Modified Setting Bur with Safe Edge Tool

By Ronda CoryellMore from this author

Updated on October 1, 2016

Modified Setting Bur. Here's a nice little tool that makes use of an old setting bur. If you take the bottom teeth off a setting bur and polish the surface, you will have a tool that allows you to get right up next to the wall of a bezel and work on it without harming the metal on the bottom of the piece.

	Take the bur and start grinding or sanding the bottom teeth off. Picture 1.1 shows the use of a belt sander, but a grinder would also work.
	Remember to keep a bowl of water handy as you grind to quench the bur so that it does not get too hot, as shown. We don't want to lose the temper of the steel.
	Continue grinding until the bottom of the bur is nice and flat as shown above. You should have ground off the entire bottom angled section, and the bottom should be at a 90 degree angle to the teeth on the side walls of the bur.
	Once the bur is flat, you will need to polish the surface. As shown in Picture, I used the side of a hard felt wheel on the polishing machine. This allows you to keel the bur perpendicular to the wheel and get a nice uniform surface.
	You should see a good reflective surface when you've finished polishing. This Picture shows the single facet on the bur—this is what you're to have when you're finished.
	Now you have a tool that will let you get right up next to something you want to work on without worrying about it chewing up the metal underneath. Picture 1.6 demonstrates using this new bur tool right up next to the bezel wall, and the safe edge will protect the bottom of the setting.

Photo by Ronda Coryell and Bill Taroli