Hi all, I’ve been away for a few days in Colonial Williamsburg,
Va and have a ton of orchid mail to catch up with (250
messages!). You all know what an amateur I am so you won’t be
too shocked at my question. I have plenty of experience making
round bezels. I’m now ready to move up to triangular or square
ones. I was just wondering if any of you had suggestions on how
to create them, or any books that have good instructions. The
books I have seem to stop at round bezels. I guess you have to
somehow file the corners away before bending the bezel over them,
but I’m not sure.
By the way, I haven’t been to Williamsburg since I was about 8.
It’s so funny seeing the “persons from the past” work at
silversmithing and blacksmithing. The tools 200 years ago are
the same as the ones now. Just sans electricity. They did do
some funky things with sand molds.
As usual, thanks in advance for your advice.
I'm now ready to move up to triangular or square ones. I was
just wondering if any of you had suggestions on how to create
them, or any books that have good instructions.
Getting a bend in a bezel is easy if you just scribe where the
corner needs to be, and use a triangular or square file to notch
most of the way thru. Be careful not to bend the corner more
often than you have to, since it will break rather quickly. Try
not to tilt the file while you are using it, and be sure to keep
your notch perpendicular to the length of your bezel and you will
have a very neat corner. Keep in mind also (especially with
thicker wall bezel material) that the corner of your stone should
line up with the edge, not the center, of the notch.
Hope this helps, and good luck.
Sharon Ziemek
...You all know what an amateur I am so you won't be too
shocked at my question. I have plenty of experience making
round bezels. I'm now ready to move up to triangular or
square ones. I was just wondering if any of you had
suggestions on how...
I generally work with 24 gauge fine silver bezel wire, or 27
gauge gold bezel wire. When I make a bezel for a square or
triangular stone I take a pair of pliers and while holding the
end of the bezel wire square in the jaws make a sharp 90 degree
bend. For a triangular stone you would have to increase the
angle a bit. Then I take the stone and lay it on the bezel with
one corner tight in the bend. I scribe a line where the end of
the stone comes with a sharp point. Then I take the pliers
again and place them between the first corner and the new mark.
Place them so the edge is just back a bit from the mark to allow
for the radius of the bend and make a second bend with the
pliers. Repeat this for as many corners as your stone has. This
will give you a bezel with slightly rounded corners. For 14k,
18k or if you need sharp corners, you may have to file a groove
with a file at each corner, bend it and then fill the corners
with solder to strengthin them. – Steven Brixner - Jewelry
Designer - San Diego, CA mailto:brixner@compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/brixner
You all know what an amateur I am so you won’t be
too shocked at my question. I have plenty of experience making
round bezels. I’m now ready to move up to triangular or square
ones. I was just wondering if any of you had suggestions on how
to create them,
Bezel mandrls and bezel blocks can help.
Rick
Richard D. Hamilton
Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography
http://www.rick-hamilton.com
@rick_hamilton
By the way, I haven't been to Williamsburg since I was
about 8. It's so funny seeing the "persons from the past" work
at silversmithing and blacksmithing. The tools 200 years ago
are the same as the ones now. Just sans electricity. They did
do some funky things with sand molds.
I live 15 minutes from Williamsburg, am friends with one of the
silversmiths there, yet I’m too damn cheap to pay the money to
actually visit the shop! Yet, I just went to New England and
visited the tinsmiths shop in Sturbridge Village and was really
impressed with thier sheet metal rollers and hand tools!
Wendy Newman
Steve, thanks for the info. Just a couple of questions. Do you
not have to file in grooves when working in silver, or do you
have to always file if you want sharp corners, regardless of the
metal. In gold, if you need to file the grooves I’m not sure
what you mean by filling in the corners with solder. How can you
do it after the stone is set? I have a feeling I misunderstood
you. Thanks again. Rita
Steve, thanks for the info. Just a couple of questions. Do you
not have to file in grooves when working in silver, or do you
have to always file if you want sharp corners, regardless of the
metal. In gold, if you need to file the grooves I'm not sure
what you mean by filling in the corners with solder. How can you
do it after the stone is set? I have a feeling I misunderstood
you.
You do not have to file grooves if really sharp corners are not
important. When you do file grooves, you make the metal much
thinner and weaker. In order to make the joints stronger you
need to flow a little solder into them after they are bent into
the proper shape. Setting stones would be the last thing you
would do after all of the soldering was done. Steven Brixner -
Jewelry Designer - San Diego, CA mailto:brixner@compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/brixner