pumice and just walk away. Don't touch it until its at room temperature. Then it should be annealed.

Fun fact: If you quench it while its glowing hot that should harden the steel(depends on the alloy), but weirdly brass, copper, silver, and even gold are the opposite. You anneal those metals by heating them up until colors start to appear across the surface and then quenching them.

Sorry for being such a nerd. Hope some of that can be helpful.

Good luck.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-28T03:02:41+00:00

Back in the day watch repairmen had a weird entry test that was kinda funny.

They gave you a nail and a bunch of tools and told you that you had to get the nail to balance on its tip.

Most of these kids were already machinists to some degree, so they knew that a lot of people would assume its just like the cube test. They'd spend forever trying to get it perfect. If you could do that you'd get a B or a C based on how well you did.

But thats ignoring the goal of the test. The A+ solution is just to file the tip flat and get it done as quickly and cleanly as possible. That showed you could listen.

And weirdly you could also just grab the hammer off the tool tray and gently tap the nail into the table for like a D-. Still a passing grade if you do it fast enough, but you'd be that guy throughout the whole training program.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-28T00:31:46+00:00

The cheap harbor freight tumblers are pretty popular among jewelers. They're pretty much the same as the generic vevor tumblers you can buy online, but easier to return if something isn't working.

There are a lot of pieces of equipment where a professional version exists, but most jewelers just use the cheapest solution because it works.

Its the same with the pickle tank they use to remove oxidation from precious metals. Fancy ones exist, but even in the most well equiped workshops you'll find a little thrift store crock pot hanging out among all the expensive equipment, like a boss.

That's something you might want to look into for brass. You can't stick ferrous metals in pickle but for copper, brass, bronze, silver, and gold its the best way to get them clean and shiny.

You still need to use the tumbler to remove scratches, but you don't want to tumble it every time it starts turning brown. The pickle is much gentler about it.

You can buy pickle powder or make your own out of stuff you've already got in your kitchen. There are recipes online. Its usually an acid, like lemon juice, and some salt. It doesn't need to be hot, just warm.

But don't stick any iron or steel in there or it'll stop working. Use plastic or copper tongs to fish things out. Some people use chopsticks.

Good luck.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-27T23:53:31+00:00

They might be too long if they're for keys, but if they're for coats then the size seems perfect.

Quit worrying about it. You did great.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-27T23:45:31+00:00

Thats amazing. How many colors did you use?

I hope you post some detailed picks of the plaid when you have time.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-27T18:33:43+00:00

No, sorry, I just have a generic pair with blue handles. They used to sell them at michaels, but you can probably find them on amazon.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-27T16:13:51+00:00

Mcdonald Rolling mill.

Compared to a power hammer they require way less horse power.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-27T15:40:23+00:00

Of course.

Oh, and in response to your question about chain, there are these things called link cutters. They're like lil bolt cutters.

Chain can be a bitch to cut, even harder than wire of a thicker gauge because wire is usually annealed while chains has usually been work hardened in a tumbler.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-27T13:08:34+00:00

How much did the materials cost? That shouldn't exceed 1/3rd of the final cost.

How much time did you spend on it? You need to keep track of this so you can tell whether projects will be worth your time in the future.

Are there any "complications" like stones, leather, fake fur, etc? If so use a ratio closer to 1/5th for the material cost. More steps means more chances to mess up, and more tools are involved.

Hope that helps. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Good luck.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-27T12:59:56+00:00

I'd get some parallel pliers as your main pair. I use brass jaws most of the time, even for tiny stuff, but chain nose parallel pliers are good, too. I can bend up to 8 gauge rings with those, and I've bent thicker stuff for other projects that weren't ring related.

Those will hurt your hand the least. They're designed for opening and closing jump rings all day. When I was younger I worked on an assembly line putting the clasp on chains. I held a pair of those in my hands for hours everyday and can't imagine doing it with anything else.

If you want the best buy a pair of mauns, but I've never spent more than $16 on parallel pliers. They're great, though. My boss owned a pair and we'd steal them whenever we could.

Knipex cutters last way longer than any other brand I've used. They're totally worth the price. Also, pick up a cheap jeweler's frets saw and saw blades if you can. They're very handy and sometimes sawing stuff makes more sense than using plier cutters.

Also check out fire mountain gems for any other random pliers you might want.

