people - remember that when using thin gauge metal for bezels you
endanger the opals right off the bat - look at the sides of bezels in
old jewelry & see if they’re not banged up. that is the reason i
recommended what i do: using thicker guage metal &
grinding/feathering the top edge down to a thinner gauge so it will
bend when pushed/rolled over the stone. AND using E6000 to hold &
buffer the stone. when set, the E6000 will hold the stone so it
doesn’t move while you push/roll & absorbs shocks -
unless, of course, you’re the absolutist, tradition-above-all,
it’s-about-the-method-not-the-product,
do-it-the-way-it’s-always-been-done type who would choose a pair of
thin hiking boots (progress-be-damned), over a pair of merrell or
vasque gore-tex boots.
plus, the debonder i always use & recommend that’s safe for ALL
material, including skin, will unstick any adhesive, epoxy,
cyanoacrylic glue, gum around & solve the removal problem - can’t
think of any situation where i would use ‘attack’ after i watched it
eat up a few surfaces, my skin being one of them - to say nothing of
the fumes doing a job on my sinuses.
Opal is a very delicate stone. I’ve cracked a few and walked away
Some things that I’ve discovered that make setting opal a little
easier:
on the bottom of the stone, look to see if the bottom edge has been
ground down a little bit all the way around the stone about 1 mm.
This little edge makes room for the solder inside the bezel. Without
this little edge, when you push in the bezel, the solder line may
want to move into the stone and may crack it.
I always use 30 guage fine silver for the bezels on sterling
silver, and 18k or 22k gold with any gold piece that I’m making. The
fine silver and the 22k gold you can push down with a burnisher. They
move like butter. And if you’ve made your bezel to fit properly,
you’ll never need to use a hammer and chasing tool on the stone.
If I’m doing an 18k bezel, I use a barrel bit in my flex shaft and
ever so carefully grind down the inside of the bezel to make it a
little thinner. This makes it easier to push down with my burnisher.
When setting the stone, if you have to use a chasing tool, use as
little force as possible. Get a tiny little rawhide mallet and use
that. Use chasing tools (I make my own from tool steel) with the
largest possible edges against the outside of the bezel. A large
chasing tool “spreads out” the force of the hammer tap. A small
chasing tool focuses the hammer tap into a smaller area and may crack
the stone.
Then there’s the “cold solder” method. Cold solder is a fancy term
for epoxy. I don’t recommend or use epoxy very much as it’s sort of a
traditional no-no in the jeweley business. That’s because,
traditionally, glue just didn’t hold up to the wear and tear that
jewelry takes, and the stones eventually popped out. But today, our
high-tech epoxies are better formulated and do hold up. Hughes 330 is
a pretty good epoxy and sets up in about 24hr. There are also epoxies
used by watch makers that set only under ultraviolet light. That
stuff would probably hold up the rock of Gibralta.
It’s probably not a good idea to put your finished piece in an
ultrasonic cleaner, altho’ I’ve done it with opal. But if I’m setting
a really expensive opal, then I’ll just go to the kitchen sink (with
the stopper basket in place!) and use hot water and mild dish washing
soap and a soft cloth or toothbush to get the polishing crud off it.
Regarding bezel thickness and solder accumulation: It’s always been
my philosophy to have the ability to alter the piece that I’m working
on (bezel) rather than the piece that I was given (opal). With this
in mind, I routinely grind away the solder fillet inside the bezel w/
an inverted cone bur. This works great and allows me to use an opal
w/a sharp edge, especially if I don’t have the luxury of choosing
another opal w/ a rounded edge and I don’t want to alter the stone
that I have. Learning how to use burs can get you out of some
impossible situations.
As for bezel thickness and material: I would avoid using 30 ga fine
silver. This is basically manufactured ribbon type bezel wire, which,
in my opinion is way too thin and way too soft to prove durable. You
always have to weigh the thickness of the material against its
hardness and toughness. This is true of bezels, prongs, ring shanks,
chains, pinstems-- whatever.
