In today’s post, you are going to learn a word you have likely never heard before, and will probably never use or hear again in your entire life. The word is “swaging.” It’s an important jewelry-making term, though, because to swage is to transform, and, as it applies to our topic today, is responsible for one of the prettiest and most popular chain styles you will wear.
In the previous Sparkle On blog post, we discussed two common chain types, the curb link and the cable chain. We are going to chat about chain again today, but this time, we are going to talk about the herringbone chain, which actually starts its life as the aforementioned curb and cable links. Swaging is a metalworking process used to change the shape or dimensions of chain links, using a shaped tool or die. This shaping process is used to condense, flatten or generally modify the overall appearance of metal chain, usually to create variations of more common chain styles. Swaging, sometimes also called swedging, is a cold forging technique, although there are variations that involve the use of heat. It is a popular method used for working precious metal, because none of the metal is lost in the modification process. Swage, as a noun, is sometimes used to describe the tool itself.
The tools used vary depending upon the desired result. Swaging can create tapers or flares in metal wire, by forcing a larger piece of metal through rollers and dies, and drawing out a smaller or flatter piece. Think of your child’s Play-Doh toy, where globs of Play-Doh are pushed through a plastic “die,” which then produces fun shapes such as tubes, stars, or other geometric shapes which can then be cut up or formed into whatever the child wants. Want a more grown-up example? Have you ever made your own pasta from scratch? You can shape or flatten the semolina dough by hand, or you can use a pasta-making kitchen gadget where quantities of pasta dough are pushed through an extruder, which shapes the pasta dough into spaghetti, linguini, angel hair, rigatoni or whatever shape you want for dinner. Well, with the notable difference that we are talking about precious metal and a sophisticated manufacturing process that results in beautiful jewelry, it’s similar.
The herringbone chain is a prime example of what results from the swaging process. The herringbone is a ribbon of gold or silver, extremely thin and flexible. The herringbone starts its life as either a curb link or cable chain, and is forced through a swage until it emerges as the highly compressed, gleaming length of metal that, because it’s all flat surface area, reflects light like a mirror. Herringbone can be as thin as paper, and a bit on the delicate side, so it requires a little more attention and TLC than its heartier link chain counterparts. It can easily kink, bend, crack, and even chip, so after wearing a herringbone chain, either lay it flat for storage, or wind it up like a snake and give it its own home in a separate section of your jewelry box.
One lovely variation of the herringbone chain is accomplished by using a rotary swage, which gives the chain a twist as it is extruded from the tool. This produces a soft spiral. This style of chain is called a serpentine chain. Like the herringbone, it is flat with a high-polish finish, but because the light reflects off of the varying angles due to the twist, it can change the mirror-like finish into a sparkling one.
Wow! Who knew that you’d learn a new vocabulary word today. Well, it’s not likely you’ll be able to toss it out there in casual conversation, but if you love jewelry, it’s an interesting bit of information as to how chain is manufactured. Because jewelry metals, in particular, gold and silver, are so soft and malleable, transforming nondescript bits of precious metal into almost anything imaginable makes metal forging such a creative process. It’s like playing with the world’s most expensive Play-Doh! Sparkle on!
Laura