Basic bezel bright cutting help needed

Hey y’all. I sent Gerry a message yesterday but figured I’d post here as well while I’m waiting on a reply. I’m just starting to learn about bright cutting your bezels and don’t understand how you keep the graver from touching the stone (basic round/oval cab) and get a full cut against the stone? Can someone please shed some light on what I’m not understanding? Thank yall. :ok_hand:

If there’s a trick to this I’d love to know it. I’ve pulled it off a time or two just by intense concentration and keeping my pressure down against the bezel rather than toward the stone, but I’ve also marked up stones by doing the exact same thing and just not having as much luck that day. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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You dull and then polish the side of the graver that touches the stone, that way it rides the stone without marking it while the sharp side cuts the bezel. I say this having not yet done it, but will soon. It all remains to be seen if I can do it. Good luck…Rob

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The graver needs to be held tangent to the surface of the stone at the point of contact. It has to touch the stone for a complete bright cut. I bright cut around the opals that I set. It just takes practice. I also apply a tiny amount of wintergreen oil prior to making the cut.

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hi

when i bright cut with a flat graver, i have a “left” and a “right” graver…the front edges of which are angled…so that there is a “leading edge” on one side or the other (i do not recall the degree setting)

(i have a regular “straight” flat graver too…)

…like if you look at your feet and toes, the baby toe is shorter and the second toe from the big toe is taller (that is the leading edge/ toe…)

so, if i am cutting an oval, counterclockwise, the leading edge is at the bottom…closer to the stone…

a slight “heel” helps too…i usually do 15 degrees and about 1/4 to 1/2 mm back…it is trial and error…with no heel, the graver tends to “dive down/ dig in)…
with a heel it seems to have better forward movement…of course the whole graver/ hand angle affects how the heel angle is presented to the metal…

i try not to take too much metal at one time, but rather “shaving” the metal

the more polished your heel or bottom, the cleaner the cut…less striation marks from the graver metal structure…

and lastly, i shape my flat gravers so as to remove much metal at the front end, and angle the top kinda like a triangle profile…if the metal is not there, it cannot get in the way…not too thin, not too thick…my round gravers have thicker front ends for more strength…

just my comments…

julie

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