[Jewelry making - Article 00273] - Re: [Orchid] Bezel punch

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>     I did make bezels out of sheet then tapeded them in ght
>     bezel block. Usually the bezel split at the top of the seam where
>     most of the stretching happens. When they split there was not much
>     to do but scrap it. I also didn't like to cut seats in them.
>     Cutting a seat in a tapered bezel was a pain, I found it hard to
>     estimate thickness versus stone size and then getting the whole
>     thing into the proper punch hole. I just could never figure them
>     out and for the frustration I could have fabricated a straight wall
>     bezel or cast a bunch of them and had a better product. 

    Perhaps I'm the only one that does this? With round and oval bezels
    in the bezel block, I fabricate a straight walled bezel that's
    almost the finished size of the upper, larger edge of the bezel. then
    I use a press to just cram the bezel down into the hole in the block.
    (For a press at work, I use the ram on our ring shrinker, which is an
    old old model that uses individual little dies for the rings, not the
    modern "disk" type with it's inconvenient (to a bezel block, at
    least) center pivot. In the home shop with newer
    shrinkers/stretchers, I use a small arbor press or just the jaws of
    the vise) The result is that all the movement of the metal in the
    bezel is compression. No stretching of the upper wall of the bezel,
    and thus no rips. After it's pressed down in, I anneal and only then
    use the punch to finish it off. The punch just evens out any ripple
    or inconsistencies. With square or emerald cut types, I pretty much
    fabricate the whole tapered bezel, but use the block to make sure
    everything is trued up. Fixes any minor errors in the original
    layout used to fabricate it, such as one side slightly too long, or
    other such slipups. I've never found the instructions for these
    blocks, usually to be found in places like the Rio Catalog, rather
    than a decent book on jewelry making, to be all that useful. 

    but with the above method, it's pretty cool, and fast. And has the
    interesting side effect that you've started with the right metal
    thickness for the upper edge of the bezel, and the metal below it,
    ends up slightly thicker. This is often quite desireable for
    strength, when that bezel is going to be soldered onto something like
    a ring and then get a seat cut into the wall too... The method is
    especially useful with the softer metals, like platinum, silver, or
    yellow golds. 

    personally, I'm of the opinion that bezel blocks were never really
    intended to be used as the common instructions suggest, since as
    you've seen, upper edges stretch and tear if the punch is used to
    expand the upper edge. As compression dies, they work much more
    reliably. And the punch is then used only for the final stages of
    finishing the shape and cleaning up any ripple or inperfect forming
    from the pressing stage. And for truing up a fabricated bezel,
    either to make sure everything is perfectly true, or for things like
    making a number of exactly matching sizes, etc, then these things
    make tapered bezels pretty routine. 

Peter Rowe
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