I’m starting to work with some sterling sheet I reticulated a while
back. I want to set some cabochons in bezels on the sheet surface. The
solution I chose was to pierce the sheet, and file to fit a bezel cup I
made and solder it in. Pretty tedious, and high potential for error.
I can’t really see an effective way to solder a bezel directly to the
sheet, since it has an irregular surface.
Any thoughts?
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio
Charlotte, NC
Dave:
I don’t know exactly what your doing, but how about designing with round
stones and use a drill or a milling cutter to cut a round set for the bezel
or cup into the reticulated silver. Remember your revelation about round
stones?
Question for ya: I’m starting to work with some sterling sheet I
reticulated a while back. I want to set some cabochons in bezels on
the sheet surface. The solution I chose was to pierce the sheet, and
file to fit a bezel cup I made and solder it in. Pretty tedious, and
high potential for error.
I can’t really see an effective way to solder a bezel directly to the
sheet, since it has an irregular surface.
Check out this 2-parter article in Lapidary Journal, a pendant made
by Tom & Kay Benham that may give you an idea for one good way to do
what you have in mind. Best of luck to ya, Carol
I tackled this headache a few years back. One solution is to do it
the other way round. Hehehehehe…
What on earth do you mean? You’ll ask. Well, depending on how thick
your reticulated sheet is, you could use a thin layer of silver and
solder it underneath your reticulated piece (since reticulated
pieces do not have even surfaces on the back either). Before you
solder the thin layer (about 50�=half a milimetre) make your bezel
to fit your stone. After you do that and the bezel is the closest
possible shape to your stone take a pencil and draw the shape of the
bezel, using the bezel itself, on the back of the reticulated piece.
Cut inside of the shape you draw and then measure and file according
to the fit. After that sand the back of the reticulated piece so it
becomes flat and voila!
You’ll have a bezel for your cabouchon stone(s) hopefully without
too much trouble. Solder your “base” on to the reticulated piece
(you’ll probably have to cut your"base" the exact shape as the rest
of the piece. There are other solutions though.) Bear in mind when
measuring to cut the height of the bezel to leave a bit of "slack"
so you can actually have room to work on your bezel to set the
stone. Hope that helps.
In response to David’s question about attaching a bezel to a
reticulated surface, I can tell you how I approach the problem. I
usually line my bezel up on the metal surface and trace a line
around it with a sharpie pen. Then I use an abrasive wheel in the
flex shaft to flatten down the area where the bezel will sit, being
careful to grind only inside my guide lines. At that point the
surface where the bezel will sit is usually flat enough to accept
the bezel and solders without a problem. This is a pretty tedious
process and one that has to be fairly exact so I am also curious how
others approach it.
This question has come up now and then and there might also be
something on it in the archives. In the meantime, I find there are
several ways to solve the problem
When you reticulate, you create seveal layers of different metal
structures. On the top is pure silver, directly underneath is an
uneven layer of oxidized scale, below that is copper and finally more
sterling. This ‘sandwiching’ makes not only for an uneven surface,
but also a very pourous structure…not unlike fired PMC.
In order to solder directly to the surface you must first even out
the surface area where the join will be and second, remove or reduce
the porosity. You can achieve some level of success by;
Using a small diamond or Si wheel to grind a pathway along the
route of your intended join. This evens the surface, roughens it and
cuts down below the difficult to solder upper layers.
You can burnish the pathway but this can be tricky if the join
will be very narrow.
You can chase a pathway with a small chasing chisel.
You can try fusing the join. This would require the use of fine
silver bezel wire and very clean reticulated surfaced. Temp control
will also be tricky…but it does work.
Let us know what works for you. I am just finishing a piece with a
large reticulated bail with a bezel set garnet on the face and a
large curved bail on the back. Using the grinding method, I
encountered no problems.
