I use "aviation snips" for cutting solder. They are designed for cutting metal and require much less effort to squeeze than regular shears. It's the compound lever mechanism. You can find them at hardware stores or Home Despot. ;) I bought regular aviation snips, for making straight cuts. They come with yellow handles. The ...

Anybody see the episode with the Tiffany chain mail grille? The grille used to cover an air duct in a Park Avenue mansion. There were little squares of colored glass, each mounted in a little square frame, linked together with chain mail. (Hard to describe. Wish I knew how to download a picture from a DVR.) Wonder why they used ...

My daughter found my puka shell necklace from the 1970s...cool, man. It was strung without knots, and the string has stretched so I am going to replace it. Should it be strung with knots this time? These are natural puka shells, so the holes are not uniform. Janet

What should I use to smooth and deburr jump rings after sawing? I started looking at barrette files and Foredom tips, but was confronted with a bewildering array of choices. If I should use a barrette file, what "cut" and size is useful for this purpose? If the Foredom is a better choice--well, I haven't yet learned the ...

Hi, Edmund. I pickled the rings before soldering, and the solder is flowing more. (Not a lot more, but that is the nature of this solder.) You were right about it needing more heat. I was holding back too much because I had so much trouble the last time I tried to make a chain with Argentium. The links kept fusing together, and when I ...

What is the best for winding a coil of jump rings; Dead soft, half-hard, or hard? I have been using dead soft because it is easy to form, but it is so soft, I can't seem to avoid tool marks! Of course I need to work on my technique, but in the meantime, would a harder temper show fewer marks? Janet

Danke, Edmund, that is a good idea. Janet

I am new to paste solder, and am having trouble with the color of Argentium Easy solder. I heated a blob of solder alone and it turned gray and porous. The soldered seams are black. Both the solder blob and the ring seams are black/gray, even after pickling. The metal rings were cut using a silicone carbide separating disc. Hmm... ...

Other than buying an expensive jump ring maker, what do you use as mandrels for making jump rings in metric sizes? The clerks at the hardware stores clearly thought I was mental when I asked for metric drill bits. What do you do if the coil of wire doesn't want to slide off the mandrel? I used a Crayola coloring pencil as a mandrel ...