9k bezel strip - a rant

[ps_bond]

I'm sure I've posted about this before, so I've got no excuse for following my own advice.

Bezel strip - it's supposed to be easy to deform to close it in on stones and hold them in place. However... This stuff - fully annealed BTW - has so much springback that it deforms, then opens back out again. Not all the way, just enough to make it a swine to keep the stone from rattling. I had to resort to hammer setting amber!!! Crimp in the setting at the cardinal points, then the 1/4s and the cardinals move out again. I'd hoped that the initial movement would work harden it enough to hold, but no such luck.

Gah. I've said before I should be using 18k solely; the time saving makes the higher cost entirely worthwhile.
But I need to use the remaining stuff up first.

[caroleallen]

Is that 9k yellow or white Peter?

[ps_bond]

That's yellow - god knows what the white would be like.

Not good for the nerves, hammer setting soft stones...

[Dennis]

So how much worth do you still have to suffer, Peter? Too much for the scrap pot? Dennis.

[ps_bond]

I've still got 3-4" of the stuff, so I'll persevere - although "accidentally" melting a few bezels might be on the horizon. I can't quite bring myself to bin it when it is still in usable lengths.

[Patstone]

Dont talk to me about melting a few bezels, I have been trying to make a pair of earrings with garnets in for my mum to match a ring I gave her the other day, its her 95th birthday so quite a special day, anyway, I made one without too much difficulty, do you think I could solder the other one. I either melted it or made it too small, or too big. Whats really annoying is that I must have made hundreds in the past, well maybe not hundreds, but quite a few. In the end I decided to make the bezel out of 3mm sterling, all supposedly annealed, and I couldnt even bend it to shape, weak or stupid not sure which fits best. I have annhilated (destroyed) about 7, so I have now given up and will try again later on. I will give her something from my stock instead

I've still got 3-4" of the stuff, so I'll persevere - although "accidentally" melting a few bezels might be on the horizon. I can't quite bring myself to bin it when it is still in usable lengths.

[Dennis]

We all have days like that, Pat. The secret is to give up and try again tomorrow. BTW you'll be rid of the shop by now? Dennis.

[Patstone]

Yes thank goodness. That was a bad idea, but a lesson learned. No good getting older if you dont get wiser. We had our half of the deposit back, but the agent had to keep the other persons deposit as she hadnt paid her last months rent. As a landlady of five properties I dont know how people can just assume that they dont owe rent just because they dont want to pay it. In most cases the landlord still has the mortgage to find and other costs like insurance which for a rental property is much higher than an owner occupied one.

We all have days like that, Pat. The secret is to give up and try again tomorrow. BTW you'll be rid of the shop by now? Dennis.