Bezel Setting Fat Stones

Tom Weishaar

 

1.  In the last issue of Bench Magazine I showed how I like to bezel set opals.  This emerald will also be bezel set, but it will be done in a completely different manner.  I thought you might like to see my second method of bezel setting.    Since this mounting is a ring that will be worn every day, the bezel setting will need to be heavy enough to last for many years.  The bezel for this stone was fabricated out of 1mm, 18 karat yellow gold stock.  I made the bezel’s dimensions so that the stone would overlap the bezel walls by ½ of a millimeter on each side.  The seat for the stone will need to be cut into the bezel by hand. 

 

 

2.  Most colored gemstones are cut with deep, bulbous pavilions.  For this reason I call these fat stones.  Fat stones rarely have symmetrical pavilions.  Each side of the bezel will need to be cut to fit only one side of the stone.  I marked the emerald with white-out and scratched a small X into the corresponding side of the bezel.  This way I won’t mix up which side of the stone goes where

 

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3.  The first step in setting the emerald will be to roughly cut out the stone’s seat.  I like to do this operation using a flat graver.  The emerald is continuously checked against the seat to make sure that I am not removing too much metal.  This is a very slow process that required nearly one hour.

 

 

 

4.  Once I get the seat roughly cut and the emerald fits reasonably well it is time to fine tune the seat.  Jeffery Mathews, CMBJ, first introduced me to using Disclosure Powder many years ago.  This non-toxic spray powder is primarily used in the dental industry for fitting people with new crowns, but it works great for helping to set stones.  Several of the jewelry tools catalogs will offer discloser powder or you can get it through dental supply companies.

 

5.  I first sprayed the top of my ring with the discloser powder.  As you can see I used a fairly thick layer of the spray.  After drying I fitted the stone into the seat and gently rocked it back and forth.  The red wax that I am using to hold the stone is called boxing wax and is available in most jewelry tools catalogs.

 

Bezel Setting Fat Stones continued