A cavalier attitude towards stone breakage is totally unacceptable
in the trade. In my humble opinion,
In my humble opinion, David’s two or three postings on this topic
are 100% right on for stone setting, goldsmithing in general, and I
dare say life it self. Strive for excellence, if you expect failure
you will find it, etc. I also agree that setting up a stone breakage
chart (unless it’s a setting factory) is counter productive.
That needs to be tempered by reality - David and all the people he
mentions, plus myself, have broken stones before in our careers. I
haven’t askedhim, I just know he must have. You learn what the limits
are by going beyond them, hopefully only once. I’ve also had “booby
traps”. Had one diamond explode the instant I touched it - you could
hear it across the room. Stress… You could say I should have
foreseen that, but I didn’t. There are stones that are ~going~ to
break no matter who sets them and how, and sometimes you catch them
beforehand and sometimes you don’t. There’s all kinds of stones out
there…
Jo-Ann just read over my shoulder - “Oh yeah, smrphhh! You’re not a
setter if you haven’t broken a stone. That’s not my opinion an old
setter even told me that…”
I set a rather expensive opal a couple of months ago that nobody
else would touch. Partly because it was a badly-made, CNC cut bezel.
Took me 1/2 day to get it ready to set, and another 1/2 day to
actually set it and yes, I charged plenty. And yes, the stone went
out in pristine condition.
David’s mantra of “just don’t break them” should be engraved in the
front of your brain. I’d add to that Know Your Limitations. If you
can’t set the opal I mention above, don’t set it - give it someone
who can. Just because you can set stones doesn’t mean you’re a stone
setter, just because you’re a stone setter doesn’t mean you’re a
great setter. Many diamond setters are lousy with color…On and
on…
If you are breaking stones you are doing something wrong. Either
rushing through a job or just not preparing the setting. Mabey we
look at it differently here... but even with melee.... prepare
yourself and the mounting... don't break stones.
Hey! I’ve been a goldsmith for 30 years. I’ve bezel set 35 freeform
Opals in a job (xmas 2008) without breaking or chipping one, but
I’ll tell you, when I had to set 148 2mm Aquamarines in a white gold
setting (xmas 2009) you’re darn right I ordered extras. I broke 4.
It’s not from rushing, it’s not carelessness. Stuff happens.
If you are on a deadline for a job, and you are channel setting
emeralds, you should think about having an extra stone on hand.
Michael
The project is not about perfection, not about what I would like, it
is about reality over a range of stone setters. Eventually the data
might be used to order extras for some, none for others. Maybe I
could identify who needs more training and who is just an average
setter.
Maybe the guy who breaks one or two out of 25 melee emeralds charges
less than the guy who breaks none. The costs might be the same. Maybe
the one prone to losing one or two is 40% faster and the work looks
as good. All these scenarios are interesting.
I am sure during the busy times of the year the percentage of
breakage changes.
The exercise is about using data to improve time to market and
reduce costs. I mostly am trying to model numbers for small goods.
I appreciate any help or info anyone might want to share.
Cheers,
James
Hi James,
I have been following the post with great interest… I had the
opportunity to learn how to set stones in school and didn’t fully
take advantage of it. In recent years I have found that I really do
enjoy working with them for the color and figuring out different
setting techniques. Also being able to set stones in different
settings has proven to be a great way to augment my income.
I haven’t been keeping track of my record, I am sure the stones I
have broken are due to my own learning, but what I really wanted to
share was that I have been following this thread with enthusiasm.
Thanks for starting it!
Christine
But I would love to get a set of numbers to use to test the model,
a starting point that is not just grabbed out of thin air. I am
sure somebody has an idea out there.
Yeah, James, I somewhat hinted at that today. The last shop I worked
in before going solo had 3-4 setters setting 2-300 diamonds a day
each, depending on the jobs. That’s up to 6000 stones a week (4x300x5
days). It’s pretty well known that in order to have a successful
baguette line you need hundreds of carats at your disposal in order
to pick stones - or your supplier needs to do it for you. Not
everything is a guy at a bench in the back room doing repair work.
But there’s no real scientific way to do what you suggest, either,
because it involves human beings… I’d suggest either literally
assigning stones numbers or just mentally. Diamond would be 10 -
rarely or never broken in skilled hands, peridot would be.01 - they
will break themselves just sitting on the bench top. ;} Anything
quartz would be moderate or less, topaz higher, tanzanite about the
same. You’d need to break up emeralds- cheap ones are much more
crunchable than high quality diamond cuts are.
Corundum is tough stuff with it’s hexagonal crystal…
I do quite a lot of setting - certainly every day. Not only that, but
like many here I do a huge variety of jobs - bezel set a topaz one
minute, channel a diamond the next. I’ve chipped and broken my share,
but right at the moment I can’t remember the last time. Certainly
months… That’s the human element - in addition to the stones, you
need to factor in WHO is doing the work. If your shop is full of
moderately skilled people at low pay making moderately priced
jewelry, they’re going to churn out work with little thought of
breakage. If they are highly skilled and paid and making an Oscar
Heyman type line, it will be an entirely different matter.
