Jewel setting

[guarnera]

I want to drill a hole in the top of a stainless thumb stud and insert a small peace of gold tubing and set a stone in it. What would be best to attach the two metals. I though about gold solder, but it rather high temp, But thats O.K. Or silver solder like used on blades and guards. Any suggestions on what would work and adhere to both the gold and the stainless. Thank you all very much.

 

Tony G

[DJPratt]

i cant see why you wouldn't be able to solder it you could use a soft solder that has a lower melting temp if the heat would cause you a problem. on the other hand you could use epoxy i suppose but solder is a much better option.

 

~~DJ

[B. Norris]

Tony,

 

The low temperature solders seem to stick better to the stainless than high temperature (brazing) ones. The stainless forms a very tough oxide at higher temps. I once used a specialty solder specificaly for soldering stainless steel, it worked great but, was somewhat difficult to find. These days you ought to be able to find it on the internet and just have it shipped to you.

 

A tube setting such as you want to do can be a very challenging type of setting to mount a stone in. Do you want to set a cabachon or a faceted stone? I suggest ordering your setting with the seat for the stone already cut, otherwise you will have to do it yourself and without the proper tools (set of seat cutters for the flexible shaft) it is a PITA! Once you are ready to give it a try, take an old toothbruch and cut the head off, then use your new bezel pusher to gently but, firmly, push the metal over the stone and into place.

 

~Bruce~

[guarnera]

Tony,

 

The low temperature solders seem to stick better to the stainless than high temperature (brazing) ones. The stainless forms a very tough oxide at higher temps. I once used a specialty solder specificaly for soldering stainless steel, it worked great but, was somewhat difficult to find. These days you ought to be able to find it on the internet and just have it shipped to you.

 

A tube setting such as you want to do can be a very challenging type of setting to mount a stone in. Do you want to set a cabachon or a faceted stone? I suggest ordering your setting with the seat for the stone already cut, otherwise you will have to do it yourself and without the proper tools (set of seat cutters for the flexible shaft) it is a PITA! Once you are ready to give it a try, take an old toothbruch and cut the head off, then use your new bezel pusher to gently but, firmly, push the metal over the stone and into place.

 

~Bruce~

 

 

Bruce, I'm going to get the proper size stone setting burrs to do the job. The tooth brush for a bezel pusher is a great idea. Thank you very much. I'll probably use the solder I use to solder guards onto stainless blades. Thanks again.

 

Tony

[DanM]

A toothbursh for bezel setting? I have never used anything but steel pushers,a plastic toothbrush would be too soft to push the edge of gold tubing. See link for a simple method.

 

Setting stones into steel

[B. Norris]

Bruce, I'm going to get the proper size stone setting burrs to do the job. The tooth brush for a bezel pusher is a great idea. Thank you very much. I'll probably use the solder I use to solder guards onto stainless blades. Thanks again.

 

There are predone settings, with the stone already in them like the ones in the link Dan posted. You just drill the proper size hole and then use the tool they sell to seat the whole assembly in the hole. I was searching the internet for them, I thought Rio Grande carried them but, no luck so far. I cannot remember what they are called. This method would save a lot of expense in tools and is quite a bit easier to do.

 

Dan is correct, a toothbrush bezel pusher will not do the job on the gold. The bulk of my experience is with fine (.999) silver bezels and I just didn't think. I apologize for steering you wrong. Many of the european jewelers will use a small steel hammer and actually hammer the bezel into place. It takes a lot of guts, not to mention good hammer control! After doing a few settings in 14 Karat gold about ten years ago I can see why they do it. Compared to silver the 14K is like working with steel!

 

~Bruce~

[B. Norris]

Here is a brief tutorial on how to do it the hard way. I still cannot remember what those darn settings were called!

Tube Setting

[Kerrystagmer]

Here is a brief tutorial on how to do it the hard way. I still cannot remember what those darn settings were called!

Tube Setting

 

I bought out Rio Grande's entire supply a few years back and they decided to no longer carry them. They are typically called 'pre-sets'

 

I do have the manufacturers info somewhere and they now even make them with diamonds

[guarnera]

Here is a brief tutorial on how to do it the hard way. I still cannot remember what those darn settings were called!

Tube Setting

 

 

 

They are named in Dan's post. They are made by Signity. I hadn't thought about using those. However I would like to have the ability to use stones that they don't have in the presets. Thank you all for the great infomation.

 

Tony G