I love making wedding bands and happily I'm asked to make a lot of them. As part of the process I'll usually do up a collage of how the rings were made - one of which is pictured here.
Handmade platinum wedding band collage
The first step in making a pair of bands is to calculate how much metal is needed. The gauge of metal and length will vary depending on the overall width of ring required, but when two bands are being made from the one piece of metal the wider band determines the width of platinum bar needed.
Next up the bar is cut into two parts and then rolled through a mill until each piece is the desired width, depth and length.
These lengths of platinum are then turned up into rings and soldered or fused using an oxy propane torch. Platinum temperatures reach in excess of 1700C during this process.
Once soldered the rings are trued up on a mandril, before being sent to assay. They're then emeried to remove any marks or blemishes and polished to a high shine. Any surface finishes can be applied at this stage. Simples!