How does the 'Sonic Cleaner' clean your jewellery? =>7 photos (#1, of 2 essays.)

  I've covered in the previous essays what is a 'Sonic Cleaner'? Now I'm going to explain how this mechanism cleans your jewellery. I will use just one word..."WOW" 

  What you are seeing here is a wire rack with my assortment of rings & heart-shaped pendants.                    

 I am always mindful of my earlier experience when I was starting my profession, I had numerous items touching each other. I discovered that the vibration left pitted marks on them all.  

 DON'T ALLOW ANY PIECE OF JEWELLERY TO TOUCH EACH OTHER. What you must do now is to repolish each and every one of them again. Labour and time LOST.

  In this photo, I made a concerted effort in keeping my jewellery distanced from each other.

 Inside this tank of cleaning solution are two sound-emitters as in a radio. They produce a high pitched sound which makes the water vibrate at a constant frequency. The sound waves in the water  literally make the jewellery vibrate...interesting, eh?

 Here is how the jewellery should be placed on the wire racks. If  there any touching of pieces there will be little scratches on both items. => Look at the four items on the rack on the right side! THIS IS NOT GOOD! <=

=>Avoid any accidental touching of jewellery with the other items! <=

Keep your jewellery completely submerged in the cleaning solution. Turn on the 'sonic cleaner' and let it sit in the vibrating water for an estimate at 4-5 minutes. You will see all remanants of refuse float away from the jewellery.

 

 Rinse off all of the cleaning solution. The "Magnetic Tumbler" won't thoroughly clean as well as the "Sonic Cleaner".

Remove all traces of the 'cleaning solution' with ordinary water.

 

 Once that all of the remnants of the 'day to day' dirt has been removed, then it is the time to prepare for the 'Magnetic Tumbler'. This will be fully displayed in the next tutorial essay.

What is a "MAGNETIC TUMBLER"? => 4 photos #2, of 2 essays.

 The tumbling action of the steel pins constantly rub against the jewellery item at high speed. The resulting 'hitting action' shines the metal to a very high lustre.

 You can see the tiny metal shots spinning around the beaker. The are now 'tumbling and hitting' the pieces of jewellery.

 This is a photo of large pieces of steel pins. Some 'tumbling shots' are made of plastic, but in my estimation steel pins work best.

 When you are storing them, you can either dry them, or keep them in a liquid, as I do.

 This is is an additional photo of another magnetic tumbler, but with a larger capacity for larger jewellery items.

 

Why you should use a thin Flat graver? => 12 photos

  Some stone-setters profess and promote a very thick metal cutting blade. I'm not going to explore this thick Flat graver, as in my 66 years of Diamond Setting would I ever use a "chisel" thick blade.

 This is the epitome of a well-sculptured "Flat graver". This blade will allow me to 'cut and carve' contours that some setters think that my cutting was CAD created.

 This blade was incorrectly sharpened & shaped for just one purpose. It is an example of 'inferior graver refurbishing' it would not be suitable for any serious metal cutting.

 What would I use it for? Easy answer, I wouldn't use at all!!!

 The front of this blade displays that the very tip got softened by not cooling the steel while being shaped on the "bench grinder". The steel tip got overheated and rendured the metal nearly useless.

 (The steel turned brown and got soft, this is an indication of lack of attention in the shaping process.) WOOPS!

 These are my own Flat gravers, you can see just how thin the front of the gravers are. I can use these particular gravers for any fancy metal sculpturing as in "Fish-Tail"..

  These are my Flat gravers. The 'wine' coloured handle is reserved for a wider blade #41, if and when needed.

 This photo displays how the Flat graver looks after the 'modification' has taken place.

  This graver has been used so often, that the blade is getting thick at the front. It needs to be recut & reshaped again, as soon as possible.

 This is the same blade, now you can see just how thin it looks. I can now cut with confidance to all  kinds of intricate patterns, as I will show you in the following photos.

