Finished! After about a year and a half of work, albeit plenty of hiatuses for other work, this silverware set it done, finished, paid for, and out the door!
More photos and process shots after the jump.
This is where it all starts for me, melting down sterling silver to pour into an ingot. The final pieces have around 30 grams of silver in them, but my ingots start at about 50 grams.
Two rough ingots ready to be forged in silverware.
Heres a before and after pic of the final shape of the fork compared to the ingot it started as. It takes a lot of hammering, filing, and sawing to get it there.
Fork blanks showing the forged out shape and sawn form
Spoon blanks before sinking the bowl.
Knives in progress.
Final forms for the knives, one filled and sanded smooth.
Got a complaint that the knives could only cut butter, and only if they were warm, so I cut this serration into the blades by hand with a needle file. If you are wondering, no this is not the most fun thing in the world to do.
Carving the handles. The addition of the wooden handles make the whole process much longer, making sure the wood is perfect and even and scratch free is almost more difficult than the silver. At least the silver doesn't have a grain to contend with.
I decided these pieces deserved a nice box to live in so I worked with a woodworker buddy of my to design and build a box. This is what we came up with. Black walnut box with a padded black leather interior. Looks pretty sharp.
I ended up having to add some brass chain arrestors to keep the lid from opening too far, after a good while of fussing and failure these worked out. I had to fabricate the brass staples myself, and luckily I had some brass chain on hand from some necklaces I made.
An now just gratuitus shots of the final product. I would put to the total man hours at around 150+, though spread out over a year and a half. I am very very happy with the final result and thankful for the opportunity to pursue it. This was my first commission work and I loved it, I hope to do more in the future.
super, super, super
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I am so very proud of what you have accomplished. I am sure the new owner will be thrilled. It does an old man's heart good to know that his 'kid' excelled; I am happy to have been a small part of your trip down silverware lane... John C.
ReplyDeletePS: My wife and I returned to the Finger Lakes again last week to finish part 2 of our 'Lake of Dreams' vacation. We again visited the boutique where your Mom has some tin pieces. Perhaps someday we'll actually meet. Keep up the good work!
Excellent work! This is so amazing and wonderful to see this type of site. I really enjoyed lot to do this type of work with Sterling Silver Tableware. Sterling Silver is a lovely, elegant looking metal used to make a wide variety of decorative and utilitarian items.
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