Nickel Silver sheath WIP

[Mark Behnke]

I did a copper sheath following Bruce Bumps tutorial, copper because I had it on hand.

This one is in .040 NS. I have .040 and .025, the copper one was in .032
advantages of thicker stock is more room for error in fit up and more to work with in finishing.
Cons, harder to form.

Here's some pics of the the form I made and my progress so far.
Fit up is very bad on the sides, need to hand sand flat to close the gap.

 

[Mark Behnke]

Some more pics

 

[Iceman]

That's cool Mark, thanks for sharing.

 

[Mark Behnke]

Thanks Iceman
I hand sanded 'till flat, clamped, fluxed and soldered w/med solder.
Pickled in the pool product, same as "sparx 2" only cheaper.
Cleaned up with X30 and buffed.
Need to go back and do a better job of finishing before the next steps:

The ball tip and throat.
Thanks for looking

 

[leatherman]

Sweet! Really makes me want to get back into silver smithing, I did a lot back in college. Studied under a well known silver smith in the day. I love the stuff, expensive as it is it just calls to me.

 

[Robert Mayo]

Mark thanks for the play by play action. How often do you anneal the sides as you are forming them? Exellent info it's going to be a nice sheath!

Cheers Bob

 

[Mark Behnke]

Thanks Bob
I just used a ball peen and worked it down no need to anneal. At the tip I used a punch, it's a little harder to roll the edge at the tip ( I think BB used a wooden block to hammer down the edges)

I made my NS blank about 3/16 bigger than the pattern, better to have too much, it sands down easy. Making good patterns and tight fit up are key, I sanded the two halves flat till no light could be seen between them.

 

[Robert Mayo]

Thanks Bob
I just used a ball peen and worked it down no need to anneal. At the tip I used a punch, it's a little harder to roll the edge at the tip ( I think BB used a wooden block to hammer down the edges)

I made my NS blank about 3/16 bigger than the pattern, better to have too much, it sands down easy. Making good patterns and tight fit up are key, I sanded the two halves flat till no light could be seen between them.

Thanks again Mark a person can never have to much info when trying something new.

Bob

 

[Mark Behnke]

I polished and found that one side didn't take the solder in places, so I re-soldered but still have some spots I'm not happy with. The joint under the top plate didn't flow out like I would have liked.

I learned that fit up is critical, although I had a, no light joint, on the halves, but not the top plate. Don't cut corners on fit up.

I studied soldering over the weekend and learned a lot that will help on the next one.

polish and buff were hard to get right also,need to do more research and practice there.

Thanks for looking, and feel free to comment, I can use all the help I can get.

 

[Josh Dabney]

Mark,

Great stuff !

I recently did a silver throat and toe for a curly maple sheath and the soldering nearly whupped me, LOL

That was my first attempt at soldering and I feel your pain. It seems to get easier as you go. I don't know if it makes a difference but I used high temp (1400) silver brazing on the side seams after a failed attempt at doing the whole thing with low temp solder.

Yours is looking GREAT !

-Josh

 

[Robert Mayo]

Thanks again for the info i think you did a bang up job on it considering it was your first go at n.s. !

Bob