A personalized tour of my Diamond Setting bench. Circa=>2023. (43 photos)

 

 This essay was originally printed in 2006, I have made at least 7 "bench revisions" since I started my long career, circa 1965. These revisions are to my tools and diamond-setting methods, I call them my ongoing "improvements". 

 I do not use any microscope, why is this? My Cataract surgery has greatly improved my eyesight in both eyes.

  I enjoy doing only the most difficult style of setting namely; Pave Setting, Gypsy Setting, Bezel Setting Pear-Shaped stones, and Bright-Cutting around Princess-Cut Diamonds. I prefer only the most difficult types of settings. If I didn't have my specialized types of tools, I'd be at a loss.

 My 'guided tour' of my gem-setting 'improved' bench starts...NOW!

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 BURS IN WOODEN BOXES. I keep my "High-Speed Steel" burs in a safe area of my bench, preferably in the rear of my working area. They are arranged in sizes and functions. My costs of these "HSS" burs are just phenomenal.

 My favourite bur for diamond setting is the 90-degree angle "High-Speed Steel'. The reason is that its shape is equal to the shape of a gemstone, it's great for cutting a Pavillion seat into the claws. You just use the Pavillion shape of the bur, as a pseudo-file. 

  BURS IN GREEN (PEG-BOARD) HOLDERS. I keep a collection of specially cut burs separate from any other burs. I keep them in ascending order of size in one green (peg-board) tray, my "#77B, Cup Burs" are in another box. The very large sets of burs that I don't use, are also kept separate. 

 

 This rack of burs is my 156C (Carbide) burs. There are just too darned too many and very time-wasting to keep in any order of size and quality.

 As above, these two plates of burs are my 'working tools' in a stone-setting environment. If your bur gets worn down..bye-bye!

MODIFIED BURS. I will keep these specially shaped burs that are created for Bezel setting in another. These large ROUND-shaped burs have been designed on a "Bench Grinder" just for the sole purpose of setting Cabochon-shaped stones. (I came up with this idea many years ago.) 

 PUMICE WHEELS AND EMERY DISCS. I keep all of my wire wheels, pumice wheels and Emery (sanding) disks all by themselves for instant retrieval.

 Gemstone Holders. These claw-like instruments are great to have when you are examining any large stone, prior to setting. 

 OIL. I keep my bur oil in a (not shown) electrical fuse, where I removed all of the brass fittings. This left me with only the useable glass shell.

  I avoid "Oil of Wintergreen" as a lubricant, this liquid stings & hurts if it rubs against the tender area on your face. I did this by accident, I had to quickly bathe my face.

This is a 'make-up' container, it's great as it has a screw-on lid.

BENCH-PEG.  I like to see a clean wooden surface. Plus it makes your bench pin look much cleaner. This will prevent any reflection of light from your fluorescent light into your eyes as you work. 

 FILES. To quickly locate a particular file of grit. No more guessing and searching those small grit numbers. I just use black marker ink and scribe each file with lines or numbers.  

 HANDPIECE. I just adore my MICROMOTER handpiece, especially for Bezel & Gypsy Settings. This is where easy-hand operation is a total must.

 VULCANIZED RUBBER. I use a piece of vulcanized rubber that came from an old 'rubber mold'. I cut off a little piece and shaped it to my fingers, why is this so important? I use it to remove any residue from my 'charcoal wax stick' for picking up stones and it lightly shines the metal.

 OIL STONE. (As I am right-handed) I will leave this oil stone on my left side as I need it to reshape my gravers or large Cup-Burs constantly. These large Cup-burs are used in reshaping large and bulky claw tops.

 WAX, PICK-UP STICK. This stick is a mixture of 'charcoal and paraffin' wax. The paraffin sticks, but never leaves any residue on any gemstone.

 Polishing Papers. I've tackled this topic recently in previous essays, no harm in showing the photos again.

 STONE PADS. This is why you must not leave the small stones on your benchtop, loose. I suggest glueing some of these mini-trays to your bench. When I saw these little square rubber pads in a furniture store, I grabbed them and thought of how can I use them on my bench? I removed one side as I wanted great visual access to where the stones will be sitting.

 In this tray of often-used burs of all sizes, I keep them in pristine condition at all times. Once they get used, I'll put them into my "Green Bur" pads for later use.

 My tray of often-used gravers of all shapes and sizes is always handy to my fingers.

 Assortment of graver blades, I will eventually keep many of them close to my working area for use at a moment's notice. All I will do is interchange one graver for the next.

 Bench-Pin with a 'stone-holding' opening. This idea shows how easy it is to keep every stone within your eyesight and not to be loosing any of them.

 Gemstone holding (portable) mini-tray, this was bought in a local furniture store. This was originally a pad that was used under the legs of the table, but not anymore! I cut off a side of this pad so I could see if any stone got out of my line of sight.

 If you are having a large number of stones on your bench please keep them in a secure place. It's time-wasting looking for them if you lose one of them.

 I remember one setter lost his diamond, it was found about 25 feet away.

 TWIST DRILLS. These are so-o very important and I have no desire to lose any of them. I use an Emery Wheel of 'Fine grit' to recut the teeth when needed.  

 PLIERS. These pairs of pliers have been altered continuously. The claws rest in between the grooves that I made.

 Here is a Corundum (7/8th inch wide) wheel starting to make those important grooves. If they get worn, you can just recut them again and again.

  Polishing Wheels. You might be having hundreds of burs and wheels, and every item needs to be looked after and properly maintained.

  If you have other exciting bench organization ideas that you’d like to share with our readers, just e-mail me at "gerrylewy18@gmail.com".