Finger ring, stone set with a bezel:
Material: One piece of silver, 23⁄8 × 1⁄2 ins., No. 20, for ring. One piece of silver, 1⁄8 × 11⁄2 ins., No. 28, for bezel. Stone. Silver solder. Borax.
Tools: Ring mandrel (you can make one yourself), small wood mallet, drill press and 1⁄16 in. drill, saw frame and saw, centre-punch, small Swiss files.
Directions—Pattern: To make a ring of this kind first cut a piece of paper 1⁄4 in. wide and long enough to go around the finger which the ring is to fit. Straighten this piece of paper out. This gives the length of the piece of silver needed for a ring. Cut another piece of paper 1⁄2 in. wide to this length. Draw with ink the pattern of the ring on this second paper.
Cut the design out and paste it on the piece of silver. With the centre-punch mark the centre of each spot. Drill holes into each one. Saw out the design. With a pair of shears cut off the surplus metal. Be careful to save all the scraps. They can all be returned and exchanged for silver plate. File close to the design. You now have the band ready for bending.
To bend the ring: A ring mandrel is needed. This is merely a tapering rod. One can buy steel mandrels which are graduated for all sizes of rings. A small tapered square punch which you can make yourself, will be found helpful. Take a piece of 3⁄16-in. round or square steel. File the end, tapering to a square point, 1 in. long. Harden it the same as you did the half moon punch used to make the hat pin. This punch is used for design work. Round holes can be squared by driving the square punch into the hole to any depth. This saves filing.