Cufflink making tutorial Father's Day

Cufflink making tutorial Father's Day 

 

Items you will need:

Two large metal rectangles – the ones here have been etched and are 2cm x 1.5cm

Two small rectangles – the ones here are 2cm x 0.8cm

Four jumprings

Two small lengths of chain – one length of chain plus the jump rings should be around ½ inch in length.

Stage One

File all the edges of the metal rectangles at a 40 degree angle to the flat surface on either side, rounding the corners, then sand to smooth and finish the edge – it should feel free of burrs all the way around when you run a finger around the edge.  I have used 400 grit wet and dry paper here.
 

Stage Two

Doming – this part is optional – I use a doming block to place a light dome in each rectangle, but if you don’t have one of these, it’s perfectly ok to have flat parts rather than curved.

Stage Three

Twist open a jump ring and thread one end link of one of the chains through (note – when opening jump rings, always open by twisting the ends apart, not pulling them apart). Close the jump ring.  Using a pair of tweezers to hold the jump ring opening side down against the back of one of your large metal rectangles.  Make sure that the metal of the jump ring touches the metal of the rectangle, otherwise the parts will not solder together.  Make sure that the chain is pulled away from the soldering area, try resting it on top of the tweezers.

Stage Four

Place your solder close to or through the jump ring. (I have used prefluxed copper solder here, but silver solder can also be used with a good flux, or silver solder paste, which is already mixed with the  flux and easy to put in place)  Use a hot torch flame to solder the two parts together.  When soldering, beginners often make the mistake of trying to get the solder to melt by concentrating the flame on the solder – the most successful method is to heat the largest part of the piece first – in this case, the large rectangle, until the solder begins to flow, then flick the heat over the smaller piece at the last minute to encourage the flux to flow onto it, creating the join.

Repeat this step for the remaining three joins when soldering the smaller rectangles onto the piece, it’s much easier to dangle the larger piece over the back of the tweezers out of the way, as shown.  

Pickle the finished pieces in your pickle pot to remove the flux.  Use a brass bristle brush to burnish the piece, or use whatever polishing equipment you have at your disposal. (I use a tumbler for small items, but dremels, pendant drills or bench polishers can also be used.)