Not the glamour shot of very small mail links in a nearly completed collar that I was going to be posting… I have been struggling a bit with drifting rings for the last few days, blaming my drift. Now I think it might be that the striking plate that I am drifting into is becoming worn and the drifted shape /hole too big for the overlap (which on these rings is pretty small). So out with this old one and drilling a new one to try.
Momentum has dipped a bit over the last couple of days, been making lots of rings but slow progress on linking them together. Still, 20 rings or so left and the top seven rows (out of 16) are finished.
And here’s another 150 drifted rings ready for joining up… Another couple of hours spent in the garage flattening and drifting these rings, then cutting another spring and annealing ready for the next batch. I think I may be copy and pasting this post a few times yet before I finish…
Another 150 or so rings cut and annealed ready for flattening and another 85 drifted and ready to start putting together. I was glad to get to the annealing stage, warmed my hands back up!
Having to grind a new tip to my drift… The previous one snapped off in a ring. Oh well, it had lasted for over a 1,000 rings so I can’t complain I suppose.
I have found that drawing wire to the gauge that I need is a bit of a pain using my old set of DIY pliers. I am hoping that the new drawing tongs that arrived in the post today will make it a slightly easier experience… I will report back when I have to draw more wire for rivets in a few days time!