James,
breakage is not something that is usual in this studio or among the
colleagues I know - a few of whom are strictly setters. If you are
trying to get a grasp on a number of “extras” to buy for a diverse
group of bench jewelers with various skill levels then make a chart
: start with the stone’s names, then the next column hardness, in the
next size ranges, the next depth, the next quality (grading), the
next shapes then rate them based on softness and inclusions and
whether cabochons, cut and faceted (indicate machine cut as opposed
to native ;as native stones have not undergone the stress machine
cut stones have gone through in the faceting processand). The softer
lower grade emeralds and sapphires are the most risky- triplets,
doublets and opals perhaps second to that class, then realise that
more are lost under the bench than actually damaged - particularly
smaller stones- its a pain in the butt to stop and look for them so
if the size is small add extra to your inventory to save time - NOT
because they are broken.
The variable is in customers supplied stones - how does one account
for them? Often the family rubies are spinels, and the “exceptional
opal heirloom” is a doublet though the client doesn’t know doublets
exist…So there should be a different criteria for customer supplied
stones (as well as a separate fee schedule!)
Diamonds are on a separate chart : not only are size and quality two
of the most important factors in breaking or chipping but origin-
the country and process melee was cut for instance affects their
fragility. To expect a setter or repair bench to inspect every. 07
stone is ridiculous- buying the highest quality and in the most
realistic quantity is the starting point. Another thing in making
any application for ordering is the Foredom Allset system- I can
personally guarantee even those with low skills can set like a
professional- zero breakage, and probably less mishaps of any kind
than one would expect not to mentionn perfectly cut seats, channels,
milling etc so I would strike a deal with Blackhawk
Industries/Foredom and offer them along with any stone setting
software you come up with- its like building in insurance against
breakage and overstocking things you don’t need on hand. Knowing
your metals - the settings composition, helps gauge time. From
setting one single stone in a Pt/ rhodium plated tiffany setting to
channel setting raw diamonds in 22 kt yellow the stones and metals
they are to go into makes a difference. An 18 kt Y , fully azured
channel setting with, for instance, apatites 3/4 round the band may
take an hour with the allset system, and four with a middle
-of-the-road hand setter. In white gold add time because of the extra
hardness of the metal and if hand set expect more graver slips (
unless the stone gets a protectant over it while fitting) from the
less experienced setter…So everything is relative: softer higher
karat yellows (and some coloured golds beyond the normal red/pink,
green, white and yellows) are more easy to fit than white gold,
platinum group metals and lower karat golds for a variety of reasons.
Gauging time is as important to stone ordering as the employee, If
one employee uses a skin and catches the rogue stones then their time
is more important to them than the person that is oblivious to the
time spent collecting dropped stones…if collected at all! If you are
paying a bench jeweler 60 dollars an hour and 45 minutes is spent
picking up 3, $4.00 2mm topaz in that one hour on that single job-
and this goes on all day then the cost analysis becomes skewed. The
only thing I keep on hand, besides take-out stones for replacements
collected over a long period of time. (In fact many of the
proliferation of cash-4-gold businesses pay to have stones removed
and often allow them to be kept as well, as they can’t sell them
below a carat) aree princess or square diamonds, and an assortment of
baguette shapes in various colours so I can match client’s stones and
offer same day or 48 hour stone replacement (a “rush” job doth carry
an extra fee ! ).
I’m not certain what else it is you are after but if you have any
questions feel free to contact me… rer
bought (if I recall) about 100 of the worst grade rhinestones I
could find and a big handfull of heads. I soldered those heads to a
piece of copper plate and began to set...
I agree with Dan. There are many cheap stones available for practice
which is where your breakage should be. If you’re breaking stones in
customer work, then a return to practice would be necessary. Besides
the rhinestones Dan mentioned there are always cheap stones available
at most gem and mineral shows. I remember buying a paper of low
quality emerald bright cut melee just to use the for setting
practice.
Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Alliance, OH
‘I will pay you to take the care to never break, chip, or marr a
stone while it is in your hands; or lose a stone either before
during or years after doing the setting, and if you fail then you
will have to make full retribution out of your own pocket and life
substance’,
Or…
‘I will pay you to set X number of stones per hour, unlimited supply
of stones, payment upon stones surving the ultrasonic test’.
With many stages between these two examples you need to gather the
data from your own environment.
100% Is very hard to guarantee, but oftentimes that guarantee needs
to be made and delivered.
Those who say, “All care and no responsibility” are really saying,
“If I have no responsibility then let’s hope and pray about the
care”.
Alastair