I'm here with Mark Nelson of Rio Grande
and look at how gorgeous these bracelets
are these are the kinds of braces that
you see at retail all the time
and you always think to yourself boy I
wish I could make something like that
well guess what are you sure you're
gonna show us how that's incredible
these are gorgeous oh thank you it's
actually a very simple thing to do
I'm just need to pick out some silver
wire mm-hmm and it's about five to six
inches long okay and we're gonna head
and bend it into a bracelet form and
then just take a simple file this is all
silver it's all silver sterling silver
mm-hmm nice thing about sterling is that
it's soft in the beginning and then when
you're done working working it or work
hardening it it hardens and retains its
shape okay
when you get it you're probably gonna
have a pretty sharp ends on there mm-hmm
and which one do just take a file
yeah and knock that down you know what I
love about I'm working with Sony too is
that it's really quite affordable it can
be yes it is
so you just filing down the rough edges
it's finally down cuz your hands are
gonna be all over this no don't don't
kind of pokey yeah
don't want that no and I have right here
I have a bracelet mandrel it's kind of
oval-shaped mounted in a vise and you
don't necessarily need a vise they can
be mounted to a table with a c-clamp or
something like that as long as is
mounted to something sturdy very sturdy
mm-hmm and also on my hammer it's that
deadblow hammer okay it has nylon tips
heads on there so I can move the metal
without damaging it and it's it's sand
or something that's insanity or steel
shot sometimes that's uh and that's also
so you don't damage it exactly and what
you wouldn't do is you want to kind of
work the edges of the bracelet first
mm-hmm and curl those in so very quickly
you're just gonna
move it around how easy that is so
malleable it is at this point it is it's
what they call dead soft yeah and you
just keep working it you can do it like
this if you're making it for yourself
good thing to know is if you're six
seven exactly your wrist size is right
and then you'll work towards the middle
and give it an overall shape and once
you have your shape this is just the
beginning of it I ended up with a shape
like this and even then you can kind of
squeeze them mm-hmm cuz they're still a
little bit dead soft yeah can you
customize it and with a file you can cut
any kind of design in here that you want
you can use a big 8 inch file or little
needle files and just carve designs into
the metal it's very easy one of the
things I like to do is um I make it
disobey sit here and has these facets on
here okay and also has a lip an edge all
done with a file so you just carved all
of that mm-hmm
what I want to do is I want to mark
where I'm gonna be filing so I'll take
these dividers and subscribe' a line for
that notch on the side like that mm-hmm
so that's ready to go and now all I need
to do is I have a nice eight inch flat
file one side has a smooth edge on one
side has a rough edge and just start in
the center and use my thumb as a guide
if I use a smooth side against my thumb
I'm not gonna wear down my thumb oh
that's good and you just keep filing
until you get to the design you whine
however deep you want it um now for this
particular design how long does it
usually take uh it took me about an hour
and a half really start to finish and
the hard part um once I got these done
was doing the edge right here this has
to go real slow you use this edge right
here and you get your groove
he want you to get your groove started
you can carve a channel in there and
these big designs are easier with a big
hand file right if you have smaller
designs that you want to do the little
needle files have triangle shapes round
shapes half round shapes that you can
use now you were talking about the fact
that one of the reasons you like to work
in sterling is that it's very malleable
but then when you've done working with
it if hardens
what causes that we're Cardinal what it
happens is when metals in a relaxed
state or half hard annealed and the
molecules are spread out okay it's like
a sponge and then when you the more you
work harden it you compress those
molecules together then there and then
they're hardened together locked
together tighten together
keep on filing I had just a little bit
of touch-up on this to do left okay and
when I got to the point I switched to
the smooth side here mm-hmm and got that
into my channel and that way I could
give you really exact with it it's
amazing how detailed and how exact you
can be with just a file right and then
once you get all your filing down you
want to polish it okay and polishing
extent ending sticks work really great
mm-hmm especially if you want really
sharp facets that's what gives its its
shimmer exactly you can always get a
little bit of a diamond cut on it
exactly and start with like 400 grit to
get the zip file marks out mm-hmm and
make nice long strokes and sanding
sticks are great because you can make
them yourself at a plastic or wood
double stick tape and just glue on
strips of sandpaper it makes it go by
very quickly very precise do some 400
and go through the grits yeah
I'm to 600 on up and you can take it as
far as you like right but you can also
have them pre-made too yes you can
and here's 1/6 400 this is four thousand
grit you inch if possible you ain't
trying keep nice long strokes that's
gonna keep that surface flatter hmm you
keep going four thousand six thousand I
Lou up to 12,000 so the different
numbers indicates the coarseness the
coarseness or the finest of it yeah
finest in Reverse so getting that nice
smooth exactly look to it you also want
to do the sides of the bracelet here and
see I have a no see on paper on this
edge mm-hmm on the edges so why don't
see on my thumb okay I always use my
thumb as a guide yeah in case yeah so
what are these can you polish with these
two you can yeah these will go in the
flex shaft okay and let's start with a
400 right that pretty quickly let's open
up a little bit just like this called
again this is a flex shaft and over
these called these are Radio bristle
disks radio bristle disc I the rubber
impregnated with them polishing compound
take a polish it this way or you can do
it with a polishing cloth exactly lots
of different ways that was great thank
you love that let's take a final look at
all of the wonderful wonderful pieces
that mark is made and remember this can
be pretty easy you made it look easy to
be able to make your own wonderful
bracelets and we'll be right back on
location