Making rings without a mandrel

Blacksmithing Technique
1

Any tricks out there to make a ring without the mandrel?

I’ve got a project in mind that I would like to make a bunch of small around 3" circles.

Any suggestions on welding? I suppose scarfing the edges and then forge welding? Anyone just full on weld it instead? any good results?

2

i am a wood turner so I would turn this, if you have a metal lathe you can thow a chunk of wood on it… If not a hole drill would do. Basically make a positive circle that is the size of the negative space inside the ring…then you can use it as a go/no go gauge by sighting discrepancies between the ring and gauge.

Do the rings need to be perfectly circular?

3

Ahh I think I follow you, unfortunately no lathe around.

Visually circle is good enough, not perfect, but not… obviously oval.

Did you mean making the positive circle as in drilling holes through steel until getting the ring, though? Cause it’s not plate that I would nee, but more like a 3/8" square rod bent in a circle.

Made this post a while ago and never did proceed through with the project… I got side tracked onto other projects. Which is very unusual. :laughing:

4

Nah, don’t drill the steel, use a hole saw on a drill to make the wood gauge.

The wood plug is just there to make sure your eye isn’t lieing to you, hold it up to the ring and see if there are big bumps or gaps…if you see light In between beat the daylight out of it!

I didn’t look at the original post date! Haha better late than never?

5

i made the wife a damascus ring this christmas, first time i have tried any jewlry making(see cant even spell it :smiley: )
i took a small billet i made and drilled a hole in it then with dremmel tool and sanding barrel opened the hole to fit the wifes pinky :slight_smile: think she guessed what i was up to tho :smiley: then belt sander to the outside to get nearly round then used electrical tape on the dremmel sanding barrel to get a tight fit, spun it on the dremmel and applied the whole thing to the belt sander to shape the outside. it looks good and she is very pleased with it, i dont have a camara so cant post pics sorry :cry:
not a mandrel in sight :smiley: