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[Dennis]

I do worry that what I suggest won't work for you, So please speak up if you think it's rubbish.

I note that Fraser uses Britannia silver for his bezel strip, and must agree that for very large stones it can be hard to keep the bezel in shape when soldering it to a base. But for rings and pendants using fine silver, which I have watched over a long period, I have not noticed the bezel deteriorate out of proportion to the rest of the piece. Dennis.

[jille]

Oh so that's why I was having trouble with larger bezels, I couldn't understand how they were out of shape after soldering. So next time I'll try Britannia silver.

[Dennis]

What I would really suggest Jille, is that you fix any really large bezel to its base with three or four tiny spaced out drops of superglue, with the stone in place. You can dispense the stuff nearby from the dropper type bottle and then work some into place with the end af a saw blade.
Once this has set, extract the stone with Blu Tack or a wax cone and solder as usual.
More often than not the solder joint will be complete, but you can easily add a little more and reheat a second time, because the glue burns away cleanly.

If you have not seen it, you might also like to look at this http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/sho...superglue.html
Kind regards, Dennis.

[jille]

thanks Dennis, I love those earrings