I Learned alot about making good bezels from Peter Rowe, If
anyone is interested I could see if i can try to find his long
letter on the Perfect Bezel. One awesome simple tip is to cut
your bezel ends square after fitting to the stone using small
shears. The trick here is to have the bezel wire wrapped and
where you are going to cut facing you. You then make your cut
with the shears and slide your shears over and cut the other end
so that both cuts are identical and facing you as the joint would
if wrapped around the stone. The shears make a slightly beveled
cut (going away from you) so that the other edge’s bevel matches
perfectly the first cut and they fit together perfectly, no
filing. Not alot of people know about this and it saves lots of
time trying to file the ends square and you get a better joint
with a shear cut. Of course you have to have a steady hand and
cut a perfectly straight line in the bezel wire but its not hard.
Then you solder the ends together using hard solder. I flatten
the base of the bezel using a piece of sandpaper laying on a flat
sheet of glass and sanding the bezel base against the paper; you
get a perfectly flat base that way. Then using a bezel pusher or
roller I work the bezel in from opposite sides and get it tight
against the stone. No, you’re not done yet, this is where most
people think they’re done and what Ilearned from Peter. Using a
burnisher , knife blade style that has a sort of oval cross
section, you then take the tip which needs to be highly polished,
not rough like they come from the suppliers, and hold the
burnisher tip horizontal and go around the top of the bezel with
good pressure and force the top of the bezel down tight against
the stone. Some real pros finish up with a graver to make the top
perfectly clean and flat but I’m not that skilled yet. I finish
off with a little tripoli the clean up any marks on the metal. I
also have a Foredom setting hammer handpiece thats real useful
for really thick bezels or low karat gold but they take practice
and I only use it once in awhile; of course when I need it
there’s nothing else like it…Dave
Art Jewelry for Conscious People
http://www.opendoor.com/stephensdesign/crystalguy.html