The workshop | Special thanks | Shop critters
In the late '80s the bicycle industry saw a new metal become the frame material of choice for ultra high end bicycle frames. New alloys and shielded welding techniques made titanium a viable material with all the right characteristics, and a company named Merlin Metalworks brought that material to cyclists in a way that made them forget about the failures that came before. In a few short years even the finest steel bicycle frames could no longer touch the aura which surrounded the brushed metal finish of a Merlin Titanium. Titanium had become the wonder metal of the bicycle industry, people would buy anything made of the stuff. The need for titanium went far beyond reasonable limits. Parts were made in titanium when they would have been better, lighter and cheaper if made with some other material.Bicycle mechanics were no strangers to titanium. When titanium mountain bike handlebars started showing up it didn't take long before bike mechanics were cutting small tubing sections off and wearing them as rings. They looked like pieces of tubing, but they were titanium. Then an ad showed up in the back of a bicycle magazine. In small print on the bottom of the ad it read "titanium wedding bands". The titanium jewelry niche had started, oddly enough by one of the same people who founded Merlin Metalworks.Ti Designs started in 1993 when a friend who was planning to get married asked if I could make a wedding band. I had never worked in titanium before, but I had a strong background in machine work and I've always been good at finish work, so I gave it a shot. The first ring started out with a piece of tubing, just like the mechanics at the bike shop were wearing. By then I had seen a real titanium ring and was impressed by the finish, I would settle for nothing less. I bough a bench grinder and lots of abrasives and polishing compounds and went to work creating my first ring. My friend got married in September, a titanium ring on his finger, and it only cost me $300 to make it! Then the weirdest thing happened: people started asking about the ring - and Ti Designs was born.Making rings from tubing stock paid for the bench grinder, the buffing supplies and the ring mandrel I had to purchase to make the first ring, but it was very limiting. One day I took an order from a guy who's ring size didn't fit any of my tubing sections, I was forced to find another method of making rings. I bought myself a mini lathe from Harbor Freight tools, every size tapered reamer the Snap-On tool guy had, some 1/4" titanium plate and I went to work making a ring. The first ring made from plate took me about 10 hours to make, but the process eliminated all of the limitations of working with tubing stock.The next step in the evolution of Ti Designs came with an article about titanium jewelry in another bicycle magazine. Traditional wedding bands were shown, but the thing that got my attention was the claim that more complex jewelry couldn't be made in titanium. That sounded like a challenge to me! The new process of making rings from solid stock left lots of metal to work with, so I borrowed a few hand files and tried my hand at carving titanium. After a few failed attempts and a lot of dull files I created a simple flowing twist design which most other titanium jewelers still can't produce. The idea of a stone setting was still stuck in my mind, so I stopped taking orders for a few months while I worked on what would be the first real titanium stone setting. It's not easy figuring out how to set a gemstone into a metal as strong as titanium, and there's nobody to ask. The information I got and the tools I bought were for setting gemstones in much softer metals, the force needed to bend the titanium would shatter the stone. The best advice I got came from Peter Mooney, a local bicycle frame builder. He was brazing a very ornate head tube lug, being very careful not to let the tip of the lug lift up off the tube. "they're very delicate, you have to sneak up on them" was what he said, it was true for setting stones in titanium too. I came up with a design where a channel was cut to hold a sapphire, then the sides were twisted to constrict the metal around the stone and hold it in place. Three months after starting the stone setting project I had finished the ring that would become my wife's engagement ring.With the first stone setting behind me, the ability to create flowing designs with hand files, and some very loyal customers, Ti Designs grew. I bought a small milling machine and replaced the mini lathe with a larger one. As jobs came in I purchased the equipment needed to make the piece, charging a small fraction of the cost of tooling with the expectation that I would use it in the future. Over the years the equipment continued to see upgrades. Digital read-outs replaced dial gauges, better work holding fixtures were purchased and steel cutting tools were replaced by carbide insert holders. With all the changes in the shop, a few things remain constant. First, the shop set-up is still dedicated to being able to switch configurations quickly so I can offer true, unique and complex work without outrageous prices. Second, my good customers have stuck with me, seen the changes, and been very satisfied with my work - I hope.
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| Mill front |
Mill side |
Mill DRO |
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| Lathe front |
Radius cutting |
Knurling head |
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| Small fixtures |
Large fixtures |
R8 tooling |
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| Cutting tools |
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| Sherline lathe/mill |
Hand files |
Chucks |
I don't know of a more supportive person than MJ. She puts up with the noise of the basement shop late at night, the metal chips that seem to follow me into the house and my desire to use large pneumatic tools for the simplest task around the house. She is also my design consultant, few pieces ever leave my shop without her review. Paul is a long time friend and graduate of Mass college of Art. Paul is the guy who makes the Ti Designs advertising work, whether it's the images on the web site, the printed literature or the business cards, it's all his doing. Tim has a way with words, eloquent paragraphs flow from his keyboard where others are happy just to put their thoughts on paper. If the paragraphs within this web site have a logical flow to them, it's all Tim's fault. I've been accused of being too technical minded about jewelry and it's creation process. At some point people want to see the end result and not the steps it took to get there. That's where models come in. Being a machinist turned jeweler, I had a lot of questions. Mike has always been a good source of information and a great source of practical jokes. In the past Mike has been my source for gemstones, pearls and at least one rubber snake.Pete was the person who introduced me to the limitless possibilities of things that could be produced with access to a machine shop. Leslie and I attended the first wedding where one of my titanium rings was exchanged. At the time I thought of that ring as a favor to a friend, but Leslie saw more potential and started lining up the customers. Mike is plagued with too many ideas and not enough time to act on them. For a jeweler who is always looking for ideas, a person like that is a blessing. The world is a better place because of people like John. While everybody else is trying to make a buck on everything they do, John has been a one man institution in the Boston area, coaching all levels of cyclists while asking nothing in return. Peter is a true old-world craftsman, he works with his hands in creating bicycle frames that are as much art as they are performance machines. I've learned many of my own skills from watching Peter work. Dave isn't just any carpenter, he has a passion for the wood which shows in his work. In exchanging works we have raised ourselves and our works to new levels. Any creative outlet needs higher expectations, Dave helps supply them.There have been many weird and wonderful requests which pushed me beyond what I was capable of doing before. Ti Designs has been a learning experience for me and my customers keep me busy with lots of homework.| Furry friends of Ti Designs |
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| Elvhiss | Yitzhak | Picatso |