Lumpy bezels

Jewelry Discussion
81

Ok, so I missed the original posting on this (hey it’s the holidays
and you should all be busy making jewelry instead of writing postings
to Orchid) so I have no clue what it was about originally, but what
is the big deal about bezels? I make bezels out of 16 ga plate, 18 ga
plate, 22 ga bezel strip, 24 ga bezel strip, 26 and 28 ga bezel
strip. I also use pre made bezels for some items. They’re all easy to
make (or buy when they’re pre made). They all can be done without
distortions. They can all be done without carefully hand carved seats
using gravers (I use setting burs exclusively, regardless of the
bezel shape, to build seats unless they are really thin and then I
solder a seat in). You can set any kind of stone in them, opals,
faceted, amber, and you can hammer set them all (if you’re good at
it) or use burnishers or bezel pushers. What is the big deal??? Just
make the bezels and push them down on the stones. That’s what a bezel
is. It’s not complicated, it’s not hard, it just requires a little
practice and a desire to stop fearing what might happen. If it’s a
little thicker on one side (or lumpy) just put a rubber wheel in your
flex shaft and smoothe it out. That’s what they make rubber wheels
for. Just get out there and make the darn things and stop making it
into a major event. But then, that’s my attitude about all jewelry
production. Just get out there and make the darn things. If you screw
up, so what? Start over.

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC

82

Hi Jeff,

Your technique of adjusting the heights and edges of bezels using
sand paper causes me pain.

As I explained to another poster, I DON’T use sandpaper to adjust
the heights of bezels. I achieve the height with a file and then even
up the edge with sandpaper. It takes far too long with sandpaper. It
takes no time at all to even it up with sandpaper once I’ve used a
file. Unfortunately though, I only have needle files at the moment
and no wide flat files, so I can’t achieve an even, flat surface
with a file just yet.

If you want the top edge polished a lap and 3 seconds work well.

I don’t have a lap but I do have a very fine file that puts a great
shine on the top of a bezel after “crisping” it up with fine
sandpaper.

Bezels are easy, cut or construct a bearing and wack the metal
over. Pay attention to details but don't think it to death.

I don’t think it to death. I go to great lengths to explain my
processes to answer what people have said on the forum and it might
sound long-winded to some of you experienced folk, but we’re only
talking about a number of minutes. For a beginner/intermediate, I am
quick at what I do, but I break it down so that I can describe it to
those interested.

Unless you have a hyper expensive delicate stone (and a day to
spare) a pretty close to good bearing is usually enough (and errors
are concealed).

It doesn’t take a day to make a very good bezel with a well-cut
seat. It takes much less than an hour. And concealing errors is stuff
of beginners. That’s what I used to do and suffered too many broken
stones in the setting process because of the inconsistencies of the
bearer’s surface. Now that I make more accurate bearers for my
stones, I very rarely break a stone when setting it.

Fun game, but be prepared for calluses on your fingers, heart, and
soul.

I already have the calluses on my fingers - they’re a permanent
fixture now, as are the saw cuts and stab-marks from needle files
and drill bits, etc.

As I’ve said before, my situation is right for me in my situation at
the present time. I’ve never said nor implied that anyone else
should do things my way - that’s up to them - but it suits me. I’m
making HANDMADE, one-of-a-kind pieces, more often than not with non-
calibrated stones and so make my own bezels. I will at some point
soon, start putting lots of work into prong settings and will
probably get lots of stick for making them too, rather than buying
them, but I will make them because it will teach me a lot.

I’ve seen some “handmade” work with manufactured settings soldered on
for the stones and in my mind it doesn’t look very nice, so for now
I’ll make them. All this “why make it when you can buy it for…
from…” seems a little weird to me when we’re talking about
learning. We’re not talking about mass-production or small-scale shop
work. And I’ve seen videos by people on this forum who make eternity
rings completely from scratch, starting off with square wire,
drilling holes and seats for the stones, drilling holes for the
prongs which are then soldered in, etc, etc - when guess what? You
can buy them ready-made from Stuller, Rio, Frei, etc, etc. There are
goldsmiths on this very forum who are still making their own
jewellery from scratch but nobody shoots them in the head for doing
it.

