"Cut - Down" (Complete Process) 18 photos

 From a simple wedding band this is 'where the magic starts'. Sit back for the next few hours, study my text and examine these photos.

    "In the beginning, there was a plain narrow wedding bang and it was good". (But not good enough).

All of this metal cutting was 50 years before CAD appeared.

 This is where the interesting aspect of metal cutting is starting to happen....With your Flat graver that has a sharp edge, let this graver cut into the surface of the metal..only that the blade cuts half-way.

 You can see where the deep cutting initially starts with this photo. Then you should let the blade TWIST a thick sliver of metal OVER THE EDGE OF THE HOLE.

 The 'twisting' is almost like rotating on the corner of the blade.

 One corner of the Flat graver remains IN THE METAL while the remaining half of the exposed blade actually slides across the surface of the metal. This 'sliding of metal' will be a BEAD or CLAW.

 READ THIS CAREFULLY => THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF OUR....CLAW.

 While the FLAT graver is highly polished, you can see a shiny surface being created. The front of the Flat graver is sharp enough to cut INTO THE METAL leaving a bright cut. INTERESTING?

 

 The width of the FLAT graver should be a #40 or a #41. Another important note is that the depth of stone determines the thickness of the new bead. 

 If the stone is shallow, as seen in this photo, the bead will be almost useless.

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 REMOVE THIS STONE AND LOWER IT DEEPER INTO THE METAL. This is because the claw is not strong enough.

  Where the metal is 'resting over the hole' will determine the thickness of the new claw.

 On the left side of the Ruby is exactly where the Onglette graver will separate the bead to the surface of the ring. (look at my photo)

 What you are seeing for the first time is the initial creation of four strong claws. What is next?

 Even if the stone is a bit small, it still can be easily used, but how is this possible? With the FLAT graver, we can easily twist the metal of the 4 corners over the stone.

WHAT ARE THESE DEEP  'BUR CUT' LINES FOR?

 =>The 'deep metal cuts' serves just one purpose, and that is to remove the extra metal remaining in between the two stones.

  You can as well prepolish the spaces before any stone setting. When the stones go in....forget the metal polishing aspect of setting.

 With a FLAT GRAVER against the deep and smaller stone the setter can MOVE the metal into creating 4 new claws. DON'T FORGET TO KEEP THE GRAVER TIP SHARP.

  Now you can see why there is a deep groove in the metal. The reason to have the graver sit in the groove and be able to easily twist the metal...NICE? Eh?

                                                  

 If there were no deep bur-cut lines, the grooves would look full of awful looking unnecesary cuts.

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 Here is something so very nice, use your "Extra Sharp" FLAT graver and Bright-Cut the metal that is in between the two stones.

 Just "Cut & Remove" any remaining metal. We need a shiny graver-smooth surface, use a narrow Flat graver #40 for this delicate manouvre.

 This text-writing took me exactly 4 cups of tea. I abstain from drinking coffee. 

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"DICE" FLAT GRAVER Cutting ERRORS=> 14 photos.

 The circular rim is not accurate. At the right side only, the rim is not uniform. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!

 

 This circular rim is (almost) acceptable.

 The engraver needs to improve their skills!

The holes are totally out of alignment

 The 5 rims are quite narrow and should be recut.

This red stone is NICELY SET! HOORAY!

These holes were not drilled and made circular.

 This hole was nicely cut but look at the other three. WOOPS!

These three holes are looking good, so far!

 The holes are nicely drilled, but the metal cutting is mediocre.

These 4 holes are nicely cut, but not well centered!

This a well cut and drilled hole. SUCCESS!

Wonderful hand cutting. GREAT!

  This is the display of careful hand-cutting.

"Cut-Down", Gem Setting #1 (introduction)

 Out of a Difficulty Scale of 10, this rate of difficulty lays somewhere in the range of 50. (Be prepared to get totally insanely frustrated and exhausted!!)

 My history of learning "Cut Down Setting" started in 1965, when many of you were not even born yet. My teacher was Stan Levine, of Blessed Memory, (in Toronto) began to show me this new method of setting diamonds and other round stones.

 I sat with him, discussed and saw just how intricate this setting style can be. Into three weeks of my 9 year apprenticeship, it was clear to me that this was not going to be easy.

 But I achieved this formidable task of understanding "Cut Down Setting", as we had no CAD then.

 The only tools that I had and still use are a series of Flat and Onglette gravers. As this is an ultra delicate setting pattern, you can set genuine Emerald, Ruby and Blue Sapphires plus any other soft stone in your inventory.

  

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.