Hello [B)],
kinda frustrated right now. I already soldered close a bracelet from 18ga sheet and I would love it if I could make it more curvier! Pls help!

How can I create a half round bangle?
Without a hydraulic press?
Large Dapping punch?
With a press is 20 tons enough? Will it fit in a small apt?
Any other tools that can do this!?

Not sure if this link works, but i want to make it round like this:
http://vintagecostumejewelry.us/jewel/j00843x.jpg
now I know this bracelet is hinged and probably cast, but I want my handmade bangles to have a 1/2 round shape like this. Thanks so much for your help!

You can buy a stake and hammer it into shape. I believe you want a sinclastic stake - I think the latest issue of lapidary journal (can't remember the new name), has a really good article about using stakes, I want to say Michael Boyd was the author...

A Navajo would use a decent sized hammer, a couple of dapping punches, and the top of a log.

If its one round piece, already solderd closed - and you want the metal curved in on itself (as in not the circumference by placing it on a mandrel) here is one option - if you can get a hole large enough in something you can put the bracelet in the hole, put a block of wood over it and then hammer a few times on the wood. Turn it over and repeat. This will 'bow' the metal and give you the curve. I've done it with rings in my dapping block 'holes'. If you are just talking about the outside curvature - a mandrel is what you need.

If you want a half round (not a closed circle) with that mushroomed curve you can either use stakes and hammers or punchses OR you can buy a tool from www.jewelrytoolsbymiland.com that will put both curves in the metal at the same time. The tools are a bit pricey but do the trick nicely. I can post a picture tonight or tomorrow of rings done with the first method I mentioned and then a cuff bracelet done with the tool from miland. Oh, I have the rings now.....but I can post a pic later of the process. Got to go grab the pic will be back

OK, these rings were shaped round on a mandrel, soldered closed, reshaped on the mandrel and then put in one indent of my dapping block, wood on top, then hammered the wood to get the inside curve or 'mushrooming'

Those shaping pliers that Janice (WireyWoman) mentioned at jewelrytoolsbymiland.com are NICE. The last two years I've been by their display at the Tucson Gem Show. They are well made tools that are good at doing their jobs. I'd have a bunch of those if they weren't so expensive. At the show, they have strips of copper laying about so you can grab a tool and give it a try before buying.

--
Jim

I saw them too...I was tempted but either the gauge of metal they could handle was rather thin or the maximum width was narrow or both...I can't remember why I put them down now, but it wasn't price. I was looking for stakes, specifically an anticlastic stake which usually runs near $150 and thought Miland's tools would be a good alternative until I heard the specs.

Ok I failed to metion that my metal has a texture on it that i dont want to mess up. I need to take a pic of it so that you can see what I mean.
Wirewoman, I have mushroomed my rings before how you have pictured, I'm not quite sure how this can be done with my bracelet. I love the link for the tools, Thanks! My only problem is that I make big bracelets, the one I am trying to curve is 3" tall. Do you think that device will still work?
AsI have stated before I will post pic tonight!

I don't know how big the biggest pliers at miland are.....they are super nice to deal with so you could email and ask. Also they say they won't mar textures.....

For the bracelet you'd have to have a really big hole in something.....I'm also not sure what, but if you were going to do a lot of these it might be worth trying to figure it out. Maybe having a bi hole carved out of a bowling ball or something! lol

Hey Karen, I'm not sure what gauge they go up to....I'd love a set of stakes but right they are pricey so I went with a few tools from Miland instead. :) I'd love to make a quasi-set of stakes from big PVC rods or something. (low on my list of 'to-do's' right now. )

QUOTE: Originally posted by Wireywoman I don't know how big the biggest pliers at miland are.....they are super nice to deal with so you could email and ask. Also they say they won't mar textures.....

Thanks! I just emailed them. I do plan on making a lot of wide breaclets, I was also thinking about hole in the tree stump technique, but I feel that I would need a perfect circle to curve the bracelet evenly. Looking at some the tools that miland has is giving me an ideas................If only they could make "Bench Mount Synclastic" wider for me, i would be in heaven!!!! [|)] [|)] [|)]

Cheap stakes. Im always on the eye for short sections of heavy pipe that can be cleaned up. Works great in a vise. Also if you want it round just keep hammering the molecules have no where to go but out so it has to eventually form a circle. leather hammer if you use metal it will grow larger.
and like John said the other curvature works easily with a punch and a stump.

D

I'm taking a synclastic & anticlastic forming class right now so this is exactly what we're doing. The link that you posted shows a hinged (i.e. 2 part) synclastic bracelet. Since your piece has texture on it I would use wood instead of metal like MonsterSlayer suggested. Find some hard wood and drill various size holes and a few elongated holes in it. Then use a delrin hammer (with a round end) or dapping punches and a hardware hammer to form the synclastic part. Since your bracelet is already soldered together it will be very difficult to get in there with the hammer, so you'll probably rely more on the dapping punches. Also, this technique is not one thats easy to master right away, it will take some practice. Karen mentioned the last issue of "Jewelry Artist" (formerly "Lapidary Journal"). It has an article by Michael Good on anticlastic forming (he's quite an authority on the subject and does beautiful work). There is also a breif description of synclastic forming and a few diagrams, which might be helpful. Michael Good also wrote a forming chapter in the book "Metals Technic" which also might be helpful for you to look at. Hippie S. (I forget his last name) also has a great book on forming ... the only place I could find it was on Amazon. Good luck!

Mollie

Ok, so I went out to Otto Frei and bought a punch (51mm). I am going to try it out tonight on my rubber block! I'll let you know what happens! -Thanks!