[Jewelry making - Article 00286] - Re: [Orchid] Benefits of ready made tube settings

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>     A thread like this one and its responses has me baffled somewhat.
>     Remember the thread a while ago about making one's own stock vs
>     buying it ready milled? And all its heated responses from both
>     camps, some implying, if not actually saying that you're not a
>     proper jeweller unless you make your own ingots, then mill and draw
>     stock yourself, then of course fabricate the piece from that stock. 

    This particular instance of the debate is a little different from
    the argument over making basic sheet and wire. There are two main
    differences here. 

    the commercial tubing, or premade tube settings, are seamless tubes.
    Of them, the premade tube settings are heavier wall tube than is
    easily bought, at least in some sizes and alloys. Meanwhile, jewelers
    certainly can make their own tubing, if they can already make their
    own sheet metal, or can buy it. But to make tubing of any significant
    size requires rather large size drawplates to draw it down. You need
    a drawplate that starts out larger than the tube you're making, and
    these large size drawplates often have few other uses than tubing, or
    if used for solid metal stock, require a proper drawbench to pull
    the wire, and sometimes need this even for tube, if in harder metals
    like white gold. So making tube and tube settings, which not an
    especially advanced skill, may require equipment that not every
    jeweler will have, just as not every jeweler will have the needed
    rolling mill or ingot producing capabilities for all types of sheet
    or wire they might need. And then there's the issue of the seam in
    the tube. You typically solder the seam, when you make your own
    tube. This is fine much of the time, but not always the equal of
    seamless tubing. Solder seams end up being an irregularity in the
    hardness, color, thickness, and malleability of the tube, and can
    make setting the stones a bit more difficult sometimes. 

    And then there's economics. Making ordinary sheet and wire takes
    time too, but often, one can make a fair amount of it at a time, so
    the labor cost spreads out over a quantity of metal, which weighed
    against the add on cost to commercially made sheet and wire, can end
    up making the self made stock considerably more economical in the
    end. Plus, the ability to reuse your own scraps helps too, as you're
    not sending so much otherwise usable metal back to the refiners. 

    With tube settings, this situation may not be the case. If you need
    lots of the things, then perhaps the time it takes would be worth it.
    But if you need three little tube settings, the added cost of buying
    them over the cost of the metal might be quite minor compared to the
    rather substantial effort that it sometimes takes to make your own
    tube. 

    Yes, the arguments are similar, but the exact details differ in
    enough ways that one might easily find a goldsmith who happily makes
    his/her own sheet and wire, and still buys some findings, including
    tube settings, die struck or cast heads, and the like. I'm one of
    those, by the way. Sometimes I'll make my own settings, including
    tube, and other times it doesn't make sense to do so. 

cheers
Peter
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