[Jewelry making - Article 00197] - Re: [Orchid] Idiot-proof way to close tube settings

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>     I have a set of these, too, but the conical inside, while handy
>     for closing bezels around cabs, is too steep to burnish down a tube
>     setting over a faceted stone. I am still looking for a lead on a
>     punch that is shallower, or possibly domed rather than conical. Is
>     any of the ones you've seen shallower than the usual? 

    Noel, the angle of the burnisher does not completely limit the angle
    you can get with it. You don't just push the thing straight down.
    Doing so would mean you'd be trying to force over the entire tube
    edge at once, possible only with thin tube and softer metal. These
    burnishers can close heavier tubes and bezels in even fairly hard
    white gold, if you instead, tip the tool to the side and roll it
    around the tube (not rotating the burnisher around it's own axis,
    but rather, rotating the whole tool around the axis of the tube,
    rather like the motion of a gyroscope as it starts to tip over... As
    you increase the angle of that tip, what you're doing is getting
    flatter and flatter angles on the edge of the tube, since only the
    inside/uphill side of the burnisher is being asked to force metal
    over. 

    Hard to explain. Lessee... With the burnisher angled, the "outside"
    inner surface of the burnisher's cone can become almost vertical,
    parallel to the wall of the tube, while the inside can reach an angle
    of less than perhaps 30 degrees, I'd guess. This is quite flat enough
    to burnish a tube flush to most facetted stones. And because only a
    small part of the tube is being asked to move farther than it already
    has, at any one instant, it's easier to get it to move. 

    You start burnishing with an almost vertical burnisher, and as the
    metal compresses, increase the angle you're tipping the tool over
    while you rub it around the tube. This also results in a softer shape
    to the tube edge, slightly rounded instead of a single flat conical
    face. 

    In most cases, even with these burnishers, you'll still have to
    address the inside edge of the tube. Simply burnished over, even if
    tight to the stone, they'll be rough. To get a nice bright reflective
    inner edge, like a bright cut, you use a traditional burnisher, or a
    smaller bench made one (an old broken bur, ground to a bullet shaped
    point and polished works well), or use a sharp graver and trim the
    inner edge to an actual bright cut... 

    Well, I can tell I'm tired. That's a rather scrambled description.
    But maybe you can tell what I'm describing. If not, email me and I'll
    email you a rough sketch... 

Hope that helps.
Peter
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