Chipped Stone - How to remove it from setting

[Squiddyfin]

Hi all,

I'm after some help and advice please.....
I am a newby to Silver Jewellery making and stone setting and would like to know how best to remove a stone from a tube setting without damaging the setting as the setting is gold, the stone is a Peridot I don'd mind if I have to smash it in some way to remove it, especially as it is chipped now but with minimal clean up to the rest of the ring which I was so pleased with.
Many thanks in advance

Angi

[ps_bond]

Can you use a needle burnisher to move the setting outwards to free the stone, and can you anneal the thing after that?

(picture would be handy!)

[Squiddyfin]

4997

Thanks for your quick response, hopefully the picture has uploaded OK. I chipped the edge whilst giving the bezel one more push, doh!

[Wallace]

4997

Thanks for your quick response, hopefully the picture has uploaded OK. I chipped the edge whilst giving the bezel one more push, doh!

if it were me, I would opt for destroying the stone given it is already chipped. A little bit of caution as the shards are not nice! A little sharp pointy tool applied with a tap should fracture the stone further. A couple of goes and it should pop out. I am assuming the base it open. If it is not, as Peter has stated, going underneath the bezel with a needle burnisher to lift it would be the next thing. Heat on peridot can also cause them to spontaneously burst... so there are a few more options.

kindest,
Wallace

[Dennis]

Personally I would heat it in the dark, and quench it in cold water as soon as a slight glow shows and hopefully before any solder flows. This will both anneal the collet and fragment the peridot, so that it can be pushed out piecemeal from underneath.

If your stone broke by setting it in a tube, it signals to me that you were rubbing down too hard. This might have been because you left too much metal above the stone ( you only need about a quarter of a mm for this small stone), or by the look of your picture, because you did not bevel it to a knife edge from the outside, leaving it too thick. Or perhaps both.

Don't despair though, you're not a grown up jeweller until you have a collection of broken stones. Regards, Dennis.

[Gemsetterchris]

As Dennis said, you need to bust a few stones to learn their limitations.
Sometimes It's a weak stone, others times a misjudgment...just make sure It's the small cheap ones that you do your learning curve on.:)

[Wren]

As Dennis said, you need to bust a few stones to learn their limitations.
Sometimes It's a weak stone, others times a misjudgment...just make sure It's the small cheap ones that you do your learning curve on.:)

so true

I took half the table off a lovely square faceted emerald which I was setting deep into a cube of 18ct, must have nicked it with the pusher and ping it was ruined. I was cross the ring had turned out ok so I set the stone upsidedown as it was cut quite deep, sounds odd I know but it has an antique look now.

JH

[Gemsetterchris]

so true

I took half the table off a lovely square faceted emerald which I was setting deep into a cube of 18ct, must have nicked it with the pusher and ping it was ruined. I was cross the ring had turned out ok so I set the stone upsidedown as it was cut quite deep, sounds odd I know but it has an antique look now.

JH

Oh, if we could all get away with that! :D
Great recovery :thumbup:

[Wren]

Oh, if we could all get away with that! :D
Great recovery :thumbup:

Thanks :D
The stone was too pretty to bin, cannot sell it of course so I wear the ring to remind me to take more care in future.

JH

[Squiddyfin]

Hi all,

Thank you so much for the help and reassurance :D
I do find as I'm learning that my jewellery wardrobe is getting larger as I don't think anything is quite good enough to sell, so it gets added to my collection.
I was using a little bezel stone setting tool and I think I must have tapped in the wrong place, I also agree that the edge of the metal may have been a little too thick.
Still I'm having fun learning even if my bank balance is not

Angi

[Dennis]

Ah there you are Angi, there is really no need to use a punch and a hammer for that either, because if your tube is thinned to a knife edge, as I described above, it will easily push over by hand. Dennis.

[Wallace]

Top point made by Dennis.

However, If you want to use the Collet punch, now you have it as a tool, just place it on top and gently twist it. Make sure it is highly polished inside. I have used one, on occasion, for soft stones that benefit from the gentle even pressure it provides when twisting over the thinner walled metal.

I now have a hammer action hand piece again (long story... Kitten... Curly bouncy wire, insurance....) I only use it on the occasions for harder stones though, and mostly do use it for texturing.

[Gemsetterchris]

I just had an opal rubover job sent over from the UK, having a lovely thick rockhard 9ct bezel, I ended up with using a hammer handpiece & full whack :sly:
Not very pleasant but all turned out ok.

[Wallace]

I just had an opal rubover job sent over from the UK, having a lovely thick rockhard 9ct bezel, I ended up with using a hammer handpiece & full whack :sly:
Not very pleasant but all turned out ok.
That is good timing to hear this, I have a 9ct to do a rub over on a large opal setting I am making... Probably will pull my hair out doing the thing... Not sure about full whack... But now you mention it...(nervous lol)

[Gemsetterchris]

Microscope helps a lot, you can really see what's happening.

[ps_bond]

Equally, you end up shooting for perfection that can't be seen with the naked eye :)

My latest bugbear is flush-setting mother of pearl. I think another time I might give in to glue.

[Gemsetterchris]

Equally, you end up shooting for perfection that can't be seen with the naked eye :)

My latest bugbear is flush-setting mother of pearl. I think another time I might give in to glue.

You do need to bear that in mind :D
Annoys me abit when some trade customers check work at x20 when It's irrelevant & also beyond their budget.
Flush setting mother of pearl?? Who's idea was that :eek:

[ps_bond]

A compromise solution instead of trying to flush-set a pearl for a commission... The other compromise was fire opals instead of cab opals.
It's doable, but it is fiddly - and I'll be going in with a cocktail stick & diamond lapping paste afterwards to get the gloss back.

[Gemsetterchris]

I'd probably gone with the original & used glue after doing the burnishing :p
You do get some helpful customers Lol.

[ps_bond]

6 different birthstones for each of 2 separate pieces. Including April :)