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ChainReaction

Forge sterling silver wireto create this interwoven

rectangular-link belt.

by Dorthea King

intermediate

metal

T his chain belt is actually two interwoven chains. A chain of vertical rectangles is woven through a chain of horizontal

rectangles. Initially, I made the interwoven chain out of copper as a bracelet for my mom, who was experiencing arthritis in her wrist. She

says her symptoms are greatly diminished when she wears her copper bracelet every day.

To make a belt in sterling silver, I envisioned rectangles three times the size of the ones in the bracelet. The 40-in. (1.02m) adjustable belt can be worn at the waist or at the hips.

[1] Set up a workstation. Set up a solid work area. Use a large, wooden table or a steel blacksmithing anvil as your base for working. You’ll be hammering a lot to forge this heavy-gauge wire. Be prepared to work on the forging for a couple of days and to keep your workstation stable during that time. If you are using an anvil, hang the coil of sterling silver wire on the anvil’s horn so the wire can feed onto the rectangular steel mandrel as you are forging. Make sure to use ear protection.

[2–4] Forge 35 rectangles. Forge a coil of 8-gauge (3.25mm) sterling silver wire around a 2 x 1-in. (51 x 25.5mm) steel bar that you’ll use as a mandrel. Begin forging on a 2-in. (51mm) side of the mandrel. Use the flat face of a ball-peen hammer to hammer the wire flat on each side of the mandrel. Use your nondominant hand to rotate the mandrel away from you as you guide the oncoming wire with your thumb [2]. Hold the oncoming wire down against the face of the mandrel as you hammer toward yourself [3]. During

forging, you will need to give the previously forged sides a few taps to flatten any bow created by stretching the metal. The last side forged will also need an additional few taps before you turn the mandrel [4]. The taps help to even the heavy wire, confirm the corners of each rectangle, and keep the rectangles tight against the mandrel.

[5–6] Cut and solder the rectangles. Push the rectangular coil to one end of the mandrel. Place that end of the

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materials ■ Sterling silver wire:

■ 8-gauge (3.25mm), round, dead-soft, 27 ft. (8.23m)

■ 14-gauge (1.6mm), square, dead-soft, 18 ft. (5.5m)

■ Copper or sterling silver wire: 12-gauge (2.1mm), round, dead-soft, 42 in. (1.07m) (optional)

■ 112 copper or sterling silver jump rings: 18-gauge (1.0mm), round, 3mm inside diameter (optional)

tools & supplies ■ Anvil or steel block ■ Ear protection ■ Safety glasses ■ Mandrels

■ 2 x 1 in. (51 x 25.5mm) steel, 3.5mm (9 ⁄64 in.), 5mm (3 ⁄16 in.)

■ 1⁄2 x 1 in. (13 x 25.5mm) steel (optional)

■ Hammers: ball-peen, planishing ■ Vise ■ Copper jaw covers or leather sheet (optional)

■ Fine-tip black marker

■ Flex shaft, separating disks, 400-grit radial bristle disks

■ Jeweler’s files ■ Soldering station: torch, solder (hard, medium, easy), fire-resistant surface (soldering pad, firebrick, or charcoal block), pickle pot with pickle, flux, steel tweezers, copper tongs, pick

■ Sandpaper, various grits ■ Rawhide mallet ■ Jeweler’s saw, 2/0 blades (optional) ■ Pliers: 2 pairs of parallel jaw or chainnose; flatnose; roundnose

mandrel in a vise. If your vise has serrated faces, cover the faces with copper jaw covers or a sheet of leather to avoid marring your rectangles. Mark a centerline along a 1-in. (25.5mm) side of the coils with a fine-tip black marker to keep your cuts straight and consistent. Use a separat-ing disk in a flex shaft to cut along the line, creating 35 separate rectangles [5]. File the cut ends of each rectangle flush with each other where needed. Set one rectangle aside for step 11. Close each join on 34 of the rectangles, and solder the joins with hard solder (How-Tos) [6]. Pickle the rectangles, and clean off excess solder with files and sandpaper.

Forge the rectangles flat. Place the rectangles on an anvil, and use a planish-ing hammer to flatten and texture them, hammering both sides. If the rectangles deform from the texturing, flatten and realign them with a rawhide mallet.

