Laser Welding Jewelry
Sterling Flatware Repair by Steve Satow
1. This piece of sterling was hand fashioned into an elegant pierced and engraved spatula. The hollow portion of the handle that the bone handle fits into was made too thin for a simple butt joint to hold with continued use. The metal fatigued and broke. I advised the customer a lap joint would be stronger considering the thickness of the metal and she agreed.
2. In this picture you can see the old solder joint below the uneven break. A small amount of shellac used to hold the bone handle in place still remains in the hollow end.
3. We need to file off the broken end down to fresh solid metal.
4. The end is smooth and ready to have the hollow handle refit onto it.
5. This end must be filed until it is flat also.
6. Once the end is flat it needs to be hollowed out with a small ball bur. The end needs to fit over the other end of the handle by about 1.75 mm to make a tight lap joint.
7. Here we try the handle over the lower solid part to check for depth and fit.
8. The bottom handle needs a slight trim to make a super tight fit.
9. The top of the handle is slipped over the bottom and tacked in place. After the fit is checked any slight adjustments are done and the other side is tacked.
10. The laser beam is shot up into the joint so that it back fills about 1.0mm. Then the joint is filled and feathered out the other direction until the whole joint is almost
3 mm long.
11. An aggressive 2 hug rotary burnisher with curved ends is made to gently blend and lengthen the joint so as little metal as possible is removed during clean up.
12. A flat abrasive wheel is used to do the smoothing before a 6 in. knife edge wheel buff is used to polish the joint.
13. This shot from the back of the finished piece shows the repair.
14. This shot is from the front and shows the gentle taper into the solid metal. Now the bone portion of the handle needs to be cemented again.
15. Once the epoxy dries the piece is ready wipe down with acetone to remove any epoxy smudges and then to deliver. The 5% Plat Sterling wire used to weld the joint is solid sterling not 60% or 80% silver solder wire so it will not tarnish faster than the metal around it. It’s well worth the extra price.
