Branding Leather With A Signet Ring

[rochemsam]

Ladies and Gents,

Could you please advise if leather can be branded, with a sterling silver signet ring?

Basically could a sterling silver ring be heated and then pressed on a leather surface to brand the leather.

Thanks & regards

[billybopp]

If the ring is valuable or meaningful to you and irreplaceable, I wouldn't risk it. That being said, Wikipedia says that the melting point for silver is over 1700F, so unless you have a very hot flame, it should be OK. Ian Atkinson has a video about hot stamping with his magnesium makers mark on Youtube, if you care to give it a look.

Bill

[rochemsam]

Bill,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, the ring is a family hierloom with our crest. The crest is kind of unique, so I felt this was the easiest way to brand emboss etc. on some personal leather items. I also checked into the melting point of silver and seems pretty high, so thought it should work. Now to brand on leather don't you have to get the metal to red hot, my worry is what temp are we talking when we say red hot. I was wondering if some one has actual experience branding leather with a sterling silver stamp.

Regards,

Sam

[BDAZ]

I would send it out and have an actual cast made using the lost wax process. Then you can make a stamp out of heat resistant metal that can either be attached to a soldering iron branded or simply embossed into the leather.

Cya!

Bob

Edited June 17, 2014 by BDAZ

[electrathon]

The name on the spine of this book was done with lead printing type heated to 300 degrees.

Dampen your leather, heat the stamp in the oven, press it quickly into the leather (about 1 1/2 second) and you are done.

Wear gloves when you pick up the hot ring or your hand will look like the guy in "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

[shtoink]

I would send it out and have an actual cast made using the lost wax process. Then you can make a stamp out of heat resistant metal that can either be attached to a soldering iron branded or simply embossed into the leather.

Cya!

Bob

I'm with Bob on this one. I see no need to risk damage and excess wear and tear on something that is considered to be an heirloom. There may even be silver solder from resizing that will have a much lower melting temperature.

[rochemsam]

Thanks for all the replies folks. I tried Mr. Electrathon's method of heating at 300F last night, and tried to stamp a drop piece of vacheta and it did not work very well. A lot of the detail was not transferred to the image on the leather. I think it is because the ring is all hand made, and very old (15th century). So the markings are smoother. Works good on wax, but I guess leaher is another story. So Iam not going to take any more chances and as per the suggestions get a proper stamp made.

Thanks & regards,

[camano ridge]

I agree, get a proper stamp made. Yes the melting point is 1700 degrees, that means it wil liquify at that temreture but damage will be done at lower temperatures. You will get discoloring and weakening of the metal long before you reach the 17oo degrees.

[silverwingit]

Rochemsan, another idea.

A vector drawing program like Adobe Illustrator could be used to create the outlines of your crest from a scan of your ring. Then you could send the resulting drawing to one of the Makers Mark manufacturers and you would have a magnesium or steel version of the crest which could be used for your brand over and over again.

Why not post a scan or your crest? If it's not extraordinarily complicated, I'd be willing to help out for a modest fee. Or, why not contact the Makers Mark guys and ask them if they could create the vector-based drawing for you from your scan.

Good Luck,

Michelle

Edited June 17, 2014 by silverwingit

[lwleathers]

Agree, wouldn't risk it. It's better to have a vector graphic prepared for the signet and have a proper leather stamp custom made.

We could help with the vector file preparation and stamp making too.