Helen
UK

83 
use a jeweler's saw to cut it around. Then just finish the
edge...... That's what the saw is for....

Why make a bezel so tall in the first place that you need to saw
some off? Personally I don’t think it’s difficult to measure and cut
a bezel to roughly the correct dimensions. I suppose if your sheet is
really thin, then it will warp far more, but for 0.5mm, it generally
stays nice and straight. A 2mm wide strip of bezel definitely warps
as you cut it, but I merely straighten it out gently in one
dimension using pliers, and then put it on the bench block and use my
nylon mallet to knock out the curve, compressing the stretched edge
again.

I do need to devise some projects to give me some saw practice
though. I use the saw when I need to but I do find it really
frustrating, even with expensive saw blades and plenty of lube.
General sawing is no problem, but saw piercing leaves me frustrated
and with a pile of broken saw blades.

Helen
UK

84

Hi Neil,

I see a lot written about cleanliness of your metal. I don't really
bother. As long as its not coated in old lady cosmetics crud it'll
solder OK, 'cept plat of course.

Ooh yuk!!! That reminds me of taking in repairs for the in-laws, or
people trying to give me old boxes which used to house some jewellery
or other for decades. My husband brought home a load of old jewellery
presentation boxes from his parents, saying that they would be great
for giving presents to people. Whilst I was grateful, I’m afraid they
all went in the bin. I couldn’t bear to put my brand new jewellery in
boxes that had the old lady cosmetics smell - not the best way to
present a piece of jewellery. Strangely, people just don’t seem to
notice that their jewellery not only looks completely caked with
crud, but also smells of it too. Or am I the only one with a sense of
smell?

Helen
UK

85

Jeff, you might find that the adjusting height with sandpaper may
have been my technique. I’m sure Helen pointed out that I should cut
the bezel to size first and not buy standard height stock.

Neil
UK

86

Hi Helen,

I’ve been using a paper cutter for years. Be sure to get a heavy
duty one - avoid those with a plastic base. Check a school supply
place. Schools really use them “hard”, so they tend to purchase
sturdy cutters. So far as thickness, I routinely cut up to 22 gauge.
The tool will cut heavier gauges, but holding the metal sheet
securely becomes a problem and you lose those perfectly square cuts.

Judy in Kansas, who got the tree decorated and will now wrap gifts.

Grandkids coming tomorrow!
Judy M. Willingham, R.S.

87 
Your technique of adjusting the heights and edges of bezels using
sand paper causes me pain. I use sand paper sometimes just before
polishing but not as a metal shaping tool. A file ( #4 a good
starting point) is my preferred tool for this sort of work.

A fine silver bezel is too delicate for using a file. I use a piece
of sandpaper on a clipboard easy to hang near my bench within arms
reach. A delicate touch using two fingers to hold the bezel so as
not to distort the shape, gently moving the bezel in a circular
motion evens up both top and bottom edges of a bezel. I do the same
with 14kt a nd 18kt bezels. If I need to remove a lot of material, I
use a 3m fiber wheel like 3s fine (I think).

Richard Hart G.G.
Jewelers Gallery
Denver, Co.

88

Thank you Daniel! That’s exactly how I feel about making bezels. It’s
not rocket science and it’s not difficult to make a good bezel. And
it’s nice to hear another professional sticking up for those of us
who make bezels.

Helen
UK

89 
you might find that the adjusting height with sandpaper may have
been my technique. I'm sure Helen pointed out that I should cut the
bezel to size first and not buy standard height stock.

Thank you Neil. However, there’s nothing wrong with buying standard
sized stock if it’s the correct height already or close enough -
although I don’t like it personally because I find it too thin at
0.3mm thick. If you buy standard height stock and it’s too tall, I
would be inclined to cut it down first rather than trying to reduce
it with sandpaper later - far too labour intensive. But that’s just
my take on it.

