First Attempt

[jerrywh]

that's why I suggest practicing with pure silver. An oz. of pure silver is only about $30.00
It will do a lot of inlays. Then you can tell how teeth hold gold in. Copper won't take to teeth very well unless you have a pretty hard work piece. Inlaying gold has a lot to do with what your putting it in. A harder barrel is easier to inlay in than a soft barrel because the teeth will stand up better on harder metals. 12L14 barrel steel is OK but a little soft for gold work. For that reason I am using 1137 on the gun I am working on now. It wil have a tremendous amount of gold work on it.

Hey Saber. What percentage does your gold run up there?

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Well,
Here is the next try at this. I must say that I am pleased with the results, all of the input was invaluable and made this possible.

This was done with a Gravermach and a magnum handpiece with no formal training, only information gleaned from the net and fine folks such as those of you that replied to this post. :bow:

I will buy some fine silver and pure gold as this is to much work to waste on inferior metals.

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[BillinOregon]

Aaah. A straight line and a talented hand, both of which are beyond me. I can only watch and applaud!

 

[hoochiepapa]

Again, I say, what great talent we have on this website!
Very Nice.

 

[jerrywh]

Apprentice builder
You have done an excellent job. You are a quick learner. I am very impressed with your courage and determination. Feel free to Email me for any help you may need. You have the potential to be a very good engraver. The bad news is I have a project for you. I know you will like it. I will help you do it OK? Since you are engraving and doing gold work now you must go one more step and engrave the gold bands. You can practice this wheat design on some copper sheet for a while. SEE http://jwh-flintlocks.net/06p-boquet-closer-vg.jpg First cut the two outside borders. Don't try to cut the borders in the steel . Do it in the soft metal. If you try it in the steel you will inevitably dive off into the soft stuff.
This is not as hard as it looks. Fear not but use a 55 deg face on the graver it will help stop it from diving in the soft metal. J.H.

 

[gonzomann]

Thanks for posting the inlay practice! It has inspired me to try some myself. And Jerry, beautiful workmanship and extremely helpful advice - Thanks to you also!!

 

[saber]

Hi Sir, the nuggets we are getting are 94-96 pure I do not do the sand gold just the nuggets most of the jewelery makes pay 10-20% over oz priceing for it. this summer should be the best year to date do to all the rain and washouts last summer up on the 40 mile river but the camping for the summer will be good no matter what

 

[Capt. Fred]

Good God that's pretty work Jerry! Thanks for helping on this thread. I'd love to try all of this someday. I've got finals coming up next week and my 50 year old head is already about to explode trying to keep six classes worth of information straight, so practicing this stuff is just gonna have to wait. But I'm going to save this thread for future reference. :thumbsup:

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Thanks for the props,
will work on this as I go along, I enjoy this work so it is easy to dedicate to it, finding the time is another issue and it takes alot of time.

Checked with my local jeweler an he will get me the metals at his cost, I do not have a license so cannot get the better pricing, this will work out in many ways.

My day job is pressing with projects that are piling up so wont get to practice much until I can get caught up with it.
It's good to be self employed and busy. :grin:

 

[hoochiepapa]

You are quite a talented dude! And now you have a master as a mentor. Keep posting the pics so we can watch you progress, please. :bow:

 

[jerrywh]

You can buy anything you want from AAA precious metals in Portland Oregon. No license required http://www.aaametals.com/TOCFrame.htm