Fine silver is wonderful for setting in that it is pretty much dead
soft. But it is not a very durable material. If I have to use fine
silver, I’ll roll some sheet out and begin w/ 24 ga (.5 mm). This is
still fairly easy to push (being fine silver) but is fairly robust for
wearability. The same goes for 22k. 18k may be a wee bit thinner,
but I must stress that I usually don’t begin with material that is
less than 24 ga. If I have to, I’ll thin the top edge --as others
have discussed-- or, in the case of a super heavy bezel, I’ll relieve
the inside of the bezel by grinding a groove 1/2 way up the bezel’s
height w/ a small ball burr. This removes material for easier bending
without compromizing strength and appearance that. Remember that while
the stone must survive the setting process, the finished piece must
survive everyday life.
Glues do make sense for evening out stone bases and providing
cushion, but I never rely on them for doing the actual setting, accept
in the case of pearls and pegs. Opals – or any stone w/ a rounded
bottom-- I always elevate on an inserted step or under bezel. Only
the perimeter of the stone rests on this ledge, while the belly hangs
in air.
I’ve been trying to stay out of this conversation, but I haven’t seen
anyone else offer the following thoughts. This kind of addresses two
tangents of this thread - the bezel vs. prongs question, and the opals
(or other stones) with curved backs.
I agree with bezel setting opals, if for no other reason than to
protect the stone. I’ve never prong set a cabochon, and honestly don’t
foresee doing so. In the case of a precious opal, I will often pierce
the back of the bezel cup to show the back of the stone. This, in a
subtle way, reassures the consumer that it is a genuine and high
quality stone. I’ll also do the same with other stones, especially
transparent or translucent stones.
If the stone has a curved back, you can remove almost all of the
backing plate, bevel the edge of the hole and the curved back of the
stone can actually protrude. This may not be practical or desirable in
all cases, but works well, especially if the bezel itself is raised
from the back of a larger piece (so the back of the stone doesn’t
“drag”).
Sometimes, rather than just cutting a shape that’s concentric to the
outer edge of the bezel, I’ll pierce a more complex pattern or image.
This is kind of like a secret treasure for the wearer, since it won’t
normally be seen by others.
Okay, I’m done!
Dave
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio and
Carolina Artisans’ Gallery
Charlotte, NC (USA) dave@sebaste.com
I have been reading the threads on setting opals, adhesives etc. I
guess I am not that experienced, and I am wondering, what is an Orange
Stick??? Is that an official tool?? Really curious, please advise.
Thanks. GRACE
I don’t believe that there is any black and white answer as to
whether to prong or bezel set opals. It really depends on the piece
and what is required of it visa vis design parameters, client desires
and wearability/durability demands (brooch vs ring for example).
It seems that people want solid, inviolate rules for this
profession-- I certainly see it when I teach-- yet the longer that I’m
in this field, the less black and white those answers become. Andy
Cooperman
Can't understand why anyone would want to bezel set an opal, it
seems it would only create suspicion. A bezel setting will conceal a
doublet very well; thus, the popular advice to never buy an opal set
in that fashion.
I wonder if this is a good example of cultural/regional differences
in taste, public perception, and the like. I Tokyo, it may well be
popular advice not to buy bezel set opals, but at least here in
Seattle, as well as other parts of the U.S. I’ve seen and worked, I’ve
never heard that caution, particularly in terms of the reason being so
one could check for doublets or fakes. And a bezel set opal would be
judged for it’s design quality and appropriateness to the design,
rather than creating any sort of suspicion about the stone. Most of
the jewelers I know would choose to set a stone (any stone) in one
style or another for technical or design reasons, not so that
customers can assure themselves a stone is not fruadulent. MY advice
to customers would be to buy jewelry who’s design is good and
attractive to you, and buy it from jewelers you know you can trust.
