Chapter XVIII: Napkin Ring, Silver Comb, Belt Buckles

NAPKIN RING (SILVER OR COPPER)

_Materials:_ No. 20 gauge (either material), 5 × 1-1/4 ins. Individual napkin rings may be made either of silver or copper. Most rings are made of the silver, but copper lends itself very well for them. The design may be pierced, or etched out with acid. But the design work should always be done while the metal is in a straight piece. All napkin rings are made in this way.

_Directions:_ Take the silver or copper sheet and round the edges. File the two ends that are to be soldered together perfectly flat so that they will meet with the least possible opening. Bend the metal in shape around a hard wood peg. Bind with binding wire, wash with borax. Then place bits of silver solder along the inside and solder. After soldering, remove the binding wire and file the joint on the inside and outside, until it is all perfectly smooth. Polish and finish. Make a copper napkin ring in the same way.

CUFF LINKS

Cuff links may be made of gold, silver, copper, or brass. Often the design is worked out in the metal alone, again engraving is added, or enamel or stones. The designs given here are merely suggestions. Any one of them works out well in the metal. You will notice that some have a ball on one end of the link and a plate on the other, while some have the double plates. Again, some are made with loose links joining the two heads. The link is loosened and pushed through the hole in the cuff and then hooked on to the plate. One must be careful to make the plates on a pair of cuff links small enough to go through the buttonhole of a cuff.

_Material:_ For plain oval pair of cuff links. Two pieces of No. 20 silver, 7/8 × 1/2 in. Two pieces of silver wire, No. 14, 3/4 in.

_Directions:_ Mark the design by drawing an oval on the two plates of silver. Keep length and diameter of both the same. Clip off the sides and shape to design. Save the small pieces of silver clipped off, as they will be used to make the balls at the other end of the cuff link. With the file, bevel the edge and smooth all down. Place the plates on a wooden block and curve them a little. Take the scraps of silver you cut from the plates, place them in two separate groups on a piece of charcoal, and heat it until they melt. When the pieces melt they form themselves into balls. When these silver balls are cool enough to handle with a pair of pincers, cool them off in water. File away any part of the ball a little flat and solder the silver rod to the ball. Solder the other end of the silver rod to the curved side of the oval piece. Bend the connecting rod, like the picture. This forms the link. Do the same with the other link. Then file, polish, and finish. If stones are to be set, the bezels are made and put on the flat plates and soldered on at the same time the plate is soldered to the link. The stone is placed in position after it is all finished.

SILVER COMB

The comb described here is of medium size. It can be made larger, or smaller, as the working principle is the same.

_Material:_ No. 20, silver, 4-1/2 × 2-1/2 ins. Three pieces of No. 24 silver for the bezels. The size of the pieces depends upon the size of the stones. Three turquoise stones.

A Great Variety of Work is Going On. Some Boys are Making Square Copper Trays, Some are Working on Bowls, While a Number are Doing Jewelry Work.]

_Directions:_ Take the silver plate, 4-1/2 × 2-1/2 ins., and divide it across the shorter dimension into places corresponding to the number of teeth in the design. Be extremely careful about the spacing. Centre punch these divisions and drill holes about 1 in. from the edge through each one equal to the thickness of each tooth. Here the thickness would be about 1/16 in.

With a sharp tool draw lines from these holes to the outer edge. Be careful to have all the lines running parallel to each other. Place the saw through the holes and saw the divisions out, keeping as close to the line as possible. When they are all sawed out, file each tooth separately, rounding each one a little. Do this filing most carefully, for the least roughness left will pull the hair when the comb is put in place. The extreme point of each tooth should be sharp, after a gradual taper from about 1/3 the length of the tooth to the end. This can all be done with a file. The comb is now ready to bend in shape. Place it on the round stake and with a hammer curve it until it forms an arc of a 5-in. circle. Most combs are curved to that degree.

_Stones:_ Cut strips of silver for the bezels, long enough to fit exactly around the stone. Set the stones on the same way as you did those for rings and pins. Polish and finish.