"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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