Pre-notched silver settings to practice on

Randy: the “pre-notched” setting from Rio are not fully notched;
really just a dip in the area where the notch should be put. I bought
some to practice setting about 8 or so years ago, and found I still
had to cut the notch with a bur, bend the prong over the stone, and
trim/smooth off the excess. I practiced with cheap (really cheap)
stones from Gem-o-rama (how’s that for a name?) in Massachusetts,
www.gemorama.com. You might not want to use your own facetted stones
for the first few…I remember being pretty rough on them. The rest
of the settings -of course I bought too many, to get a price
break-are still sitting in a box waiting for the day when I may teach
my (currently nine-year old) daughter. What you want are the cast
settings- not the ones called “snap-set”. Snap -set are cheap sheet
metal pre-formed to girdle shape. The cast settings should be fine to
practice on. The prongs were very thick-deep notches required. Good
luck Lin