Todays effort, i have found square stones are hard to set.

[sam.k]

I had fun making it but the stone was a nightmare, it kept moving! I cut a seat into the top gallery for it but I don't think I cut it deep enough. also I think my prongs are just to far from the stone to be neater finish.
I think next time I set a square I will have the prongs in the middle rather then the corners, or maybe use 2 prongs for each corner? who knows! I just couldn't stop the stone from twisting.
still, it turned out alright, not my best work but not half bad.

[Aurarius]

Yes, it looks like the pavilion of the stone is twisting relative to the prongs because the contours of the bezel it's being pressed down on to are forcing it that way. You could try removing the stone and trimming out the bezel a bit more until the stone sits nice and square in the setting. This twisting also seems to have opened up a gap lower down the prong on the left letting daylight through; or else the setting is a fraction too big, which would produce the same effect.

[Dennis]

There are a lot of good points too, like the tapered ends of the shank, the mount being put in as a lozenge, the claw ends are filed neatly.

Sometimes if the stone slips around it might be enough to hold it in place with a big wadge of BluTak behind it, until two opposite claws grip. It can be dabbed out later. Dennis.

[sam.k]

ive just tried to re cut the bezel, its siting a bit more square but I think one of my prongs (the bottom one) is out by a mm or so...

needs to be polished again now though... bloody ring clamp.
oh well, no pain, no gain. the next one will be right

[enigma]

I love the way you work through things and improve each time you try something.
I haven't done a claw set square yet but I think if I did I may go for the other type of corners like this ( sorry, not even sure what they are called!)


Although as your stone is actually a cushion cut rather than a square maybe just put the claws in the middle of each side?
Im sure somebody who knows more will be along soon too

[Nick martin]

I think you've done a great job to be honest, and its good that you have the ability to self-critique too.

Personally speaking I havent claw-set a square stone yet, and tend to bezel set them. As has been pointed out already, because the stone is cushion-cut, it was always going to be very difficult to get a prong to grip the rounded corners so if you're setting a similar stone in the future then I'd definately go down the route of placing the claws centrally between corners so that they're gripping a flat edge. You could even add another few claws, and the ones on the rounded corners would be more decorative / protective whereas the claws on the flat sides of the pavilion would be doing the hard work of gripping the stone and securing it symetrically.

My only critique if you like would be that the stone is slightly out of position as you've noticed, and that the claws should ideally be a bit closer to the stone as there appears to be a gap on the first photo ( left hand side ).

On a positive note I like the design, great effort all round, and the fact you've attempted it in the first place coupled with the tapered shank shows that you're pushing your skills. Top effort!

Cheers,

Nick

[ps_bond]

I made a setting for a barrel-shaped stone around Christmas; customer asked for 4 prong but because of the probability of it slipping sideways from the claws I suggested either V claws or go up to 8 (either side of the blunt point on the stone). The claws were close enough together to give some protection to the point.

The stone looked a bit like this:



Simple prongs on the points (blunter than depicted) wouldn't have held it for long.

[Gemsetterchris]

Maybe split claws that grab either side of the curve or a wider at the top claw rubbed around the curves like an open bezel?

[ps_bond]

Could have done, but this was one that was asked for for "after Christmas" at the start of December - that turned out to mean "27 December" so there wasn't a huge amount of time to play. Ended up laser welding the entire setting anyway (18kY).

[Gemsetterchris]

this was one that was asked for for "after Christmas" at the start of December - that turned out to mean "27 December"

gotta luv those people.