No need, I found it : Branch Kin What does the term "branch kin" mean? Well first, fer all you flatlanders and furriners...(translation: People who don't live among our mountains and those outsiders from other places)...'low me to first tell ye what a 'Branch' is. Bullhead Branch off of Old Sugarland's Trail (in winter.) A branch is smaller than a creek or stream, but bigger'n a spring. It's one of those little trickles of water that twist like so many clear ribbons through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Some, like Huskey Branch off of Cucumber Gap are, in my opinion almost big enough to be called a creek (especially in high water.) A lot of branches are barely a foot across. My husband and dad crossing Huskey Branch My Papaw, Andy Millsaps (whose people came to Tennessee via the mountains south of the Smokies, the Cherokee National Forest & Nantahala Mountain areas) always used the term "branch kin" and then laughed. I finally realized what it meant when I told him that I'd discovered a branch called, "Milsaps Branch" on my Smokies topography map. Papaw smacked his leg and looked at my Grandma (whose people are from the Smokies) and said, "I always knew we was Branch Kin." It was then that I figured out what the term meant. This is a little crude: ( deleted due to inappropriate-for-family-friendly-forum content) So, we're not branch kin, but at least we have purty mouths
We're downriver from Sandia Labs , where they make nookyuler things they can't tell us about . I believe that qualifies me as "Branch" to a lot of things
Not quite there yet, but I got the goods to make a short run . This will tell me the exact best procedures, and let me figure out time/cost/materials. I built a little jig to hold them for polishing (the fronts) and sanding (the backs). I have to work out the jump rings and ear wires . I got silver sheet in 18 ga. (about 1mm, or .040" , or 1/25" thick). Price will be "more than wholesale, but less than retail" It all starts out looking like this :
Update/bump : I have the ear wire situation sorted, and the polishing jig made , and a sample whipped up, but not finished shiny like the final ones will be. Just so you know what it will look like otherwise. Coin shown for scale . I will get the initial batch of 7 pairs done ... some day (lots of priorities ahead of Tiny Strats ) , and figure pricing off of that (time study) . So : PS : these suckers are tiny ! That's a 1/16" hole and 20 ga. (.032") wire . Overall is 1.5" tall, made of 18 ga. (.040 ", or 1mm) thick sterling silver sheet .
Done ! Looks like $40 a pair , including priority mail to US addresses. Again , they are small, at 1.5" tall. Wife says "Nice and light , but also nice and thick , so the necks are strong " .
