Can you tube set in steel? If so, is the process much different than
tube setting in gold or silver. Thanks for any responses.
Joshua D. Sanchez
Can you tube set in steel? If so, is the process much different than tube setting in gold or silver. Thanks for any responses.
Mild steel, or for that matter, any decently soft (annealed) steel is
actually quite nice to work with. Sets very much like white gold, but
without the tendancies to brittleness or springiness that some white
golds can show. I rather like 316 stainless for some purposes… Much
of modern civilization is built upon the wonderful and varied working
poperties of steels. Pick the right ones, and you can get them to do
very many things
Peter Rowe
I am sure that I would not want to tube set in steel, but see no
reason why it could not be done. Steel can be annealed, it can be
burnished, and worked with a punch, so it should certainly be
possible to set stones in tube setting, once you have experimented
to see what techniques and too ls produce the desired results.
I would make several different tubes, with different wall
thicknesses, all annealed, and then experiment, try setting
something fragile, like rhinestones, to see if you can set these,
without chipping them. If you can burnish or hammer set rhinestones
without chipping them, then you should be able to set other stones
with success.