The Torus Process

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Torus? No, I'm a Pisces.

There were two possible methods to going about this. Watch me do both (one "slightly" better than the other...)

M E T H O D   O N E:  U S I N G   T H E   E N G L I S H   W H E E L  &  S H R I N K E R

P A R T   O N E:   S H R I N K E R


This thing is so hard to use in terms of moving the metal along the teeth.



I thought because I was so small and tiny, that there was no way for me to press down too hard on the shrinker pedal but apparently I did. This left me with a piece of metal too uneven and deeply curved to continue with this method I couldn't even push it through the English wheel properly - as so aptly depicted in the photo- so I abandoned this method.


M E T H O D   T W O:  H A M M E R I N G 

P A R T   O N E:  R O L L I N G 


Rolled the sheet of aluminium so that it would wrap around the shrinking stump. You had to strategically put it in certain places to actually roll it.

P A R T   T W O:  S H R I N K I N G

[I don't have pictures of me using the shrinking stump because the person in charge of taking photos for me is also holding the stump and I was really really terrified throughout the process but you can just imagine it]

The shrinking part of it was pretty straight forward. It was a bit hard to have someone hold onto the stump and your piece of metal but clamping it in the vice meant that the stump kept falling off.

IT WAS REALLY TERRIFYING HOLDING YOUR PARTNER'S METAL PRAYING YOUR FINGERS DON'T GET SMASHED.

P A R T   T H R E E:  E D G E S


I went around to curve the edges against the steel dolly, which was pretty good because the curve was a good guide to go against. 

P A R T   T H R E E:  F I N I S H I N G


So, I'm not going to lie, because I was using the planishing hammer to go around the outer edges of the Torus/ Reverse curve, it did leave some pretty deep indents that sanding wouldn't get rid of unless I were to sit here sanding for the next 3 months. 

In this situation, I employed a technique I learnt from jewellery making: USING A SCOUR SPONGE TO SAND THE TORUS. It gives it a nice matte finish throughout so it's less identifiable where the flaws in your piece are.


Overall, I think this metal shaping process was more difficult in theory than it was in person. I felt this definitely improved my aiming in using a hammer and I definitely got a good workout. 

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