Prong setting using files not burs

Jewelry Discussion
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Thank you all for your comments. My darling husband is a file man
and has been espousing the glories of files since I’ve known him.
He’s not a jewelerbut as a metalsmith, well, he built an airplane of
aluminum (a Questair Venture)*, mostly riveted and a LOT of filing.
Being the handtool kind of guy he is, he has regarded me warily,
shaking his head, while I blast through stuff because I love POWER
TOOLS! Okay, so now I have mellowed and now enjoy the sublime
pleasure of using a file to silently glide through my task.

I just read this to DH, Norman, and he said, “Yeah, there’s nothing
like a file. You just do that last stroke and it’s done, perfect.
Another stroke would be too much, go too far. With a power tool I
often go too far. It’s like Mozart. Not too many or too little
notes. Just the right amount of notes.” I just wish you could have
seen him tell it. Anyway, thanks especially to Richard for the
detailed description. (Bookmarked it!) I too love the round needle
file and want to get some three-sided and four-sided in the really
fine Swiss files. I think the ones I have are 8-cut. Hardly any
finishing needed with those. Gravers and me are an awkward pair. I
might as well grab it with my left foot and make a stab at it…it
is soooo uncomfortable. I have Gerry’s bead setting notes and
although they make sense to me, my gravers laugh at me even as I
gaze at them sitting in their box. @#$%^ gravers! They’re a really
disrespectful bunch, those!

And the Final Touch by Rio “No skill is required to perform this
task.” Okay!

Again, thanks.

Nel

Starting to get a little hot in Safety Harbor (Tampa). We have
Mangoes on three trees, due in July; Valencias, tangerines and
navels for next January; and bananas in a month. The big grapefruit
tree had about 500 on it this year but hasn’t bloomed, might be the
drought. It’s okay, it needs a year to do a little rest, get pruned,
etc. The cardinals are nesting, roses abloom and a new crop of
papayas growing up on the tree. Those get to be about a foot long
but are only about 5" now. We can still have the windows and French
doors open at night and during the first half of the day. The creek
is not as high as usual and haven’t seen any mullet this year. But
life is good

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I just read this to DH, Norman, and he said, "Yeah, there's
nothing like a file. You just do that last stroke and it's done,
perfect. Another stroke would be too much, go too far. With a power
tool I often go too far. It's like Mozart. Not too many or too
little notes. Just the right amount of notes."

When I’m doing outdoor shows I often bring work I can do in the slow
moments, usually piercing. People sometimes ask me why I’m not using
a power tool, and I tell them that with a hand tool the time between
“Oops!” and stopping is very short. I try not to use a tool that
goes faster than I can think.

Janet Kofoed
http://users.rcn.com/kkofoed

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I try not to use a tool that goes faster than I can think.

Words to live by! I expect to quote you.

Noel