Week Six/Seven - Metalsmithing

I lost a week of class due to illness, but was back yesterday to continue working on my layered copper and silver ring.  I was able to make up some of the lost time yesterday and got quite a bit accomplished.  Previously, I had cut out the design in the copper layer of my band ring and had done some of the filing and smoothing at home.  Yesterday I continued that process.   The ring was wider than I wanted, so I sawed both pieces to the desired width and continued filing and sanding the edges.  The pieces were placed in the pickle and scrubbed with soap and water with a brush.  After a coating of flux, the solder was placed on the back of the copper  piece and the first step of the sweat soldering was completed.  Back to the pickle and cleaning.  The pieces were fluxed and fit together on the fire brick.  We put some antiflux on the T-pins so the piece could be pinned/secured to the firebrick.  The antiflux was to prevent the pins from being soldered to the ring during the firing  process.  The solder flowed and the piece was quenched in water and put  back into the pickle for cleaning.  After cleaning, we were back to the filing and sanding process.  Each end of the ring needed to be filed straight for a flush fit in the next step.  I sanded the piece with various grits to clean off the scratches and excess solder.  Flux was added to the piece and it was fired to anneal the band for the next step!  Week seven will hopefully complete the ring!  I can't wait.  Hope it fits!  Our last project will be a bezel set ring!