Hi All, This might be a simple question, but important nevertheless. As many people find commerical bezels to be too thin, it would be interesting to know how thick you think bezels have to be, both when working with Sterling and with several karats of gold as well as with stones of several degrees of hardness. I use up to 14 gauge myself, but I find it difficult to gently hammer the bezel closely to the stone and actually broke some (cheap ones, happily). Thank you for reading. Best, Will
With fragile stones i take my time, work opposing sides with some
form of burnisher, to avoiding breaking the stone. Make sure the
bezel is annealed it makes things easier and as the metal work hardens
gently coaxing with whatever tool you prefer may be inevitable.
Removing metal from the bezel wall will give you less metal to
actually move over the stone but has drawbacks. Knowing what size
stone you are bezel setting is important and you alone can determine
which bezel thickness is needed for a given project to keep it from
falling apart and of course to ensure it is proportioned/pleasing to
the eye.
Jon in Montreal