Sawdust in bezel

Tony,

While I know you did not intend to offend us by saying that sawdust
was not a good way to set a stone, it is the way many of us have been
taught to do it. I for one, have not had the privilege to attend a
expensive jewelry school or learn from a teacher trained as well as
you. I learned from a great guy in his eighty’s who has lapidary
skills and by the way does very nice work.

I think we have to remember that their are people here with a wide
range of experience and some of us are just beginner in many of your
eyes. I have learned so much from all of you and will continue to
learn. So thanks for letting us know that there are other ways of
doing things, some better than others, but no one way is the right
way.

I started this tread on sawdust and you just fueled the flames, so
don’t feel bad about what you said, it has given us all a lot to think
about and explore. This is what a forum is all about. And by the way,
it has not deterred me a bit about using sawdust in my work, just to
look to other methods when needed in the future. I have always learned
more from sticking my own foot in my mouth. This has created a good
thread and I thank you Tony for doing it. Roxan in Pa. where I am
still trying to catch groundhogs to relocate to a better home.

Sawdust has its uses…especially where the undersurface of a
beautiful turquoise is extremely irregular and the stone couldn’t
otherwise be set. Howe ver…folks out there use lots of fillers
where they shouldn’t be used, and they cause lots of grief to other
folks who sometimes get stuck repairing jewelry that has crazy
stuff inside that they don’t know about. How would you like to fix a
crack in a cuff bracelet and discover that the stone wasn’t damaged
by the heat, but by the cut-up credit cards wadded under it that
melted, and fried its finish. My personal preference for low stones
that need to be raised is either step-bezel or an inner bearing to
raise the level of the stone. Wherever possible, I like to avoid
using foreign substances between the stone and its setting. If it
can’t be done, then the buyer of the piece should know that it’s been
glued, or otherwise filled, just in case it needs repair. Dee