 I'm now ready to cut into any precious metal and any pattern that is required.

 I've selected an assortment of photos from my 'blog-library', that will show in great detail where these Flat gravers were put to use.

 This is where my Flat graver will do its fantastic metal carving.

 

 There is no other graver that can carve a smooth continuous line as shown here. I used a #40 wide Flat graver.

 The 'angled inside cuttings' were all carved with a #39 Flat graver.

How to 'reharden' your Burnisher, ver.#2, of 2 instructional aids. => 8 photos

   As this is the beginners level tutorial on "Metallurgy", this essay is only about "HOW TO HARDEN STEEL". I will limit my text writing, as photos speak better than words.

 This is my mini-torch and it works very well, regardless of its operating size.

Heat the tip of the burnisher.

The hot area has to work itself halfway down the shaft.

The tip is starting to glow RED hot.

KEEP THE FLAME AIMED CONSTANTLY AT YOUR NEXT WORKING AREA. 

We want the tip to be well softened by the flame.

Maintain the heat and move the flame downward.

Don't let the flame wander away from the tip. It has to remain HOT.

 When the burnisher is 'RED hot', drop it into cold water. This process hardens the steel, again! You can see the bubbling of the water, as the steel is rapidly cooling.

You have succesfully hardened your Burnisher.

 Your 'refurbished & hardened' Bead Burnisher is now ready for more weeks & months of continual use.

How would YOU set this 5.13 Carat. Genuine, Pear-Shaped Emerald? => 3 photos

 A client asked me if I would set his Genuine Emerald, Pear-shaped stone? He asked 3 other setters, and all of them declined. He also requested that I completely recut the Diamond Pave sections that were a part of the necklace. I accepted his offer, as I always had my camera in my bench, I captured the gemstone being in production.

 This stone weighed 5.13 carats and had a wholesale cost of approximately $12,500.00 CDN. The Mohs Scale was 7.5 - 8.0.

 The necklace chain section was separated from the Emerald Bezel frame. I preferred not to have the long necklace chain interfere with my fingers, bench peg and shellac stick.

To have an expensive Emerald in my possesion and go through the gemsetting process was very challenging. 

                  IMPORTANT SETTING FACTS FOR YOU!

1) I decided to "Bright-Cut" the inside of the Bezel as I am Diamond Setter, (not just a stone setter in the jewellery trade).

2) I thinned the thick bezel as I preferred to "gently move the metal" against & over the Girdle and Girdle Facets.

3) I was constantly aware of the Pavilion Facet edges touching the inside of the bezel frame. What did I do?

4) I decided to examine just where these 'contact spots' would be. I used a felt pen and inked the stone Pavilion and the underneath inking marked the bezel and showed me just where these spots would be. (Good idea, eh?)

5) I decided to use #2 & #3 bud burs to make grooves into the bezel frame where the facets would touch the metal. (This simple action prevented any chance of damaging the Pavilion Facet edges.)

 This lead me to confirm that this expensive stone would endure the TENDER gemsetting processes without breaking.

                  

                           MORE DETAILED TECHNIQUES

  6) To prepare the bezel 'moving process', I trimmed at a 45 degree angle to the top of the frame. I (very gently) pressed the metal over the girdle of this delicate soft stone. This is where many setters would be very worried in case of breakage, the stone is ultra-soft.

7) When the metal is pressed on to the Crown Facets, I'd use my Flat edge, Pumice Wheels of #180 Grit, to smooth the surface, evenly. (AS SHOWN)

8) At this point, I'd now use my highly polished Onglet graver #2 to literally remove away any rough metal around the inner bezel wall.

9) I removed the front point of the graver to prevent any scratches caused by the 'sharp blade'. This is not a casual cutting process as I was very careful not to touch the stone.

10) To remove the pendant from the shellac, I warmed the bezel and let the heat radiate around the frame. I just let the whole (cooled) pendant lay in "Methyl Hydrate"alcohol for as long as needed to remove any remnants of shellac.

