Where & how to fix your wax-problems. => 18 photos

 In the previous essay I 'touched lightly' upon a few wax items. This essay delves into the repairing similar items.

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 When the stones are slightly warmed, they will gently fall onto their respective holes.

 There is no reason to push or move any of the wax claws over any stones. Just let the warmed stone gently settle into the wax opening. First, clean out all of the holes before attempting to set any stones.

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 It is here that you can see a 'bad break' in the wax at the end of the row of stones. The wax inserted stones are not sitting correctly at both ends. I wouldn't proceed further on this item.

 Please clean out the areas UNDER the horse's face, this needs to be cleaned thoroughly. You can use a pin, or a razor blade to do this carefully.

  Finally, I got the stones into this delicate wax ring. I gently warmed up the stones and placed them into the claw areas. I didn't move any claws, as this would ruin the wax ring, completely!

 Don't push or move any soft wax claws, just let the stone settle in the wax claws themselves. Try practicing this technique often, as this a good idea for you.

 Instead of attempting to move any wax, just warm each stone and let the weight of that stone move for you!

 Don't waste your time with 'stone setting', just warm up the stone and let it settle into the wax ring.

This 'heated' pen tip will allow the stone to settle into each opening. I allow the pen-tip to rest against the Crown Facets, this will give 'little momentum' to the resting stone.

 The 'warm & hot pen tip' technique is a great idea in 'wax, stone-setting'. Practice this often as it will save you much time at your bench. 

The 'smiley' is where the pen temperature should be at. The 'wax' is for the wax-working temperatures should be.

 Be very gentle with the hot pen tip. Avoid the HOT, but stay at WARM. Experiment with different temperatures.

  

 DON'T TOUCH ANY OF THE WAX CLAWS. Just let the weight of the stone find its own position within the wax claws. AGAIN, don't push the stone, the 'warmed stone' will melt the gem to where it is needed.

 Put the 'heating pen' up against the facets and that alone will guide the stone into a correct place. 

 In this photo, all of the stone is starting to warm, therefore it will will gently fall into the wax claws.

 I can now finish setting these 16 green stones with no problems. When the wax is finally cast THEN the metal claws can get filed, polished & trimmed.

How to FIX WAX ERRORS => 21 examples

 There will be times where errors might occur. The art is to identify and correct them before they are cast. I will explain how they occured.

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1) When you look at the claw tips, they appear flattened. This occured during the wax injection stage.

2) The double 'mini-claws' are joined as the result of a poor quality of the rubber mold. 

  3) There appear cuts in the centre of the 5-stone wedding band. This will be easier to fix in wax, than in metal.

4) The definition of the horshoe-claw setting is lacking to a point of being unable to distinguish any of the claws.

5) The wax holes are not perfectly round in the wedding band and there is a defect in the surface of that ring. 

  The holes are too small, redrill the holes AGAIN!!! Plus, these are not uniform as they appear here. THERE IS ONE CLAW BROKEN.

 Here are the actual stones that will go into the disk.

6) The outside mini-claws are not suitable for stone setting. I firmly believe that a new mold be made with greater detail.

7) When attempting to repair delicate waxes, it is commonly used to place them on a flat plate.

 If they are held in your fingers for a long period of time, they will get distorted and loose their shape.

Bright-Cutting, "DICE" holes=> 9 photos

On a Rating of Difficulty, this process is at 8, out of 10.

 The first cut is always the most delicate cut. When cutting in a full-circle, it is best to ensure that the Flat graver is sharp as a razor.

   What I always look for is smooth rim of metal surrounding the hole.

 The most delicate aspect of "dice (hole) cutting" is to have the rims of equal widths....=>Not what you see here!!

 The hole rims have "surrated" edges, this is not what is needed.

 The smooth cutting is the most delicate aspect of metal carving of DICE. In other related DICE essays, I will explore how the stones are accurately set.

  DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SET ANY STONES, UNTIL THE HOLES HAVE BEEN ACCURATELY 'CUT & SHAPED'.

  

 HAVE THE FLAT GRAVER START THE CUTTING AT '45DEGREE' ANGLES.

 YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PHOTO JUST HOW SMOOTH THE REMNANTS OF METAL CUTTING APPEARS. 

 When you have '3, diagonal holes', the DICE are situated in a row, it is always advisable to have equal spacing. 

 THIS DOES TAKE MUCH CUTTING PRACTICE. Don't expect perfection at the first, second, or even third attempts.

 

What can an Onglette graver do for you, just look? => 12 photos

 This Onglette graver is the workhorse of the Diamond Setters' world. I should rephrase this question here and right now.

What can the Onglette graver....NOT DO?

The Onglette and Flat gravers have a symbiotic relationship. Each of these two gravers need each other to create 'works of art'.

 I spent two+ weeks in metal carving this pendant and deciding which stones went where. Where would I be if I didn't have these precision blades?

 The sharp point of this graver literally cuts deep separating grooves into the metal. This is the beginning of a 'Fish-Tail' pattern.

 

 No other cutting-blade can dig in so accurately as an Onglette #1.

  These 'Onglette, beginning cuts' are the precursor for the use of a Flat graver.

 

 ONLY an Onglette graver can cut so evenly and with such precision as this blade. Enjoy the enlarged photo, below is the regular magnification.

  These two photos are the beginnings of a '2-bead stone setting'.

 Without these graver cuts, the Flat graver just wouldn't be able to cut with such exacting precision. Trust me!!!

 

 Once that some of the Flat cuts have been made, it's time to procede further.

 All of this metal cutting MUST BE DONE PRIOR TO ANY STONE SETTING.

 Here is another example of metal sculpturing that is done with Onglette & Flat gravers.

 It is now 70 years ago, that my Uncle gave me this wine goblet to commemerate my 13th birthday (Bar Mitzvah).

All of this lettering was done by hand, such precision.

 

 These are the 'tools of our trade'. I name these surgical blades, as the Onglette blades are sharpened just what a surgeon might use.

  All of these various lengths of Onglette blades are still useful with the extension of my (adjustable) graver handles.

  If you view my blog photo's, you will see more photos of what the gravers can do for you. 

THESE 'BEADS' ARE FOR YOU to Enjoy! =>12 photos

 From my extensive library of Diamond Setting photos, I've edited and altered the size of the selected pictures.

 Basically, these are now NEW for YOU!

 The stone was purposely unset, it was to show what it looked like before the gemstone was to be set.

 From a near-square block of metal, I'm now going to display what two lines can do in creating 'beads'. 

 I will first cut with an Onglette graver #1, then with an Onglette #2 at a much DEEPER DEPTH. 

 

 

 The next step is to use a small bud-shaped bur to widen the space. Once that this accomplished, I'd use my Bead-Burnisher and with a downward pressure 'round off' the square-points.

 These are your new BEADS!! Gently use another bud-bur and make these new beads deeper in depth and wider in size.

  Although that this was a CAD design. It shows the uniformity of both height and width of these mini-claws.

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 This was originally a FLAT-top Gent's ring with no spaces for stones. You can see the new beads and the bead-burnisher doing what is necessary. These new beads are now gently burnished and soft to the touch.

 Can you imaine bead-burnishing a Genuine Emerald, just make sure the edge of the conical shape of the burnisher doesn't touch the facets of the Moh's Scale 6 Emerald.

 I prefer if you'd use a 10x power loupe and examine the results.

 Here I'm holding the burnishing tool at a 90 degree angle.

  All of the beads are now uniform in size. This is so very important, it must be repeated...OFTEN!

 Even if many beads are not covering any stone, the "decorative, inside-beads" have to be burnished as well.

                              Did you enjoy this essay on BEADS?