the spiral. Solder with a soft fl ame
because the little balls may roll, and
you want to watch them carefully.
When you see a tiny line of silver
fl ow around the balls, remove the
torch and let the piece sit for a
minute before quenching. Quench
slowly. Quenching quickly could
cause the balls to pop off.
Remove the piece from the pickle,
and it’s time to fi nish cutting and
fi ling to the fi nal shape. I had given
myself plenty of leeway with this
design, because, truthfully, I had
changed designs several times
in my mind during the process. I
wanted the bail to bend backwards
over the piece instead of adding
a bezel to the back, which is my
usual MO. Neither did I want this to
looked like a perfectly symmetrical
stamped out piece from a die —
because I like my pieces to look
old, maybe a bit battered by being
worn, like a well-loved antique.7
I fi nd it helpful to use some
graph paper to help me draw
fairly equal sides. Symmetrical
pieces are not my favorite, so this
helps me see what needs more
fi ling or sawing. After all, our sawis just a really tiny fi le for getting
into really tiny places. File, sand,
and burnish the edges of the
piece. Burnishing will smooth the
molecules along the side and make
the piece feel really nice when you
rub your fi ngers down the side.8
I used a barrett fi le, which has
no teeth on the top of the fi le,
to get in the angles along the top
of the bezel. Also, I used some
tiny little riffl er fi les. Riffl ers are
specialty fi les, and I have had some
for years, and never used them,
but when you need them, you
really need them. They got into the
corners of the piece every well.
Almost fi nished with fi ling, I bent
the bail over to the back with my
fi ngers, and soldered it down. I also
soldered the other spiral, which had
already been sweat soldered, to the
back. Pickle and rinse.FINISH: PATINA?
Upon fi nishing all the soldering, I
brushed the piece with Dawn deter-
gent mixed with a bit of ammonia. If
you use a brass brush, it will present
a nice fi nish — not quite a high pol-
ish, but a bit of texture to hold thepatina. Finish to your desired look
with the sanding sponges, various
sandpapers, or the 3M radial bristle
discs, which I call spiders.
If you don’t like the fi nish, sand
some of it off and repatinate. I’ve
sometimes fi nished a piece two or
three times before I get the patina I5a 6 7
8
MAY/JUNE 2020 45
42 Erickson_GoFlyAKite_mayjune20.indd 45 3/16/20 3:45 PM