Silversmithing Class at the 92nd St. Y

M's:

I registered for a silversmithing class this fall. I went to two sessions so far and I'm loving it.
Luckily I have a lot of tools that I didn't have to buy because I still have mine from the old college days. Take a look at my stash.

My toolbox

I had to take some items out because it just became TOO heavy to carry. I even use a backpack to carry hammers.

That's my glove ( a gardening glove) use to hold the metal and a pair of safety glasses.

More TOOLS and some wax.

Dividers, files, clippers, copper sheet, etc

This hammer I bought at Metalliferous in midtown. It's a raising and planishing hammer. The narrow face is for raising. The flat, round face is for planishing (smoothing) the surface of metal.



This is my forging hammer. My instructor found 5 of these Craftsman hammers at SEARS and adjusted the length of the handles and softened the dome of the round face and polished both faces until shiny and smooth. She has a hammer like this, too. She saved us much $. It was 1/2 the price if I had bought it at a metal store.

Our first project is to forge a spoon out of silver or copper. We are first learning and practicing techniques on copper stock.


Our first project is to forge a spoon out of silver or copper. We are first learning and practicing techniques on copper stock.


This was originally the length of a pen, but I changed the roundness of the surface to a square suface. And then back to round, all the while "drawing" out the length. So, it is now much longer and I will continue to do this and draw it to a tapered point.

I am flattening out the right end to be the handle.

Next week we are going to design our spoons in class. I'm thinking I want a copper handle and a silver spoon bowl. Maybe the handle will have some silver embellishments.