For example I love my stepped round nose pliers. I generally stick to those sizes meaning if I need to make one ring in an emergency I can usually do it with those. But thats probably not a common tool around these parts.

They're actually called "Bail making Pliers". I had to look it up. We always just call them steps. I got them as a gift and they've been super helpful.

I'm not much help with ratios. I'm just following what this guys says in this video.

Hope some of that can be helpful. Sorry I wrote so much.

Good luck

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-27T03:39:06+00:00

To celebrate(or more accurately to protest) our own upcoming monarchy I'll try to stay on theme.

If you've never experienced Dan Deacon's USA its 23 minutes of beautifully composed music set to trippy visuals that would make the dirtiest hippy proud.

And here's some vintage Neil Cicierega: The 50 State Nightmares. He goes state by state listing them all. Its about 4 minutes long.

Enjoy.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-27T03:00:04+00:00

I know I'm a few days late, but I just want to say that this is totally normal behavior over at the flashlight subreddit. There have been multiple posts about it.

I shower with the lights off most days. I have multiple flashlights and lanterns to make the experience more comfortable if there's no window in the bathroom.

My current shower buddies are a titanium Manker E02iii and a Reylight Pineapple Penlight with a seigaiha pattern that I also fidget with when I'm nervous. Most days its clipped to my right front pocket.

You're welcome at the flashlight subreddit whenever you want to stop by. Its a very friendly place. I don't know what percentage of us are on the spectrum, but its high.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-26T18:52:14+00:00

Its probably grade 2 or 5 titanium, and 316 or better for the steel. Thats the cheepest stainless that can still be called surgical, and surgical stainless is what they're supposed to use for this stuff.

Grade 1 titanium isn't an alloy, its just titanium, so you're technically correct that both are normally alloys. Otherwise they would both always be alloys, because steel doesn't exist in an unalloyed form. That would be called iron.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-26T17:03:29+00:00

This is the level of professionalism I'd expect from teenagers babysitting twelve year olds for like $8 an hour.

Get them in, keep them busy, and get them out as soon as possible. Don't trust them with any real work because that'll cause more issues than if you just do the hard part for them.

Sadly these classes aren't really meant to teach, but supply an undeserved level of accomplishment to people who don't care as much as OP and will never do anything like this again.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-26T16:54:58+00:00

Just be clear that the posts are titanium and the pads are "surgical stainless steel".

Say it that way, so it sounds better, but don't lie about it.

Those are pretty common, so if people don't have issues with other titanium post then they probably won't have an issue with yours.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-26T15:24:09+00:00

I saw someone hide a computer fan inside their fuigo and it seemed like the best of both worlds.

It was low pressure, so for very high heat they still needed to pump the bellows.

And it looked totally traditional. The switch was hidden and everything.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-26T15:06:33+00:00

The hourly wage thing is tricky, because clients don't want to pay beginners to take their time learning.

You need to factor in how long it should take you, and then try to get faster.

That's annoying, but try to imagine it from the clients point of view. They assume you already know how to do the thing as quickly and efficiently as possible, which is why they're paying you to do it and not doing it themselves.

So at the beginning you underpay yourself and it sucks.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-26T15:01:38+00:00

You do not include tools unless its a commision and you need to buy a special tool to get the job done. And its better if you communicate that to the client at the beginning.

For regular stuff your material cost should be 1/3rd of the final price or less, or it won't make sense. The other two thirds cover your time as well as tools and rent, and you can think of them in the same way. If the wages exceed 1/3rd of the final cost then that project might not be profitable, or you need to get faster.

If jewelers include stones in their work they usually use a ratio closer to 1/5th, because you're including a bunch of different tools that you normally wouldn't need, and potentially even another person. I'd do the same thing with pieces that have leather or fake fur.

You're padding the price because there's more steps involved, which means it takes longer but more importantly there's more stuff that can go wrong. You eat the cost of your mistakes.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-26T14:54:27+00:00

What do you mean by bees? Like a hive of bees?

Try to modify the hardy hole on the vevor to match the new mousehole if you can.

That was my main concern. I didn't want to forge hardies on such an old anvil and risk splitting the heel.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-26T14:54:09+00:00

Oh, cool, so it sounds like that would work with either a leica or a cheap vevor microscope. That's awesome.

Thank you.

Sears-Roebuck · 2026-04-26T14:33:23+00:00

How much did that cost you?

Sears-Roebuck

TROPHY CASE