Gold bezel setting

[Patstone]

I have been asked to make a cuff which is in 2mm thick silver, which I have hammered and it looks nice, but customer wants a gold bezel wrapped around an Opal which she supplied and is about 13mm x 10mm, (havent measured it, so not sure exactly) anyway the problem is, I made an oval base in 2mm gold, and put a gold bezel on it, as I was soldering the bezel on, the phone rang beside me and made me jump, lack of concentration for a second and I have melted the top and bottom of the bezel in one place. I dont normally work in gold, so I dont keep stocks of gold, the only piece I have lying around is the half inch I cut off to make the bezel the right size.
What is the best plan of action, do I cut out the damaged bit and replace with the offcut that I have, or trim down the bezel to the gold base plate on both sides to make a feature of it (the burn is in the middle of the long side). The only trouble is the Opal is quite a shallow one, and seems to be painted black on the underneath, my original plan prior to burning was to sit it on a 2mm thick offcut of the gold base (just in case the black came off the bottom of the stone and if I put silver it would tarnish, and as Opal is normally fairly clear it would show. The only other option is to order another piece of gold bezel, lady is being charged £370 for it, so far I have spent 8 hours on it, and to be honest I dont know if my soldering skills are good enough to implant an offcut. Think I have just talked myself out of trying to repair. Ideas would be good though, what would you do in that situation, bearing in mind gold is expensive.
It was all going so well until the phone rang.

[ps_bond]

Can you post a photo of the damaged bit at all? My immediate thought was to laser a repair piece in (but when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail!).

[Patstone]

Well I havent got a laser to start with, I have ordered a new bezel strip so hopefully that will be here tomorrow. I may have a go at soldering in a piece just to see if I can do it seemlessly. I keep pushing myself to have a go at new things and sometimes they are a bit above my skill level, but if you dont try you will never get any better. I have almost finished the locket I started to make at the evening class 4 years ago, the teacher couldnt do a hinge, so with a couple of people on this forum I have done one now, not perfect but it holds together and doesnt look too lumpy.

[ps_bond]

Yes, but I have and would have been able to sort it for you...

[mizgeorge]

Has it arrived Peter?

Pat - in honesty, I think I'd remove the damaged bezel, clean up the base and start again. The gold can be salvaged as scrap or use part of it for a smaller bezel.

[ps_bond]

Arrived a couple of weeks ago and I've been using it rather a lot! Platinum is a doddle, gold fractionally less so, silver takes more work (and preferably argon too - reminds me, I need another cylinder already). It's particularly weird bare-hand-holding pieces as I'm working on them.

[Goldsmith]

Pat I am curious as to why you are making this setting by soldering a bezel onto a 2mm. thick base plate. If you are going to solder the setting onto a silver cuff then the solid base is not needed really. If I was making this setting I would have made the bezel wire from 4mm. wide strip. Then I would have bent a gold wire to fit inside the bezel and soldered it in the bottom of the bezel for the stone to sit on. The opal you have sounds like it may be a doublet, which if you don't know is a method of laminating a dark piece of stone onto the rear of the opal cabochon to increase the colour look. If yo are worried about the loss of any colour when setting the opal set a piece of coloured foil behind the stone before setting. Going back to the setting, by having just a wire around the inside of the bezel, you can place the silver solder on the inside of the bezel setting when soldering and when the solder runs it will be a clean run from inside to out. One last tip, setting opals can be dangerous as they chip easily when setting, so make sure that the bezel wire is a thin as possible so that very little force is required when rubbing over the bezel and make sure you keep your tools off the stone.
Probably too much info, sorry.

This was a setting which I soldered a pierced wire inside for the stone to sit on, it gives you an idea what I mean and how I did it.



Good luck,
James

[Patstone]

The customer wanted a gold bezel sitting on a "platform" , thats why I did it that way. There is about 1mm outside the bezel as a decorative feature, and to tie in the gold of the bezel, there is also to be four small squares - two either side. I think I did it the wrong way, I should have soldered the back plate on first then put the bezel onto that. I have taken off the bezel, and soldered the backplate onto the cuff, when the new bezel gold arrives I will make another one. Thank you Peter for offering to do that for me, I probably wouldnt have accepted your offer, I am very independent and need to learn how to do these things. You only learn by making mistakes, but if I burn the next one, I may take up your offer. The Opal is very thin, so it needs support under the whole of the stone, if she knocks it and it cracks I would feel dreadful.

[Dennis]

Forgive me for putting my oar in at this late stage Pat.

If you have already soldered on the oval base and presumably the decorative squares, that leaves you with a large piece of metal and a flimsy bezel to add.

You will need your large torch to get this lump of metal to soldering temperature, by applying it from inside the cuff and underneath the bezel, doing your utmost not to touch the bezel with your flame. So the first thing is to work in semi darkness so that you can see where the heat is going.

Secondly you would be much safer using easy silver solder at this stage, putting it all round the inside of the bezel. This would give you the best chance of success. Dennis.

[trialuser]

I have a couple of questions if i may Pat.
Would it be usual to use gold as the bottom of the bezel if it was not showing? I hear that this is what the customer wants, but to me it seems an unnecessary expense. Am I just a cheapskate or is it normal practice?
Secondly, is this going to be expensive to hallmark as a one off piece submitted. I know Edinburgh have a minimum charge which I think is per hallnote, so if this were to be the only mixed metal piece it would be costly. Does your office adopt the same policy.
Hat off to you for attempting it - far beyond my capabilities - well done.

Edit - just seen the reply from James - that's sorted the first part out
I really must stop starting at the bottom of threads.