Helen
UK

90

Well, I think this thread is about beat to death. From my perspective
if it works for you do it if not try something else until you find a
technique that works for you. There may be the proper way or not but
just because a book says this is how to do it or Joe expert jeweler
has mounted 10,000 stones and this is the “way” to do it don’t mean
it’s so. What works for you is what you should do. Keep experimenting
and you may find another way you like better.

Dave Owen

91 
but saw piercing leaves me frustrated and with a pile of broken saw
blades.

I know how that is. Have busted many a blade, some blade nubs
sticking out of my thumb.

You need to be concerned about the number of teeth vs the thickness
of the metal. You should have at least two teeth in contact at all
times, three is better. One tooth tends to jam. If you tip the top
of the sawframe forward, so your cutting in at an angle, you are
effectively getting more teeth into play and you are drawing away
from the corner edge instead of perpendicular to it. I also find I
break fewer blades if I do this…instead of keeping the blade in
constant contact, I pull the blade back a tad on the upstroke, then
on the downstroke I push it forward so that the blade kinda takes a
running jump. With a light touch not only do I break far fewer
blades but I feel I get much better directional control. The action
becomes a nibbling, every time you back off you get another clear
view of what’s happening. Much easier to steer.

How many other side subjects can we load into this thread?

92 
I've been using a paper cutter for years. Be sure to get a heavy
duty one.

I use one to cut titanium sheet 26g ever since someone told me
titanium shears easier than it saws. My mother, a lifelong teacher,
held onto the one from her classroom when she retired, though I
don’t think she ever needed one again. I never tried it for bezel,
but I will…

Noel

93 
Why make a bezel so tall in the first place that you need to saw
some off?

I want to stress again that my own thoughts are towards the thread,
not any individual. Yes, the best way to make a bezel is to get a
strip of metal that’s the proper height and solder it down. The
reason to make a bezel so tall that you need to saw it down is
because bezels are far from that simple. If you put a large bezel on
a domed ring, you want to fit the base to the ring first. Since you
don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, you do that, solder it
down, and then trim the top to height. If your strip is not
parallel, ditto, if you thought it was right but it wasn’t ditto.
And the real point being that the soldering in essence mounts the
bezel in a vise. It’s far easier than trying to manipulate a thin
strip, or a soldered bezel with no support, to just mount it first
and trim it after. And the saw gives you a “perfect” line if it’s
done with skill. Very often people try to make teeny little things
and solder them on, when it’s far better to solder them on and then
make them teeny. It can’t always be done, but when it can the work
becomes your “handle” for working - and a support. Fundamental
stuff, again. Goldsmithing leaves a waste allowance, so everything
can be “carved” down just so…

I personally admire Helen very much for her attitude and her
progress. My thoughts about using findings is not to say that her
attitude (which is shared by many - me too, at some time) is wrong,
it’s to say “Don’t let it become a roadblock.” Of the newbies and
students here on Orchid, there are essentially three things that can
happen: One is that they will fail at jewelry and give it up. Two is
that they’ll find they just don’t have it or enjoy it, and turn to
teaching - or they are more a teacher mentality to begin with. And
three is that they will be doing something in ten years that they
don’t and can’t imagine right now. Unless they just stay in some rut

  • not likely in most cases. Saying that findings don’t suit your
    work is perfectly fine. Pride in craftsmanship and knowing how to
    work is even more fine. But the industry is big and wide, too. Keep
    your eyes peeled…
94 
Ooh yuk!!! That reminds me of taking in repairs for the in-laws,
or people trying to give me old boxes which used to house some
jewellery or other for decades.

