Afternoon all, I'm after a bit of advice to finish a ring. I've never done anything like this, so I'm completely new and completely new to the materials involved. I've near enough finished the ring, it's 'polished' to 3000 grit currently and the seats for the stone are cut, so it just needs to have it's stone set and final polish.

The reason for the post is because I'm unsure what to do next. I have seen on the data sheet that argentium can be hardened at a low 300deg C for a couple of hours, so it would be a bit silly not to take advantage of that (if possible) since I have a kiln. My thought is that if I harden the ring before setting the stone, it may make the prongs harder to bend and file, or even make them brittle? So would it be the right thing to do to harden the ring with the stone (Sapphire) already set (and polished)?

The other question in the procedure is... how can I be sure that my files and abrasive sticks won't damage the sapphire when I'm cleaning it all up after setting the stone? Is it a case of 'don't worry, no files or abrasive sticks will be hard enough to touch the Sapphire'? Or do I have to be really careful and thoughtful in what I do?

Many thanks in advance, I'm excited and nervous to get this thing finished!