Hammering out a silver sheet

-started from a 2mm thick silver sheet ingot that i cast using the mold in my 'pouring silver sheet ingot' video, finished by flatteninng it to a thickness of approx. 0.3mm

-it took about 1 hour and 20minutes to get the hammering and filming done
-there are a few annealing steps which are not filmed. annealing is done by heating the metal in a coal fire until almost red hot. basically i need to anneal for every complete 2-side hammering

-to reduce a sheets thickness by hammering, i start in the center and continue towards the margins in a more or less spiral and uniformly pattern.
if too much hammering on the inside occurs then the plate will curve in, maybe it starts to crack at the margins.
if too much hammering on the margins occurs then the plate will warp
sterling silver work hardens. if not annealed at time and continued to hammer on, the plate will develop cracks due to internal stress.

Music:

The Creeps - Shine (Acapella)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• silversmithing
• jewelry
• jewellery
• sterling
• hammering
• drawing
• sheet
• plate
• ingot
• pour
• saw
• solder

[ludvan64]

I'm a retired Jeweler, gold & platinum though I did work with some silver. It would be much easier for you to use a roller. Perhaps you could pick up an old hand roller cheap somewhere, or pay some Jeweler to use their electric one. Or buy the sheets at the thickness you want. I just hate to see some one working hard unnecessary.

[fedaikn]

@ludvan64 thank you for the comment

last christmas i bought a 200 eur rolling mill made in india. works pretty well and make things a lot easier. i used to make my sheets like this in the early beginning and since i did not find a lot of info on hammering out a sheet, i thought i'd make a video showing the process.

[ludvan64]

@fedaikn You did not say if the roller was electric. I find your videos very interesting. ,and have subscribed to your channel. Do you work only in silver? I have not worked for 16 years due to a work injury. For a year I was a teacher at a jewelry school. Also I must congratulate you on your English. I'm a native English speaker.

[fedaikn]

@ludvan64 i am no native english speaker and although i had english classes in school, most of my english comes from the internet and computer games.

the rolling mill is manually operated. i bought it new from w w w . zujedelloh . de . the electric ones were not an option for me.

i work only in silver, i am no jeweller neither did i take lessons in crafting jewelry. this is merely a of a hobby of mine. most of my knowledge in jewelry making comes from the internet.

[ludvan64]

@fedaikn Well I must congratulate you on both your English ( I looked at your profile so I know you are Romanian). And especially your jewelry skill.