Lazy Saturday morning… Helen’s thought about old dirty
jewelry is kind of like being a shoe salesman with people who never
wash their feet - something we all deal with now and then, repair
work that STILL smells of perfume after all the cleaning and work is
done ;<}

But Neil’s comment comes from my comment about agonizing over stuff
that doesn’t matter at all. I took a college course, and I’ve read
all the books, too. Many of them have a two hour cycle of cleaning
new metal for soldering. (“Till water sheets off of it”, which has
been covered here.) I used to check out 100 stones of turquoise and
about 5 pounds (2 kilos) of silver for a week’s work. First thing I’d
do was to roll up all the wires into 4" coils and anneal them, roll
bezel wire into a tight coil and anneal that. Then I’d cut my sheet
into squares to suit the stones and rub them with fine steel wool to
get the scum off. That was plenty clean. I read a sheet of how to
invest flasks: Mix, wait 2 minutes, 38 seconds, mix again, vacuum,
pick nose, pour, wait 1 minute, 18 seconds, vacuum, wait 54 seconds,
bark at moon, and more. Or you can mix, vacuum, pour, vacuum and get
exactly the same results…No agony, we’re just making
jewelry. The sooner students can get out of the trees and see the
forest, the easier and more fun it is.

95

Helen,

There are stones which should take a 1/2 to a day to set with any
sort of comfort level. And many many stones which won’t be bothered
by a lumpy bearing in 5 minutes.

You are doing good at 18 months, try to learn the perfection now. In
5 years you’ll be damned good and quick with cheaper stones and you
won’t pass out when a $75K stone falls out of the job bag. As Daniel
S has expressed, just do it, there is very little rocket science
involved. Mainly just practice and presistance and a lack of fear.

Jeff

96 
Yes, the best way to make a bezel is to get a strip of metal that's
the proper height and solder it down

Wires cut to fit are too short. (Everything that John Donivan
said…)

97 
There are stones which should take a 1/2 to a day to set with any
sort of comfort level. And many many stones which won't be
bothered by a lumpy bearing in 5 minutes.

I look forward to being able to afford the type of stones that you’d
devote half a day to setting, and even though I’m still only setting
(mainly) inexpensive stones, I still won’t let them have lumpy
bezels - if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly, etc, etc.
I will be taking my time setting the lovely Coober Pedy solid opals I
recently bought, which will be set in gold hopefully in the new
year. And if a lovely Columbian emerald ever finds its way into my
hands, that will have some serious time devoted to it too.

You are doing good at 18 months, try to learn the perfection now.
In 5 years you'll be damned good and quick with cheaper stones and
you won't pass out when a $75K stone falls out of the job bag.

Thank you Jeff. I’ll need to put a lot of work into marketing my
work if the latter is ever going to happen. I’m off to make some
jewellery now (after first making a week’s worth of meals for my son
and his girlfriend who have just moved into their first house and
either won’t be eating at all or will be wasting money on take-aways
otherwise. I’m starting cooking lessons with them from this Saturday
in the hope that they will actually look after themselves).

Helen
UK

98 
Wires cut to fit are too short.

Yes, linear thinking is not generally good goldsmithing. You have a
saw piercing job to do - sawing “I Love You” out of 18 ga. sheet.
How do you do that? Most schools teach you (me, for sure) to start
at one end and go to the other. I do the drilled parts first (the
"O"s) and then cut across the top of the v and y and do the point
from the left and right, giving a nice sharp point and more -
certainly not linear. There’s a web page that shows how to make a
ring with raised shoulders that have pave diamonds. They make these
little teeny plates just so, all drilled and everything, and then
solder them just exactly in place. No room for error, there. I just
slap a piece of metal in place - fitting only both ends - saw and
file it down in place on the shank, mark the lines and drill it in
place, all on center. 1/4 the time, 2x the precision, no headaches.
Ultimately goldsmiths are lazy…

There are times when parts need to be made first and put in place,
more often it’s not. Instead of making a tiny prong that needs to be
soldered ~precisely~ in a spot, why not make it twice as big, put it
in the general spot, and (using your precision burs and files)
finish it to a higher level of precision than any human can solder
without extreme effort? Easy…

Imagine if you had to size up a ring, so you filed out this teeny
little piece that fit flush in every way, and then had to solder it
~just exactly~ in place. That’s the sort of thing people do because
they don’t know better, or just to show off - the rest of us get a
bigger piece and finish it down after. Pretty much the essence of
what goldsmiths do. Use the piece for a work holder whenever
possible, and finish in place the same way. Past lumpy bezels, but
this is why people don’t get bench jobs…