random thank you gift

I applied for grad schools last semester and cool people wrote letters of recommendation for me. This is the thank you gift i decided to make for these cool people.

I started with a flat strip of brass. If you have a particular size in mind, you can make a quick mock-up with paper. Then I used some letter punches to write “THANK YOU” and “AMYQIAN”.

Next a combination of vise and pliers are used to bend the metal into shape. Its a good idea to use some paper towels or cloth to pad the vise and plier jaws to prevent scratching the softer brass.

It takes a bit to bend the ends of the strip together so that they match up well enough to solder. When you get it right, be careful not to drop or crush them, or you’ll have to go through the alignment process again.

Soldering is accomplished easily with tools used for copper pipe soldering (propane torch, pipe solder, flux or abrasive like steel wool to clean surfaces).

To finish, file down any extra solder and polish however you see fit. I used a buffing wheel and then some chemical polishing agent for the corners the buffing wheel couldn’t reach.