Hi All, We’re discussing a lot of topics here and today I was
thinking about a new one which could, I think, be quite interesting:
what is the most useless tool or the worse made tool you have ever
bought? The most useless tools I’ve ever purchased were spiral saw
blades. Whatever I do with them, I can’t saw straight and the thing
never seems to do what I want. It’s impossible to handle! I don’t
give up easily, but I have given up on the spirals as I wasted far
too much wax. I bought myself a nice little (and cheap!) precision
wood saw, which is exactly what I need to saw wax with. For details,
I simply use a metal saw. This works for me. What about you?
Regards, Will
Oh boy, I can relate to this thread… Here’s two. Pliers allegedly
for pinching the bearing into claws prior to setting gems. They
seemed a good idea at the time (don’t they all), but I soon realised
that not only did the pliers mangle my claws beyond redemption, but I
would have needed at least half a dozen different sizes of the things
to cope with the range of my work.
The second was believing what I read in a book about setting (this
was when I’d already been setting diamonds for over 20 years and
should’ve known better, but it seemed a good idea at the time) and
making the mistake of buying a range of those seating burrs. You know
the ones, they have a vertical side and mimic the angle of a diamond
pavilion below that. When you try to use them, they rattle around in
the setting hole and leave a jagged crater about three times the size
of the gem you intended to set in the first place. At least the
author had the grace to warn “…think twice before using a seating
burr: it’s hard to control…” right! Rex
Maybe it is just technique but I can saw straight or curves follow
complex shapes and so forth and have use different brands for 25
years. I hope that you will have better fortunes in the future. David
Will, I agree about the spiral saw blades. I threw all of mine away
when I discovered the skip tooth saw blade. I get them from Gesswein.
They are the best for sawing detail work in wax or for plastics which
tend to freeze up the standard saw blade. I suggest you give them a
try. They are well worth the price and I wouldn’t be without them.
Frank Goss
Rex, Re the seating burs…I don’t use them much anymore…not
setting that many faceted stones…but when I was, I found they had
to be used at high (I mean HIGH) speed. The good thing was, at high
speed they didn’t chatter, the bad thing was, if you made the
slightest slip…the seat would be oval rather than round!
Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFl where simple
elegance IS fine jewelry! @coralnut1
Ah Frank and all, You (of course) are correct about the spiral saw
blades but…they are great for cutting black coral. I couldn’t
get along with out them. The coral tends to heat up any kind of
conventional blade which eventually binds/breaks. The spiral blades
won’t load up and make a thick enough kerf that they won’t
bind…they are also great because they will go in any
direction…good for carving.
Oh, by the way, they work pretty well on some plastics and various
hardwoods too.
Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFL here simple
elegance IS fine jewelry! @coralnut1
Hello Rex, You are right in using a maximum speed on all other burs,
this prevent chattering and running over your work piece. But for the
strait setting ones in a round hole has no free space between the bur
and the hole, therefor it will easy chutter in the hole. this is for
what I know the only place I use a very low speed. all other burring
I do at 20.000 rpms
For setting with the strait burrs you have to pusch (with a
hammering tool) on the edge a bit to secure the stone in his seat.
after puting the stone in of course.
Greetings
Martin Niemeijer