Tool Talk: Split Shank Sanding Mandrel
When the Mr. and I went on our Around the USA Trip we stayed in Asheville, NC in the spring of 2009. I was shopping in downtown Black Mountain, and met a jeweler and he agreed to teach me how to make rings.
John Beirle is such a talented jeweler. I was enthralled with all of his bits for his flex shaft, and his use and knowledge of tools made a huge impression on me. He was also very generous with his time and experience, and one little trick that he taught me when it comes to finishing metal rings was in using a split shank sanding mandrel.
You can find a wide variety of them here at Metalliferous and at Connie Fox's Warehouse. I use them in my flex shaft, as well as my electric bead reamer that I bought from Connie Fox years ago. In the video at the end of this post, I am using my bead reamer. You can probably find them at any hardware store too...I would look in the general vicinity of the Dremel aisle.
Here is a photo of the one I use...it is used often, and that is my excuse for not having a clean mandrel!
After you have formed your ring, you want to finish and smooth out the inside and the edges with sandpaper. I know some people prefer to use files, but not me! John taught me that sandpaper is your best friend for metal work.
I like to get a good variety of papers, and for rings, depending on how scratched up they are from the soldering and forming process, I will start with a rougher grit of sandpaper and work my way up to the finest grit that I have to get a smooth and buttery feel to the metal.
Rings need to be very comfortable and the inside needs to be finished, especially if you are selling your work. I will sand the inside of my skinny stacking rings too...just to make sure the wire is rounded all the way around the edges after I have flattened them a bit on my steel bench block.
I just tear a small strip of sandpaper, about 3 to 4 inches long, and insert into my mandrel.
You want to put the widest part of the strip in the mandrel...and start rolling it up.
The strip of sandpaper will get beat up pretty fast...I usually just tear away the narrow end of the sandpaper until I run out as I use it to finish my jewelry.
Here is a short, 1 minute video where I show you how versatile and easy it is to finish your rings, hoops or other metalwork projects with the Split Shank Sanding Mandrel. If you have a flex shaft or Dremel rotary tool, check your accessories box that came with it for the split shank. You may already have this in your home and just don't know it!
Category Article finishing, rings, split shank sanding mandrel
