VGMS
offers a lapidary class that runs in eight-week sessions. Students
learn to cut and polish stones, then add silversmithing skills that will
allow them to use the stones to create beautiful jewelry.
The classes are $50 per 8-week session, plus the cost of materials. This is an extremely popular class and fills quickly. For more information about schedules and availability, contact Lois Harr 760-724-0395.
Bench Tips
Brad Smith of Santa Monica has kindly offered to provide some bench tips each month for our website. Here are the tips for March:
PROBLEMS WITH SMALL DRILLS
When drilling small holes, you sometimes encounter new problems. We're talking about drills that are less than 1 mm (which is 18 gauge or .040 inches). Often the chuck will not tighten down far enough to grip a small twist drill. You can solve this two ways - with a chuck adapter or by buying your small drills with a 3/32 inch shank size. Either way you have a 3/32 shank to go into the chuck of your drill press, Foredom or Dremel, so changing bits is fast and easy.
Remember that small drills are much more prone to breaking because of too much pressure or if you tilt the drill or the workpiece when the drill is in the hole. And drilling always goes easier with a little wax or oil on the tip. Almost anything will work - Three and One, injection wax, mineral oil, Burr Life, car oil, olive oil, etc.
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USING PRE-MADE BEZEL CUPS
As a general rule of thumb I assume it's going to take me 15 - 20 minutes to make a bezel for an ordinary cabochon, so for some projects buying pre-made cups can save a lot of time. But if you go this route, keep in mind three things. First, try to get cups made from fine silver, not sterling. Remember that fine silver is softer and burnishes over the stone more easily.
Second, you may have trouble matching the shape and size of the stone with the shape and size of the bezel cup. Purchased cups can only be found in a limited number of standard sizes. You may have to adjust your choice of gemstone to match the cup. The other consideration is that pre-made cups often have fairly low side walls. While these are fine for low-dome stones, they will not adequately secure stones with steep side walls.
Lastly before setting, check the fit of your gemstone in the cup, particularly around the bottom. The bottom corners of a stamped cup are much more rounded than a bezel you would fabricate yourself. This causes a problem with some stones. If your stone has a sharp edge around the bottom, burnishing over the bezel will place a lot of stress on the stone and may cause it to crack. To avoid this, I round off the bottom edge of the stone with a diamond file (or use sandpaper on soft stones).
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More BenchTips by Brad Smith are at
Vista Gem and Mineral Society, P.O. Box 1641, Vista, CA 92085