Hi ;-) Can someone advise some ways of making my own personal metal marking stamp for my jewellery. I am looking either to make something myself or get someone to make one for me. I assume this has to be done in hardened Iron if I want it to stamp into gold, Silver, Bronze and Nickel-silver. I have seen basic stamps for sale from suppliers that say "silver" etc but wanted to make my own with a tiny icon on it. I am not a commercial selling artist so I assume for my own work in say Gold I do not have to get an official hallmark? My jewellery will just be for myself and close friends although should I decide to venture out in this later maybe advise on this would be useful anyway. There is a local medal maker in Devon UK where I am and I was going to ask them. I have use of fine art computer printing and electronic/acid engraving equipment so I could produce something but maybe a professional could make the details much smaller and finer. Any help appreciated. regards Heather in Devon UK
A hallmark must be accompanied by assay office mark, indicating the origin of the testing of the purity of the item. Whilst some EU countries are trying to have legal requirements removed from hallmarking, it remains quite a process in the UK. I've no idea what the US requirements are, if any.
As a private individual, free of assay office intervention, you cannot "hallmark" as such. You mustn't, then, apply a "925", a lion passant or any other official designation of purity.
You may, however, apply your own maker's mark, free of purity claims.
I am in a similar situation, wanting to produce an "autograph" punch. I want mine to be no more than 2mm square. At this size, computer-produced/reduced garphics become pretty illegible. I'm not keen on etching, as I can't (YMMV) get sufficient clarity at this scale. A pantograph reducing engraver would be the shot, but this is a hobby for me.
My best solution so far?
Get hold of some carbon tool steel blanks. (I have scads of these in 12mm hex, so I don't need to recycle older tools, but if you don't have any, then an old drill bit - the unfluted shaft, that is - will do fine. It'll need to be annealed or normalised first.)
Either turn the tip in a lathe of file it by hand until you have a conical point (like a pencil) with a flat the size of your desired mark. File the end to the square/rectangular desired shape.
So endeth the easy part. Now comes the maddening and frustrating bit.
If you're over 35, get a forehead-mounted set of magnifying glasses. You need both hands free, and you need magnification. I also use a binocular microscope, but just for inspection - not during production (not enough room under the objective lens).
Mount the punch blank face-up in your vice and proceed to engrave the pattern (mirror image, of course) using a combination of punches (very fine, some sharp, some blunt) and hand gravers and teeny tiny needle files.
Forget about electric engraving tools. This task is way too fine for them. I get the best results with a vee-profile super-hard graver tapped ever-so-gently with a light hammer and guided through the curves and turns. Straight lines, I prefer a punch.
Keep a piece of lead handy. Tap the punch into the lead every now and then and observe the progress.
After you've make, ruined and discarded (well, ground flat and started again) a dozen or so punches, you should be about ready to start on the genuine article.
When the impression in the lead is about right, harden and temper the tip of the punch (no need to harden any boyond the first 3-4mm or so) then sit back and relax.
I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show "A.Gent" wrote back on Sun, 22 Aug 2004 12:07:21 +1000 in rec.crafts.metalworking :
You can get drill rod, which is just that, steel rod suitable for making drills from. We were making punches with it, so the detail wasn't as necessary. For the final part, If I remember right, it was "dip in oil, then burn oil off with propane torch, quench in water." "Worked" for the kind of work we were doing.
tschus pyotr
I picked up a square cross and an H punch. My projects I wanted to keep (and not recycle the metal) got hit with those, just to leave a "mark".
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.