Cheers, Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFL where simple
elegance IS fine jewelry! dcdietz@comccast.net
I do my pieces similarly to yours. I solder the bezel to a larger
back plate of 26 or 28 gauge sheet, pierce the reticulated piece and
slip it over the bezel and solder it to the back plate then add an
edge wire. Piercing the hole in the reticulated piece takes some
care to get a close fit as you have found out. There was a pendant
project in the Lapidary Journal this past November using this
method.
I also cut my bezel strips from a larger sheet of 28 gauge Fine
Silver. This lets me get the bezel the exact width I need instead of
depending on the stock widths available from suppliers. I also do
gold the same way.
I have found that when you explain the reticulation process to your
customer, it adds significantly to the “mystique” of the piece and
your skills. This translates into getting a higher price for your
work.
I’ve been using reticulation in my work for a year now and just
completed a small body of work using it. Reticulation is wonderful
once you become used to it. When using sheet I first use a nylon
mallet to tap the sheet down so it is a little more regular, this has
minimal effects on the appearance. Once I have fairly flat sheet I
just solder the bezel on. The small gaps don’t seem to matter as I
use hard solder most of the time and the reticulation is sort of
mushy at this temp. I normally observe the bezel settle into the
surface of the sheet. I’ve had a lot of success soldering to
reticulation by using this mushy state to conform to the piece I am
attaching. Maybe not the ‘correct’ way to do it but it works for
me!
Lee, I confess to having been out drinking with a friend tonight but
I cannot for the life of me see how the method you suggest for doing
this is any easier than what David was trying to do. If anything it
is far more complicated and time consuming. Quite frankly what he
was doing is probably the fastest way it can be done.
Daniel R. Spirer, GG
Spirer Somes Jewelers
1794 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-6000 @spirersomes www.spirersomes.com
The way David was describing his method might be less time consuming
(although I doubt it), it has a real possibility of developing a
major flaw to the construction of the piece. All that is needed is
one slight mistake in the filing and then it’s either tossing the
piece out the window or trying to fill in the gaps with solder (not
a very good solution I’m sure you agree). Although my suggested
method might be time consuming it offers the best possible
protection against these mistakes thus saving oneself a great deal
of frustration.
I still did not get your joke about your being out drinking with a
friend having anything to do with what I was suggesting.
Soldering a bezel to reticulated sheet is somewhat problematic no
matter how you do it. My preferred method is to grind a seat in the
reticulated metal using various burs (whatever shapes work best,
basically). The idea is to create a flat enough surface for the
bezel to sit on comfortably. You don’t have to be as precise as when
you saw out a hole to fit the bezel into. Slips of the hand are
easily masked because of the texture of the reticulation. Just be
careful not to make the seat overly large. Beth
I’m starting to work with some sterling sheet I reticulated a while
back. I want to set some cabochons in bezels on the sheet surface.
The solution I chose was to pierce the sheet, and file to fit a bezel
cup I made and solder it in. Pretty tedious, and high potential for
error.
I can’t really see an effective way to solder a bezel directly to
the sheet, since it has an irregular surface.
Been there, done that. I have a couple of ways to overcome that
problem. One is to anneal and hammer flatter the area in which you
want the stone to sit. Then seat your bezel on a bit of a flatter
surface.
Another is to pierce out the shape of the cabochon, then solder your
bezel into the open space, slightly pound out the cut out silver and
then solder it to the bezel base. Easier to do than to explain.
One last suggestion is to seat the bezel as best you can with some
gaps here and there, then use Silver Metal Clay and create a shape
around the base of the bezel and torch fire it. No more visible
gaps.
A similar question came up a while ago on Orchid and the consensuses
was that the best route was to saw out a bit from the reticulated
metal, in the shape of the stone, and set the bezel down in the cut
out bit. I don’t recall if you’re supposed to put a flat metal
backing over the back of the hole.
I’m starting to work with some sterling sheet I reticulated a while
back. I want to set some cabochons in bezels on the sheet surface.