Thus the issue of whether a stone is fake or not does not need to
enter into the problem… A bezel is, if it’s a heavy bezel, harder to
set an opal in without damaging it, but it will often last longer, and
in some designs, may protect the stone better than would prongs. And
prongs can sometimes, as we all have seen, be prone to catching or
snagging, and some opals, especially those with higher dome shapes,
may be harder to set securely in prongs…
An orange stick is a little stick with a tapered edge that is used to
push back your finger nail cuticle. Although they are made out of
plastic and other things now, the word orange stick remains, and the
wood works well for it. Of course, the wood is softer than the opal,
so if you slip, it will not scratch the stone like a metal tool might.
Hope this helps. Rose Alene McArthur @O_B_McArthurs
If anyone wishes to correct me, the only explanation would be for an
Orange stick, would be “Flake, Shellac” melted onto a wooden, hand
holding dowel. Then this shellac holds very securely any kind of
jewellery for setting purposes. I use this method all the time at my
setters bench. I have about 12 different sizes of widths and
circumferences. To remove the shellac, I place the object into a jar
of Methyl Hydrate (99.9% pure) and let it sit,…careful! its
extremely flammable stuff! gerry, the cyber-setter!
I’m not sure what you’d use an orange stick for in setting opals,
unless it were to push a soft bezel up against a stone, or to burnish
the top edge of such a bezel. Anyway, an orange stick is what a
manicurist uses to push back the cuticle of a fingernail. I don’t
know if they are called that because they come from orange tree wood,
or that’s just an old habit with a lost epistemological origin, but
you should be able to aquire them in any drug store, or cosmetics
area of a department store, wherever fingernail care products are
sold. They are about 1/8 inch in diameter, about 4 or 5 inches long,
one end is flat like a chisel, the other forms a blunt point.
It seems to me that the stone itself should determine what sort of
setting is appropriate. A thin and delicate stone needs to be
protected, especially around the edges, but a bulkier stone would be
safe enough in a prong setting.
I deliberately choose opals with interesting appearances on both the
front and the back, and sometimes it’s up to the individual taste
which is which. Since I only use them for pendants, it’s just a matter
of flipping the chain around. If I were using a regular bezel setting,
I would try to treat both sides with the same degree of care, in other
words, and show just as much of the stone. If it has only one good
side, then a closed bezel setting would be reasonable.
I set my first boulder opal and chipped it. Any tips for a
newbie?
Unfortunately you haven’t said how badly chipped the stone is or the
type of opal. So assuming it is just a minor repair, the following may
be of use to you. If you use a sanding disc on your flexible drive or
emery paper on an emery stick of a reasonably coarse grade to remove
the obvious chip. Smoothing the area to look just like it is scratched
and no remaining evidence of the chip. After this use a finer grade of
emery and then make a slurry of tin oxide in a small container or
plastic film container. Use a square faced felt wheel in the flexible
drive and make the felt wet with the tin oxide slurry. Spin off the
excess in the film case and then polish the opal with the felt wheel.
You will need a towel to cover your bench and tools as you will make a
lot of mess if you don’t. Make sure the slurry doesn’t dry out while
working it on the opal, as this will burn/pit the surface. With a
little care and practice it will look as good as new.
Different opals require different techniques and it is difficult to
write rather than show the methods needed. A picture is worth a
thousand words, and experience is worth many more.
I set my first boulder opal and chipped it. Any tips for a
newbie?
William Russell
It may not have been your fault that you chipped the opal. Rather,
the opal may have already had a crack inside that was just waiting to
break. You’re luck that it chipped in your shop rather than in your
customer’s possession.
You should always look hold the opal up to a background light or
candle flame and examine it carefully under magnification. This won’t
always revealed ALL the ones with internal cracks, but it will reveal
a lot of them.
Boulder opals,eh? or is it…“opal dust”? The first thing I would have
done is to round off any sharp edges, those points are just 'asking’
to break under any or slight pressure! you can use a emery disk
(paper) or a corundum wheel. It gives a better chance of completing
the project. When you are rounding off, don’t leave any surafce sharp
or with corners!..I was once a ‘newbie’, now I’m an ‘oldie’…gerry!
