Flower Pendant From Spent Bullet Casings

Hello fellow makers,

In this Instructable I would like to show you how I crafted this flower pendant from a few old spent bullet casings.

I've always loved making jewelry from spent casings, from pendants to rings and bracelets to earrings.

It makes some pretty unique statement pieces and awesome gifts!

You can have a look at one of my first pieces here

>> Bullet Cross Pendant <<

Let's get started...

What You Will Need:

To replicate this Instructable you will need:

3 sizes of spent bullet casings

I used:

.45

9mm

.22

Some small pre-drilled gemstones

For mine I used some rough peridot gemstones

Tin solder

Butane torch

Round nose pliers

Split ring

Amazon - Split ring kit

1mm wire or flat head beading pins

Amazon - Flat head pins

Dremel or a jewellers saw

Abrasive cutting disks

Amazon - Cutting disks

Rubber polishing bits

Amazon - Rubber polishing bits

CA Glue

Compounding polish blocks

Amazon - Compounding blocks

Leather safety gloves and glasses

Included Amazon links are for reference.

Cutting the Casings:

First we will start by cutting slits into our bullet casings using either a Dremel with an abrasive cutting disk or a jewellers saw.

CAUTION:

When cutting the bullet casings they will heat up incredibly quickly so I recommend handling the casings with some thick leather gloves whilst cutting.

I started with the .45 casing and cut four equally spaced slits into it that is approximately 12mm long.

Next I cut three slits into the 9mm casing of 10mm.

And finally the .22 casing, in the picture you'll notice that I only cut two slits into it but later when I started assembling it it did not look like I wanted it to so I cut an additional two slits so that it also has 4 equally spaced slits.

After cutting the slits I used the abrasive disk to cut 45 degree angles at the start of each slit as pictured, this will give more dimension to our "petals" and also get rid of any sharp points.

Polishing:

Now before we start shaping our "petals" we need to de-burr and polish away any unsightly marks on the casings, it is much easier to do this now before the "petals" are shaped because its impossible to get into all the nooks and crannies.

Tip:

With all my metal work I use these abrasive rubber polishing bits as they make the whole process so much quicker, I would highly recommend investing is a set with different shapes and grits.

Using a small round rubber abrasive I polished both the inside and outside of the casings making sure to get rid of any burrs left from the cutting.

You also want to make sure to polish away any oxidation and grime on the inside bottom of the casing or you will have problems with the solder not adhering.

After the rubber abrasives I used a felt pad with some course compounding to buff out any scratches and repeated with a fine compound.

Shaping:

Now to start shaping our petals...

Tip:

Before shaping the petals I would recommend annealing the bullet casings, whilst this is not an absolute necessity there is a chance that your casing might crack while bending if it was not annealed first.

To anneal the casing you will need to heat it with a butane torch until it has a dull red glow and then either leave it to cool completely or quench it in water.

Now using a pair of needle nose pliers you can start curling over the petals one by one.

Stack the three casings within each other then adjust the petals until you get to a design that you like, I also curled back the corner of each petal just to give a bit more dimension.

In the last picture you can see that I added the two additional slits in the .22 casing.

Split Ring Hole:

In order to attach the pendant to a chain/lace we are going to need an split ring.

I used a small 1.5mm drill bit but you can also use something like a nail to punch in a hole in one of the bottom (.45 casing) petals.

Soldering:

Next we will solder the three casings together to form your flower pendant.

First you will need to apply soldering flux to the pieces.

The tin solder I am using comes with a bottle of liquid flux that you apply before starting to solder, this will depend on the type and manufacturer of the solder you are using.

I began with the .45 casing, applied a drop of flux on the inside of the casing and then broke off a small piece of solder and dropped it inside, next I placed the the 9mm casing inside of the .45 and again placed a drop of flux inside the 9mm along with a small piece of solder.

Finally place the .22 casing inside of the 9mm and move the entire stack to a surface where you can solder on.

I use a ceramic kiln tile to solder on.

Now with a butane torch you can start heating up the piece, try and keep the flame directed towards the base of the casing as we don't want to overheat the tips of the petals and cause them to melt.

Continue heating until you see the pieces settle into the molten solder.

Next we want to add a few pieces of 1mm wire to the centre of the .22 casing that will form the stamen of our flower.

For mine I used three flat head beading pins, pinched them at the top with some surgical pliers and inserted them into the .22 casing along with some solder and flux.

Heat the piece again to solder the pins in place.

Time to get rid of that fire scale and flux, to do this we need to let the piece sit in a pickle until it is clean.

Homemade Pickle:

Bring ½ cup vinegar and ½ cup water to a boil. You can use more vinegar than water. Some people even use just vinegar, no water.
Pour in a glass container. Hint: Make sure that the container you use for your pickle does not get used for anything else after this.
Add 1 tsp salt.
Add your metal jewelry piece, making sure that it is covered with solution. You may need to turn the piece over while it is soaking if the back of the piece sits directly on the bottom of the container. Note: Do not use pickling solution on jewelry pieces with gemstones.
While the piece is soaking, mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 1 cup of warm water in another glass or ceramic container.
When you see that the fire scale is gone, remove the piece from the pickling solution using a wooden pick or copper tongs. Hint: If you have heavy fire scale, you may need to reheat the solution-without the jewelry piece in it-and soak the piece again. You may even need to make new pickle solution and re-pickle.
Place the piece in the baking soda/water solution. This solution helps neutralize the acid in the vinegar that ate away the fire scale.
Rinse and dry the piece.

The flux that comes with my solder turns the brass casing copper, now usually I would leave it in the pickle to get rid of the copper sheen but with this piece I liked the look of the copper so I just left it long enough in the pickle to remove the fire scale and flux but leave the copper look.

Adding the Finishing Touches:

Now all that's left is to add a few finishing touches to our pendant...

I went ahead and snipped the pins shorter so that it only sticks out about 10mm from the flower.

Next using CA glue I added a small gemstone/bead to each pins end to complete your flowers stamen.

Now we just need to attach the split ring through the hole you drilled earlier in one of the bottom petals and attach it to your favourite chain or like I did a piece of leather lace.

Flower Pendant From Spent Bullet Casings