It is great to see that you continued to video even with a glitch. This presentation enstills not just craftsmanship but dedication to finalize the project and discover other methods to achieve the final results. Awesome looking ring.
Well as per usual I watched part B before hunting down part A but what the heck what are rabbit holes for if not for going down. Great instruction, I have a small wood lathe I think I will be able to tool up enough to make a ring or two, oh ya and I also have about 150 pounds of deer and elk horn.
You may have seen in other comments but I always warn everyone who says they want to try making one of these to make sure they use a thicker silver core than what I did. Antler is a very weak material so you have to make sure that the silver ring is strong so the ring won’t bend and break its bond to the antler. The silver core ring needs to be at least 1 1/2 to 2 mm thick or yours will break like mine did.
Thanks that is awesome looking ring! I am new to ring making and do not have a metal lathe just a small wood lathe and have considered buying some blanks for inserts off other sites made of stainless, cobalt, tungsten...etc or even use coin rings for inserts and then drilling out some deer horns I have and then lathe out a inlay in the middle and fill with black or blue or even white opal or something red not sure if opal comes in red, but mainly chips and dust with resin then shave off the outside on the lathe and finish the outside with a clear resin and polish.
Two Old Guys with Crossbows thanks for the comments man! I definitely think you should get into making rings, it’s a great hobby. If you are a handy man, which it sounds like you are you will have no problems making yourself an antler ring or any ring for that matter. You practically told me how you were going to make it in your comment, so use your wood lathe and make one! There are a lot of things that you can do making rings with a wood lathe and don’t necessarily need a metal lathe unless you want to cut your own metal rings.
Randy Smith Fabrications thank you I am looking forward to ring making and hoping I can make some cash as well I only have 3 years till full retirement and hoping this will be my retirement business to make extra cash! Question atm do you sell any of those silver liner blanks? And if yes how much? You can email me gregh911@outlook.com
Realmente un exelente elaboracion del aro tu damasquinado te quedo perfecto. Mil gracias por compartir tus conocimientos , un saludo desde La Paz Bolivia
Spoke a "no" aloud after I saw you set those beautiful joints on those copper inlays and saw that cutting tool coming in from the left. :( Good save sir!
Theonlydump, yeah thank you. That was my first attempt at doing an inlay like that, didn’t take me long to figure out that the cutting tool wasn’t going to work (still like to show my mistakes though). Thanks for the comment.
True American Wood Design I hope you do make one 👍 that is what I want to inspire. I would advise you to try to make it stronger than this one though, the materials themselves are inherently weak and the rings break if you wear them for anything other than a dress ring, definitely don’t wear it to work.
I enjoy working with silver but have not yet tried working with argentium. I have made this ring in many different styles as well, with different bands, wires and inlays.
Nice methods, beautiful results. Now is that the mini lathe from Harbor Freight? If so how do you like it for small lite duty projects such as these and the small sanding mandrel you made in your other video. I am a Navajo jeweler and contemplated on buying one for my jewelry work. I think it would be very handy and make life easier for certain types of projects. From your videos it seems to work for you fine, but I'd like to hear the experience of using it from you. Thanks.
White cap shop Thank you for the comments. It is the Harbor Freight lathe and it’s great, for the price, you can’t beat it. And for doing small jewelry work it’s perfect. That’s awesome that you are a Navajo Jeweler, I actually live in AZ and I’d love to see your work, you should email me, randysmithfabrications@yahoo.com
R, yes you could do it without the inner band. I do it with a silver inner band for looks and added strength because even though the antler is stabilized with resin it is still an inherently weak material, plus I just love working with silver. I have made many antler rings before without inner bands too (both stabilized and not) and have had great success with them as long as the antler is sealed with something like CA glue to prevent oil/water absorption and discoloration. Either way I would still very much consider any antler ring to be a dress ring and not something you would want to wear to work whether it has an inner band or not. Good luck and have fun making!!!
The rings you make are very beautiful! My husband and I really enjoyed watching you make them. As woodturners, we were very interested in your process. Would you mind telling me what gauge is the silver sheet metal that you use and where do you purchase your supplies? Thank you so much for sharing your videos.
