Channel Set Rings - (Instructions with each photo) => 24 photos

 Channel Setting looks easy, but it isn't. The difficulty is in the placement of the gemstones.

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 When I finish setting the stones, I make a genuine habit of "Bright Cutting" the inner wall of metal. This will clean any rough metal that is remaining where the hammering took place. 

  I will 'ink' exactly where the center of the channel wall is located. From this point, I have a center point where to set the stones. 

 You can now see the 'Bright Cutting' along the inner wall. This process will allow the stones to look larger and there won't be any metal appearing to be covering the stones. 

 You can see that I haven't put my hammer anvil any closer than what is shown here, why is that?

 I want the Square "Princess cut" stones to be seen with no or little spaces in between any of them.

  It appears that the intense hammering broke one stone, why did this happen? The answer is quite simple.

 The hammering hit the corner of the stone, and it had to be replaced immediately. The hammer anvil was vibrating fiercely on the metal, and this also shattered the stone. 

 

After many attempts to tighten the stones there might have some flat spots appearing on the top of the channel wall.

1) This can be easily repaired by using a file of #4 grit and round the top of the channel wall.  

2) The other suggestion is to very lightly hammer the top of the channel wall, thus making the two channel walls smooth again. 

 Here is a great photo of the hammer anvil not getting too close to the delicate stone.

 The anvil IS NOT HITTING THE METAL; IT IS ACTUALLY MOVING THE METAL 'AGAINST AND OVER THE GIRDLE' OF THE STONE.

 Every channel in this ring needs to be polished before any stones are set. Obviously, the polishing wheel can't gain access when the stones are already in the ring, agree?

 In my photographs of burs preparing to set a stone, this photo is high on my list.

 You can see the teeth of the bur preparing to cut a seat in the metal for the stone. But the first thing is to clean the hole and including the Pavilion area where the stone will be soon sitting. I would even pre-polish the inner-channel wall.

 Which of these two stones gets to be set first? I will always suggest that the top stone, that is nearest to the center stone setting gets set first.

 

  When you are setting square stones, it is always nice to keep a little space in between the stones. The chances of stone breakage are somewhat high. How wide should the space between each stone be? Let me suggest this to be the thickness of a sheet of paper.

 The reason of this, is if you decide on hammering any of the stones, the vibration could and will cause severe breakage to any of the precious stones.

 

 When I was learning my apprenticeship about 65+ years ago, my teacher introduced me to Bright Cutting after every stone setting procedure that was completed.

 Here too is another reason to finish the stone setting, it makes the whole process looking just BEAUTIFUL. 

 Which "Princess-Cut" stone is to be set first, any guesses?

 My answer is simple and to the point, the first stone should be the top stone nearest to the tip of the pendant (where the chain is to slide through).

Again, I would hasten to suggest that it would be nice if the inner settings were Bright Cut. This will make the appearance of having larger stones. 

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  There are two major problems here, which are 'a defect in the wax preparation'. I recommend them to be repaired NOW, even before any stone setting is to commence.

 There is a hole in the channel wall, and the end-setting-hole is plugged up with metal.

 If any rings have an 'End Bezel', it is important to the stones be well covered equally of metal. The reason is that the width of each bezel top, be uniform all around the ring.

 It is also nice to the file the 'End Bezel' ends and make each bezel look like claws, (as shown here).

There are two things to watch for:

1) Pre-polish (Rouge) the inside channel setting with a cloth polishing wheel.

2) Try and avoid that any stones are touching each other. As breakage might occur.

 You will notice that the "Reciprocating Hammer Anvil" is making contact in a 'wide' position.

 The anvil MUST NEVER GET CLOSE TO THE DELICATE STONES. The 'hitting' is basically MOVING THE METAL AGAINST & OVER THE STONE.

 In this photo, you will notice that there is space between the stones. The vibration caused by the hammer anvil might shatter the stones at the Girdle Facet.

 It is imperative to leave a little space in between them all.

 

 The wedding band should be fully set first, then polished and soldered to the engagement ring.

 This jeweller had no idea whatsoever how to set baguette stones. They are crooked & poorly set; in fact, one stone fell out.

 The 'shoulder stones' in this ring MUST BE SET INDEPENDENT to the rest of the ring. If not, any subsequent stone setting labour might loosen the 'cluster top' collection. Basically, the cluster top should be set separately and then soldered together. Thus, making this ring be a 3-piece combination.

 Before any finishing of this 3-piece ring set, it is advisable to polish the Channel Setting ring, completely. Each of the 3 pieces should be individually cleaned, set and polished. the last thing to do is to solder the 3 rings together.