Project 3: Fabricated Mokume Band
Construction Techniques for a Mokume Band with a Liner and Edging
Fabricated Mokume Band: Sterling silver with silver and copper mokume.
Photo 1. Begin by marking off and cutting a strip of mokume sheet stock. Then embed it in pitch, punch in the pattern, and solder-fill the back. Pickle to clean.
Photo 2. File both the front and back of the strip, taking off all high spots and excess solder to achieve a uniform thickness. This will now form a smooth curve as you bend the strip around a ring mandrel. Set this aside while you form the ring’s inner liner.
Photo 3. Cut a strip of 22-gauge metal (silver in this demo) to the same width as the mokume strip. Bend this around a ring mandrel and trim the ends to make the proper ring size. Make sure the joint is as tight as possible and soldered with hard solder.
Photo 4. Size the mokume strip to fit very tightly around the liner. Carefully choose where you will join this piece to make the joint fit in with the mokume pattern. You can trim these ends on an angle or even a matching curve to achieve an invisible joint that is hidden by the pattern. Solder with hard solder.
Photo 5. Both the liner and the mokume band should be filed true so they will fit together tightly. You can make slight adjustments to the sizes of these pieces by hammering lightly on a tapered ring mandrel. This will also make the bands into a very slight cone shape following the taper of the mandrel which will help in the next step.
Photo 6. Insert the smaller diameter edge of the liner into the larger diameter edge of the mokume band, flux in between lightly, and hammer the liner down into the band. This should be a very tight fit and require hammering. Prepare to solder by fluxing heavily.
Photo 7. Next, flood the entire seam with hard solder. You should solder the area with the solder joint in the mokume band last. In this way you will avoid this seam being forced open by the pressure of the liner as you solder the two together. After completely soldering one edge, flip the ring over and make sure the seam on other side is filled as well.
Photo 8. Pickle to clean, and file off all the excess solder from both edges. Finish the edges by sanding on a flat surface. You may sand and polish the ring at this stage to finish the band, but what I prefer is to solder two trim bands on either side of the ring for a more finished look.
Photo 9. Make the trim bands out of 18-gauge round wire and solder them into a circle, approximately two and a half sizes smaller than the size of the ring. Then hammer these flat, until they enlarge enough to completely cover the edges of the ring. Sand these flush and flat on the side that will join the ring.
Photo 10. Position the trim bands on the ring, and hold them in place with cross-lock tweezers or light binding wire. Solder with medium solder. Again, be careful to flood all the seams completely with solder without overheating.
Photo 11. Pickle to clean (after removing all the binding wire), and file away all excess metal and solder. Check for gaps or pits in the solder joints, and repair as necessary.
Photo 12. My favorite way to finish off a ring like this is to mount it on an inside ring buff and then sand it on my polishing machine. Use 180 and then 320 grit sandpaper. This gives the ring a very uniform, machined look and only takes a few minutes.
Photo 13. The finished Fabricated Mokume Band has been polished, acid-etched, and patinated. Sterling silver with silver and copper mokume.
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