I have made stainless rings out of 1/8 inch stainless TIG rod. Just
bent around a mandrel and silver soldered ( brazed ). The joint is
almost invisible. This was from 308 stainless welding rod. I would
suggest you get some stainless rod/wire, make a ring or two and then
see if you really need something that can be spring tempered. If you
really do need spring tempered ( and I doubt it ), 15-5 ph stainless is
dead easy to heat treat.

If you do use silver soldering ( brazing ), try to get some silver
solder that is recommended for stainless. Ditto the flux. Some
stainless does not take silver solder very well, but there are some
silver solders with a little nickel in them that are recommended for
stainless.

Dan


Grant Erwin wrote:
I have a sister who makes light fixtures as a cottage industry. She called me
just now wanting to know how to go about getting or making stainless wire rings,
spring tempered, made from something like 16 ga. wire. I don't see any people
who directly source rings in lampshade-sized dimensions (like 3" up) so now I'm
wondering about making them.

What kind of stainless wire can be spring-tempered?

Is it possible to make a spring-tempered stainless ring using only O/A
equipment? Or is TIG welding completely required?

Any bright ideas?

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington