Now touch it to the drop of flux on the nugget, and it will come off the brush and stay on the nugget. Touch the flux brush, slightly moistened with flux (not dripping wet, but almost dry), to a snippet of solder, and it will stick. Use metal snips to cut off a strip of solder about 1/32″ wide, and then snip two small squares of solder off, about 1/32″ square. Gold solder comes in flat sheets which usually weigh a pennyweight, and that’s enough solder to make about 500 pair or more. If you cannot find a flat spot where you want it, sometimes you can sand or file a flat spot in the right location. Gold solder does not fill cavities well, and it will not stick to quartz or other rock only to metal. This spot should be as flat and smooth as possible with no cracks or holes in the nugget and no quartz. You need just a drop in the exact spot you want the post to go. You can press it into the soft fire brick and position the back exactly where you want it.įlux is used to help the melted solder It is applied to the back of the nugget with a small camel hair paint brush. The advantage of the soft fire brick is that you can press the nugget into it. Place one nugget front side down on the soft fire brick soldering block. Use the side with the most character as the front and the plainest, smooth side for the back. Pour your gold out onto a sheet of white paper and move them around with tweezers until you match up a pair of nuggets which are about the same size, shape, and character. Small rounded nuggets between 1/8″ and 1/4″ also look good. Flat flakes between 1/8″ and 1/2″ work best. Now let’s get started and make a pair of 14k gold post nugget earrings:īegin by choosing the nuggets to be used. All the other tools and supplies make this easier to accomplish or are necessary to re-polish the 14k gold after it has been discolored from heating. This is done by heating both the nugget and the finding with the torch until the solder melts. When it cools and solidifies, they are permanently joined. The basic process involved in attaching findings to a nugget is to make the gold solder melt and flow between the finding and the nugget. If you intend to be doing lots of jewelry-making, you should write them for their two catalogs, one for tools, one for findings. They are a complete jewelers supply company selling all tools, supplies, gold, silver, gemstones, diamonds, etc. The company I deal with most is Rio Grande Jewelers Supply, 6901 Washington N.E., Albuquerque, NM 87109. If not, there are many mail order sources. If you live near a large city, there will be a jewelers supply store where you can purchase all your needed tools and supplies.
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