making teeny tiny oval bezels

[medusa]

ahhh that's a good idea. One thing is, the stones seem to be identical in shape, so I'd only need to make one.

I think this project will also force me to get the hang of my little torch as well. But that is for another thread

[ps_bond]

Or, if you wanted to get fancy, you could make a collet plate & punch

[medusa]

a what?



and some more characters because above is too short!

[ps_bond]

A collet plate and punch. Oval shaped tapering hole in a plate, matching oval shaped tapering punch. Again, because you're working with small stones carving & finishing one isn't all that bad.

[medusa]

I don't think I have the metalworking tools to make something like that. and making one would probably take me five times longer than making the bezels. too much ambition, not enough time or skill

[ps_bond]

Burrs, drills & whatever abrasives you can cram into the hole to polish it. Whether it is worth the time does depend on how many you're likely to do. For limited numbers I probably wouldn't harden the thing & just make it out of mild.

[medusa]

hmmm well for this project I'm looking at maybe 15 6x4mm settings. Might be worth a go.

[Tabby66]

Works for me. I rough form the bezel around the stone, solder it closed, then fine tune for curve & length (a sparrowhawk anvil is useful).

I've only just got the mandrels out of curiosity (and I felt I had to try one of their cheap anticlastic stakes - I'll post on that when I've had a play); I've always worked on the assumption that for anything other than square or round a bezel mandrel is going to be slightly wrong more often than it's right, but it provides a start point.

I generally don't use standard sized stones and find a small oval triblet very useful, because it literally is a sliding scale of sizes along which to work. It's really handy for 'truing-up' the oval shape!!

[mizgeorge]

hmmm well for this project I'm looking at maybe 15 6x4mm settings. Might be worth a go.

I think for that many, I'd probably cut them from tube. Bellore have 6 x 4.2mm, which would probably do the job? Rashbel seem to be out of stock, but it's sometimes worth a phone call as their website rarely reflects actual stock.