14ct gold bezel

[theresa]

Having only really worked in silver before now, I have decided to take the plunge and use some 14ct gold to make bezels.
Rashbel have some but it is only .3 thick. Is this too thin for a bezel?
I did consider buying some wire and rolling it down. IYO what thickness should I be aiming for? The stones are Opal doublets, approx 9x7. I know I shall probably melt the gold by accident, but at least it's re-usable.

[Dennis]

No, gold can get hard quickly as you push it, so unless you want it to look thicker, that would be OK. You won't melt it if you use a more bushy flame and keep the flame moving. Dennis.

[susieq]

I know 9ct gold is much harder than silver, but how does 14ct and 18ct gold compare? Probably a silly question too, but if you push a bezel over slowly does it stress the metal less and slow down the work hardening?

[Dennis]

Don't really know, as I have not used 14ct, but tube settingn18ct or 9ct can be tough.
From what I have read and tried myself, easing the bezel home slowly makes things worse. It is best to make each push get the edges fully home if you can.

Best of all is a hammer attachment, or failing that a vibrating engraving tool, or even round nosed pliers, with one side slightly flattened.
The advantage of pliers is that they put very little strain on delicate work, even wire mounted tubes. Dennis

[enigma]

I almost always use my hammer handpiece on gold but you do have to be very careful on an opal however you do it as they are so fragile- especially the Doublets.
I normally roll my bezels down to anywhere between 0.3 and 0.4mm so I would say 0.3mm would be fine for that size stone.
I doubt you will have too much of an issue soldering the gold, only white has ever caused me a headache, your challenge will be pushing the bezel over without damaging the opal.

[theresa]

Oh dear!:( Thank you anyway and a very Happy Christmas to everyone. Let's hope 2018 will be good too!

[enigma]

You can do it Theresa, sorry, didn't mean to sound disparaging.
Just make sure its a really good fit and you don't have any more height than necessary to push over, at least doublets sit nicely while you do it :)