Using tubes as pendant bail

In this post I write about a way of using tubes as pendant bail. Tubes can be very handy for making jewellery and accessories. Tubes can be used to set stones, making pin backs for brooches and also pendant bails. You can solder them on the back or at top of pendant. In this video I show you how I am using tubes as pendant bails.

They can make easy and stylish bails for your pendants. If you want to use copper tubes, they are being used in industry and you can buy them cheap in various thickness and sizes. Also, precious metal suppliers provide sterling silver tubes.

I found that miter/mitre cutting vise/Jig is a great tool to handle tubing. Mitre cutting vise makes cutting and filing the tubes much easier. I have shown how I am using it in the video.

This is how I am preparing and soldering tube bails:

1. Cut the tube to the length you want, using mitre cutting vise

1. File both ends of tube flat

1. File one side of tube flat to solder

1. Anneal pendant and tubing and pickle them. I clean them very well to make solder flow successful

1. If I use solder wire or pallions, sweat soldering is a great way to join our bail to pendant. However, you can also use solder paste and solder it in one step. To sweat solder, I apply flux on the side of tube that I have already filed. I use borax as flux and after adding it to the surface of tubing, I heat it using torch. First, it is puffing up and then leave a white layer on metal. Then put the solder wire on that. Heat it using the torch until the solder flows on the tube. Pickle and clean the tube and file the extra solders from the surface

The second step of soldering is to flux the surface of pendant and tube. First, start with heating around the pendant slowly and then direct your torch to the pendant and heat it until you see solder flowing again.

6. Pickle the pendant and finish it. Before soldering, you can coat the surface of metal pieces using borax to prevent making firescale.