Granulated Ring from Pakistan

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi All, I have some pictures of a ring from Pakistan that one of the
managers brought back from her last trip. It is made with twisted
gold wire and granulation, and each of the granules has a “V” in the
top of the granule. It makes the ring sparkle and reflects light
almost like diamonds.

http://www.rocksmyth.com/granulation  are sample pictures.

I am trying to determine how these “V”'s are made. After looking at
several rings, it would be almost impossible to get each “V” at the
same depth and in the same alignment as the others using a graver.

Is it possible this is done with a tool like a cap burr with a knife
edge in the top?

If anyone has seen these being made or has any ideas or pictures of
this process, I’d love to be enlightened.

thanks Love and God Bless -randy smith
http://www.rocksmyth.com

2

Dear Randy:

Greetings from Pakistan.

I believe that the V notches were made using an ordinary graver. We
tend not to use too many specialized tools here.

Regards,
Saeed Motiwala,
Shaikha Jewellers,
Karachi, Pakistan.

3 
Hi All, I have some pictures of a ring from Pakistan that one of the
managers brought back from her last trip.  It is made with twisted
gold wire and granulation, and each of the granules has a "V" in the
top of the granule.  It makes the ring sparkle and reflects light
almost like diamonds.

Hi Randy; First off, that ring is not granulation work, it’s cast.
The “V” cuts you see are done with a method called “diamond cut”
which uses a high-speed handpiece on a flex shaft and a special bur
with a polished diamond cutter in it. Usually, the cutting is done
in a kind of box with holes for the hands to collect the gold
shavings as they fly away with quite a bit of velocity. The bits are
quite expensive, but readily available. However, unless you’ve had
some practice with this technique, its fairly easy to destroy the
bit, costing you maybe $80 a throw. There are companies that make
inexpensive practice bits, probably using carbide, but you’ll be out
of pocket quite a bit when you buy the handpiece and the diamond bit.
Better to see if someone here on Orchid does this kind of work and
send the piece to them.

David L. Huffman

4

The V is cut on a faceting machine using a diamond tool the most
common are the 120’ & 130’ which come in 1mm to 4mm width.

Kenneth Singh

5

90 degree or 110 degree diamond flywheel at high speed (35,000 rpm
or higher)