HammerIng & Setting an Oval stone #2, (complete lesson) => 27 photos

    OVAL STONE SETTING JUST FOR YOUR BENCH!

 This is the exact hammer hitting sequence to avoid crooked oval stones.

 (self explanatory)

 Wrong hammer to use on these delicate rings.

  Be careful as the size of the hammer head covers the viewing while hitting.

 Keep the delicate Culet on the mandrel curve.

  Always select the right size of stone for the bezel.

 Don't use a 156C Carbide bur. I prefer the HSS 90degree angle bur. The reason being that the teeth are deeper and cut more into the metal.

 Some setters use a round bur, but the cutting doesn't adhere to the shape of the Pavilion of the stone.

Under closer scrutiny, it appears that this stone IS CROOKED. 

  The next problem is to REMOVE IT, IMMEDIATELY

 When setting an Oval stone, make sure that the Culet is not touching the metal mandrel underneath. Keep the stone well within the groove, as seen here!

 I couldn't allow this ring be completed, as it is not aligned into bezel evenly.

  FINALLY, I found a ring that the stone is 'well set'.

 Keep that Reciprocating Hammer head from touching the stone.

 You should 'move' the bezel metal closer to the stone. Never pound the metal onto the Facets as there could be problems further into stone setting.

 To initially remove any rough casting marks, you should use a #2 grit large file to clean any worrisome remnants of casting.

 Please use an Onglette graver #2 graver to carefully clean the inner wall of the bezel.

 If you use a Flat graver, you could have 'faceting' in the metal when the graver hits every facet of the stone.

 Here you really should use a large file of #4 grit, to file the hammered surface.

It's 'Pumice Wheel' time here. You should use #180 grit for a start.

For finishing, instead of using the cloth-wheel. Kindly use a #1,000 grit, PINK wheel.

 To remove any rough areas on the shank, or hammer hitting areas by accident. I'd use a "MEDIUM" grade "Snap-On" Emery wheel, just to clean up the ring in general.

 

 Last, but not least, inspect every detail of this ring to remove any casting errors.