The solution I chose was to pierce the sheet, and file to fit a bezel
cup I made and solder it in. Pretty tedious, and high potential for
error.
I'm starting to work with some sterling sheet I reticulated a
while back. I want to set some cabochons in bezels on the sheet
surface. The solution I chose was to pierce the sheet, and file to
fit a bezel cup I made and solder it in. Pretty tedious, and high
potential for error.
I worked with reticulated metal (still do, when I can get in the
shop) for many years. With sterling or 80/20 sheet, if it is heavy
enough to have the necessary strength after this process, it’s a
little simpler that what you are doing. Just place you bezel cup on
the sheet appropriately, draw around the cup then use your foredom
and the appropriate burs to remove the bumps and wrinkles, and sweat
solder the cup to the sheet. I use the Lewton Brain bur (bic lighter
wheel on a mandrel) if there is enough room for the rough removal,
clean up the edges with smaller burs, and finally use abrasive
rubber/silicone wheels to get the area nice and flat, or what ever
shape is necessary for a good fit. I almost always use all hard
solder for my bezel making, allowing for use of medium for attaching
the cup. You can’t use hard solder on 80/20, because the melting temp
is so low. If I am using gold, I use hard solder from beginning to
end with very few exceptions. Thomas III
you can pierce it (the reticulated sheet) becuase it lets more light
into the stone than a backing plate- but you may want to simply use
a shaping bur, like a flame shape or diamond coated ball bur, take
down the area you want to attach the bezel to to as flat as you can
get the surface. You will need to build up some layers of Cupronil,
or borax. boric acid in an alcohol solution (A Pripps type flux /
firescale preventative- mix it two parts borax, to one part boric
acid to as much alcohol -denatured- as it will take to completely
saturate the solution. You will know when that point is as no more
powdered ingredients will dissolve into it) to protect the surface
you have reticulated as the point the bezel strip may melt if using
sterling is above that of the 80/20 silver alloy in reticulation
silver. Another method if you have a rolling mill is to cut a wire
the same size as the bezel and form it exactly as the cab is shaped,
placing it on the sheet and then covering the sheet and wire with a
sheet of polished brass (to protect the rollers) then run it through
until it makes an impression - kind of like roll printing -You can
use a wire only as thick as the bezel material. This will give you a
seat for the bezel material and a track for the solder to flow. the
main things to keep in mind are the bezel material should be closed
with hard solder first. Then the bezel will have to be sanded,
particularly at the join, to “fit” in the impression made with the
rolling mill. You will have to use a med. or easy solder - if you
are going to attach more than one bezel to the piece use med or a
flow point that is between med and easy (Beth Katz makes various
medium solders with different flow points- he co,.is called My Unique
Solutions, I have no connection with her except as a former
customer),using the harder solder and moving down to easy with each
additional bezel you set. Alternatively, you can rethink the bezel
settings and use gravers to raise fingers of metal as you would for
a heavy bead setting and then use them as you would prongs, using at
least 6 for each cab (in sets of 2 fairly close together) depending
on the size and then finishing them off with a cup bur or similar to
diminish any burrs, or snags they may cause on clothing, etc. or
form some wire or any shaped stock you wish, and solder them all at
once in pre-marked places on the sheet/ workpiece winding up with
some unique claws, If it’s a small piece you can use a washer on top
to position them then use a tripod to heat the solder from underneath
the work. Then you just rub the prongs over the cabs- at least 4
unless they are trillions, triangles, or trilliants- You could even
use tubes if they are round, : and again, can use wire to impress
their positioning into the sheet as explained above with a rolling
mill- it is then fairly easy to drop them all into place, once
sanded to match the sheet’s contours or a sanded flattened sheet,
positioning small chips of solder on each and heat once. Fine silver
would be my choice for any silver bezel, or claw or prong and 18 kt
if not 22kt. gold if using gold. the gold won’t affect the
reticulated material if you use easy gold coloured silver solder. .
if you have questions feel free to ask. rer