Thread: Star Spangled Rodgers

Very nice work for sure! interesting story as well great scales. Enjoy!

Originally Posted by Hirlau

I will have to admit Tom, when I took the binoculars out to look at that new star in the sky; one of the little points was bent to h*ll. Attachment 109869

See what I mean? Amazingly, I dug into the ivory at the innermost part of the stars with a needle and pryed. It took me 3 needles before I got 5 stars out and NONE of the (4) stars were bent( mebbe the one that went flying?). Tuff stars! Ok,......ROCKSTARS!

Excellent job in saving the scales and on the work to the blade.

Excellent work Tom - a lovely looking piece to be sure!

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

That looks wonderfull,great job.Inlay work to me is a major artform,one I have always failed at
One project I did long ago was a lady had a magnificent Ivory jewelry box with an inlayed dragon in silver,part of the dragons tail went missing.
All the inlay carving was undercut at the edges so I think the silver was carefully tapped in place,maybe silver can be annealed to make it real soft,dunno.
I called a dentist friend of mine and got some silver amalgum (SP) from him,pressed it into the area and worked it in just like he fills cavitys,worked like a charm.
Great work on the razor,great save.

Silver gets very soft when annealed, Pixelfixed. When they decorate gunstocks, etc, they undercut the carving, then get a ribbon of silver wire that is as wide as the top of the cut and stands a bit prouder, then hammer it - it is soft enough to expand into the undercut. If you can't get the right profile from a jewellers supply depot, you can make your own by pulling it thorough a steel drawplate, pulling it through gradually diminishing cut outs in the plate. As it is pulled it becomes work hardened, so before it goes into the next aperture it is heated cherry red again and cooled, or it would snap.

I have a draw plate with star apertures in it, incidentally. I have inlaid before using annealed wire, too - you drill a small hole, use a graver to carve the star shape at the top of the hole, insert the annealed wire and hammer it. It fills the hole you carved and you file it down until it is flush with the surface. I was making a set of black horn scales for a friend once using this process. I only had three stars to go and the damn scale cracked. It's a delicate operation!

Regards,
Neil

cool razor. I'm intrigued as to how the stars were inlaid,, let alone making them. Extruded some how? I 'gotta think about this one.

Nice save on the scales Bruce. French point looks great too.

That is a gorgeous razor. Great job!

Wow, that looks fantastic. Well done on the inlays, the whole lot looks great.

Stu

What a rich looking razor. Boy those little stars are too cool. Your wonderful restore kept those stars twinkling for years to come. It would of been a shame to loose them.
Keep up the great work Tom
Darl (Tarkus)