[Jewelry making - Article 00444] - Re: [Orchid] Saw dust and cabs

[Wayne Emery]

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    As Beth correctly points out, the purpose of the saw dust was not so
    much to RAISE the cab as to CUSHION it, but, of course, through
    time, moisture will take it's toll. But it takes a surprisingly LONG
    time for it to become loose and sloppy in the setting. 

    In my store, we made many, many pieces with cabs or cab-type
    lapidary materials, some of them more fragile than we would desire
    (the stone being fragile, that is). Even some of the standards like
    lapis and sugilite, not to mention opal, tend to sometimes crack
    when worn because they have inherent and invisible seams of weakness
    in them (or they just get whacked too hard!). 

    What I did was use one of two readily available products, both
    available at the auto supply store. One is a heat resistant gasket
    material available in sheets of varying thicknesses, used, of
    course, to cut out gaskets of the desired shape, generally for
    intake or exhaust manifolds where temps are very high for long
    periods. Permatex has made this material for many years, gearheads
    know all about it. It will resist heat of a few hundred degrees, is
    available in different thicknesses, is an excellent cushioning
    material and can be cut with scissors. It accepts many adhesives, as
    well. 

    Permatex also makes a liquid gasket/sealer that is flexible and also
    provides cushioning at the same time. It is quite viscous and can be
    applied in any thickness desired. If you rough up the plate that the
    cab usually sits on, this stuff will adhere VERY strongly, and
    sticks to the cab as well. We usually applied it to create about a
    cushion about 1/8th inch thick and lightly pressed the cab on top.
    Bezels/prongs were turned after eight hours when the material was
    completely set. We never had a failure of the material and never
    suffered a cracked piece. 

Wayne Emery
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