[Jewelry making - Article 00458] - [Orchid] Hackish Techniques?

[Ben Steiger]

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    I often use a wax pen to heat a stone and seat it in the wax. This
    is especially true when the stone has concave facets along the
    girdle. Yet every time I do, a part of me winces and chides for not
    being a good enough carver to avoid this technique. I dislike
    stressing the poor stone with heat, and threatening it's clear table
    with the hard mean metal of the wax pen seperated only by a thin
    layer of molten wax. Sure, there are stones like diamond and saphire
    that can readily handle this treatment, but I apply this crutch to
    all sorts of stones. I will try to wean myself with a wax dipping
    pot. 

    It makes me wonder what other techniques out there are on the iffy
    side. It would be nice to know before becoming dependant on them.
    Are there any tricks you once used, but discarded as being off or
    wrong or risky? 

    Or do I have it backward? Perhaps there are no hackish techniques,
    only hacks who abuse perfectly good ones. 

Ben Steiger
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