Deb Matthews Thank you for watching my video I’m glad you enjoyed it. The thickness of the silver I used was 18 ga/1 mm thick. I would recommend that if you were planning on trying to make one of these rings for yourself that you use a much thicker gauge silver such as 14 ga/1.5mm or thicker cuz silver and antler are both inherently weak materials, you need to add strength! Many of those rings that I made of this model failed due to the fact that the innerband was only 1 mm thick so if you want one, make it bigger. I live in the southwest so I get my supplies from Rio Grande out of NM, they are awesome!
Richard L Koehler you’re welcome. If I could give you any recommendation or advice, that would be to use a thicker inner band of silver. I made multiple copies of this ring for many different people and most of them failed eventually, and the reason they failed was due to inherent material weakness. Silver and Antler are both weak and malleable materials, make it thick if you want it to last!
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*watching*- well, i hope he cut those recesses in th ring deep enough for that copper, or thats just going to pop out trying to lathe cut it. *next scene, cutting starts in slo-mo.* i know what gonna happen..... nice work around with the dremmel though.
That expanding spindle holder you use in your lathe chuck to hold the ring while you shape it what is that spindle holder called and where can I buy one?
rik3gs 🤔hmmm not sure if I know exactly what you mean. The mandrels use have an internal screw that causes them to expand to hold your work, I don’t use anything else to assist the mandrel in holding my work. During the assembly I always use CA glue
@@randysmithfabrications2731 Sorry for my bad english, you are very kind, the question Is about holding the piece of antler you have just cut.. i bought a lathe Yesterday and im tryng ti understad how can i hold the antler beecause externally Its irregular and internally its not like wood.. screw a pin into the stage to begin with?
rik3gs ok friend, I’ll try to explain as best I can to help you out. Like you said, the outside of the antler is not perfectly cylindrical so it is therefore hard to hold, but it can be done. You don’t need a whole lot of pressure to hold it in the clamps of the lathe but once done you can drill a hole and bore the center big enough to then put it on your mandrel to work the outside. The best tool you can own for ring making besides a lathe is a ring mandrel! Let me know if you need any more help.
Charles Davis you can find them online really easy, just Google “Ring Blank Sizing Chart” and search images. There are lots of them, the one I use is from Contenti
Hello! I have a question. Once the ring is finished, do you protect it with some product? My ring, if wet, is a little sticky until it dries. It's normal? Can I possibly finish it with cyanoacrylate glue? Thank you :)
Alessia Cusin, Yes I always protect my products with CA glue. I don’t know about your ring, depends on what it is made of. Whatever your material is, you can always finish it off with a layer of CA glue. Good luck! 👍 Always apply only one thin layer of CA glue (with a paper towel) at a time and always rough the dried surface of the coating before adding a new coating with some fine steel wool for better adhesion between the layers of CA glue as you add them.
Adnan Ahmed Thank you, you wanting to buy it is a great compliment to me. Unfortunately this ring broke, as did many of its kin of the same design, for this reason I have retired this design and opted for a stronger design.
Jon Parry , I suppose your question could be interpreted in many ways so I will answer a few. I soldered on a fire brick with a large size butane torch. I always use hard solder to solder my bands, and I use a tungsten pick to control the soldering. Thanks for the question🙏
@@JDubya90 It’s called pickle. It’s a warm acid solution to remove oxidation. There’s a few different types of pickle you can make but they’re most commonly made with sodium bisulfite, sulfuric acid or citric acid.
@@randysmithfabrications2731 Cool! Can you, 1) Do commissioned work, and 2) work with gold to make deer antler + gold rings? My husband shot a beautiful 6-point last hunting season and we want to have our wedding rings made with its antlers.
I would, if I had copied his design. Truthfully I found his video after I released mine and thought he had copied me till I read the details. I have a lot of respect for that guys carving skills but it’s just a coincidence that the rings are similar, he works with antler and skulls primarily, and I’m a silversmith. Doing a double banded inlay like this is actually very common, that’s why you will see that in my next video I added a stone inlay as well and you should do the same to give it added strength if you are going to make one.
Not sure exactly what part you mean but I put a layer of CA glue on the top of the ring as a sealant and then I used Zam to polish both the silver ring on the inside and the sealer on the outside.