Matched pair - Definition

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi:

I had ordered last week my first set of cabs in a “matched pair”.
When they arrived to day, I found that they are both the same size
and shape looking top down. However, when looking from the side, one
is much taller than the other. This will give me good practice at
leveling them out when doing the bezel, but is this the norm? Is
this really a matched pair?

Thanks
Kim Starbard

2 
I had ordered last week my first set of cabs in a "matched pair".
When they arrived to day, I found that they are both the same size
and shape looking top down. However, when looking from the side,
one is much taller than the other. This will give me good practice
at leveling them out when doing the bezel, but is this the norm?
Is this really a matched pair?

What you have is definitely not a WELL matched pair, that is for
sure.

The way to make a matched pair is to begin with a thicker than
normal slab, cut a preform and grind it down to the outline you want,
then take it to a thin saw and split it in half. This gives you a
matching pattern where the two inside faces meet. Then you cab 'em
both. I am guessing that whoever cut the cabs missed the middle when
they split the pre-form and ended up with one thicker and one thinner
cab. Bummer. They probably should have ground the thicker one down
from the back to give them equal thickness before doming, sanding
and polishing.

Lee