=>There were no shortcuts anywhere in this whole gemsetting process.<= NO WHERE!
           THIS WHOLE PROCESS TOOK ME 3 HOURS!

How to 'repair' the damaged Bead Burnisher tool? => #1, of 2 essays. => 9 photos

 Supposing that you've used your Pave, 'Bead Burnisher' for many weeks 'nonstop'. You now see that the tip of this tool looks worn. What now? We can easily fix it (with some training).

 This burnisher that was bought at your tool supply office is made into "High Speed Steel" also known as 'hardened steel'.

 Just to soften it again for getting it repaired, would have been be a difficlt process. All that is required now is to heat the tip until it gets absolutely 'RED HOT'.

 The next step is to let it rest until it gets cool enouph to hold in your fingers. We only need to apply heat to the forward tip of the burnisher, not the full length. (As shown in this photo) 

 

    This is the distance from the tool to the tip of the flame. I use a pair of pliers to hold the steel tip.

   There are two flame jets, the INNER (Blue) FLAME IS THE HOTTEST, further away will give a cooler heat.

 I'm only using this type of portable, mini-torch. It has an adjustable 'on & off' flame tip, which is great for this project.

  This is the optimum distance from the 'flame tip, to the bead burnisher'.

 Here you can see the tip of the flame doing the extreme heating. We need a RED HOT BURNISHER TIP. The rest of the length does not need to be heated.

 DON'T DROP THE BURNISHER INTO COLD WATER. The steel is sufficiently softened for the next step of repairing the damaged burnisher tip.

      

                     IMPORTANT NOTES FOR YOU!

1) Water cooling will quickly reharden the steel again, we don't want that right now. 

2) Just let the hot burnisher AIR COOL BY ITSELF, agree?

 Here are the two Bead Burnishers that I intend to repair.

 I let this burnisher cool against my metal bench tray.

  My next essay will demonstrate how to 'reharden the steel' tip.

 This is my version of "METALLURGY" at the basic level.

What does a "FLAT, graver" actually look like? => 10 photos

 Here are my well used Flat gravers. Each of them are HSS (High Speed Steel) which will last me for over one YEAR+ each, or more.

 During the past many months, I've discussed the many shapes of "FLAT" gravers. I will write about Onglette in future essays.                  

                                 =============================

 In this first photo, you can see an assortment of fine lines with a slightly pitted hole in the bottom of the blade. This is where all of the metal cutting will now originate. THIS IS TRULY NOT ACCEPTABLE!!                   

 The front area of the blade is too thick and needs to be reshaped further for the many tight setting areas.

  When I selected this specific blade, I did so with the sole purpose of showing what errors there are in shaping this Flat graver.

  For this Flat graver I kept it in this'wine coloured' handle, just for easier identification. This blade is a #41, or otherwuse known as a 'wide graver', I won't change it for any other width in this handle.

 You can see just how thin the front of the graver will be for the tight metal cutting areas.

 I will use this thin blade for when I will cut "Fish Tail" or assisting me in similar delicate  projects.

  What blade would I use? The next sentence would be "length does not matter!" With my "Adjustable, Graver Handle", I can very easily exchange any graver that can be used.

  You can see two sizes of Flat gravers that I will use to set and tighten gemstones in a 21 stone, Cluster Ring. 

 All Flat gravers are created in HSS metal, namely 'High Speed Steel'. This extreme srength & quality will give much endurance to all kinds of setting projects.

 No matter the life-span of the graver, even a well worn graver can still be used in this "Adjustable, Graver Handle", as shown in this and previous photos.

  Here are three gravers that I commonly use with equal dexterity.

 The lower blade is a #39 along with the middle blade being the commonly used #40, and the above blade is a #41. 

This wider blade #41, has certain features that even a wide Onglete graver lacks. There will be times that a wide cutting blade will suite my purposes.