[7] Make the jump rings. Wrap 10 ft. (3m) of 14-gauge (1.6mm), square, sterling silver wire around a 3.5mm (9⁄64-in.)-diameter mandrel, making at least 134 coils. Square wire has a tendency to twist

For a bracelet, use 42 in. (1.07m) of 12-gauge (2.1mm) dead-soft, round, copper or sterling silver wire to make 14 rectangles (making six horizontal and eight vertical links).

Forge the wire around a 1⁄2 x 1-in. (13 x 25.5mm) steel mandrel. All the jump rings for the bracelet have a 3mm inside diameter. Make 112 jump rings of 18-gauge (1.0mm) round wire. Follow steps 2–10 of the belt.

The bracelet is designed to slip on without a clasp. Depending on your hand and wrist size, you may want to adjust the links used in both chains.

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when being wrapped, so be careful to keep it flat against the mandrel. Remove the mandrel a little at a time to expose the silver “spring.” Place the spring in a vise, and cut the spring with a separating disk in a flex shaft [7]. Use pliers to align the ends of each jump ring, and flatten the jump rings by hammering them on each side. The hammering will cause the seam to open enough to fit a flat needle file into the gap. Use the flat needle file to file

the ends of the jump rings parallel to each other, making C shapes.

[8] Make 13 horizontal links. You’ll solder four C-shaped jump rings to the outer edges of 12 rectangles. Place a C-shaped jump ring 5mm (3 ⁄16 in.) from each inside corner on each short side of a rectangle. Use roundnose or flatnose pliers to adjust the C-shaped jump rings to fit each rectangle as needed. Solder

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the C-shaped jump rings in place with hard solder.

On the last link (the 13th link) of the horizontal chain, solder two C-shaped jump rings on only one short side.

[9] Make 21 vertical links. Place a C-shaped jump ring 10mm (3 ⁄8 in.) from each outside corner on each of the long sides of the remaining rectangles. Accurate spacing of the C-shaped jump rings on the vertical rectangles is critical in order for the horizontal rectangles to easily pass through them. Solder the C-shaped jump rings in place with hard solder.

[10] Make larger jump rings, and assemble the chains. Wrap 8 ft. (2.44m) of 14-gauge (1.6mm) sterling silver wire around a 5mm (3 ⁄16-in.)-diameter mandrel to make 74 jump rings as in step 7. Set aside ten jump rings for attaching the hook clasp. Assembling either the entire horizontal- or the entire vertical-link chain will make the assembly of each chain less confusing. Regardless of which chain you assemble first, you can make assembly more manageable by working with small groups of links to start.

Assemble the links in groups of three. Use medium solder to solder the jump rings closed. Then, attach two three-link chains to make a six-link chain. The weight of the links may make it difficult to keep the chain balanced on the soldering pad. To compensate for an imbalance, keep an equal number of links on each side when joining the links.

The horizontal chain will be 39 in. (1m) and the vertical chain will be 40 in. (1.02m) when completed. Clean the surface of each chain before weaving them together. Use 400-grit radial bristle disks in a flex shaft, which will clean the metal without destroying the hand-wrought texture.

[11] Make the hook clasp. Anneal the rectangle (How-Tos) that you set aside in step 5. Using flatnose pliers, straighten the corners on each side of the seam. Anneal the U-shaped wire again, and then tap the wire to confirm an open U.

Using forming pliers and working both sides evenly, begin bending each side of the wire back on itself, starting 19⁄16 in. (4cm) from the base of the U. Keep the bends symmetrical to form a hook.

Flare the ends of the U-shaped wire with flatnose pliers so they align with the C-shaped jump rings on the end of the vertical chain.

Solder a 14-gauge (1.6mm), 5mm-inside-diameter (ID) jump ring that you set aside in step 10 to each flared end, using hard solder.

[12–13] Attach the hook clasp. Attach a 14-gauge (1.6mm), 5mm ID jump ring to each C-shaped jump ring on the end of the horizontal chain. Attach the hook clasp to those jump rings [12]. Solder the jump rings closed with medium solder.

Make sure that the preferred texture on each chain is facing forward, and weave the horizontal chain through the vertical chain.

Make two chains of three 14-gauge (1.6mm), 5mm ID jump rings each. Attach each jump ring chain to a C-shaped jump ring on the end of the vertical chain, and attach the other end of each jump ring chain to the hook clasp [13]. Solder the jump rings closed with medium solder.

Use 400-grit radial bristle disks with a flex shaft to clean the tightly spaced connections.

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12 13 The high-pitched percussion

created during forging can cause hearing loss. Wearing earplugs will help to protect your hearing.

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