Plain Silver Gallery
Raw Materials

Three different sized sterling silver ferrules, unpolished. The threads show clearly, so they are ready for fitment to the wood.

The same three ferrules, from above. The dull finish is clear to see here.

The progress of a ferrule from raw tube to finished product. First, the tube is cut into sections. Then the hole in each piece is bored concentric with the outside, threaded, and the end "faced off" so the plane formed by the face is perfectly perpendicular to the axis of the thread. This must be done at the same time as the thread (i.e. before the section is removed from whatever it is held with). The facing means the end of the ferrule will perfectly butt up against the wood onto which it will be screwed. Then the threaded, faced section is fitted to the wood part. Lastly, the nearly finished ferrule is cut to length, radiused at the end, then polished.

Sterling tubing.

50 lbs. of silver, ready for making. From left: tenor, bass, stock.

Tubing for sterling top band (#2 Heritage sets.) These tubes are almost two inches in diameter. The bass (on the left) is, of course, slightly larger than the tenors.

75 sets of sterling silver ferrules faced, threaded, and ready to be fitted.