Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tube Setting Tutorial


You will need…
Hand Drill
Burnisher
Pusher
Silver Tube
Stone-Setting Bur
Loupe
Gemstone





Making a 3mm Faceted Citrine Stacking
Ring
You will need a shank of some kind. This is hammered 2mm wire.
For the setting, you will need tubing of approx. 3.5mm outer
diameter and 2.5mm inner
diameter






Putting it Together

Solder setting onto shank
Pickle










Preparing the Setting

Place ring in vice and drill out the setting











Check Setting
Check with a loupe that the seating is even











Looks okay!













Checking Stone
Check with a loupe that there is enough of an edge to push over the stone
Check stone sits straight in the setting








Preparing to set Stone

Remove the stone from the setting and
gently file and emery around the top of the setting














Make sure setting is smooth and tapered all the way around














Setting the Stone
Check stone in setting again
Hold stone steady with finger nail and carefully push over edges on opposite sides, then all around








Finishing

Use a burnisher to even out any creases and bring out shine on setting

























Polishing
This is purely optional, but tumbling with mixed stainless steel shot polishes the ring and strengthens the setting









Completed Piece

After four and a half hours in the tumbler, you should have a perfectly-set, beautiful shiny ring!

15 comments:

Chris Parry said...

Great tutorial. Good explanation and good photos. Very easy to understand.

Ashley said...

Thanks so much Wendy! I'm gonna try with my hand drill, maybe I can get more accurate results that way.

Elizabeth Scott said...

I didn't know if anyone else used a hand drill- works great for me! I think we have the same one :)

rubygirl said...

Great tutorial, 'Betti! I have never attempted tube setting before - when I am ready, you can be sure that I am going to refer to this. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge with us!

Elizabeth & Shannon said...

Thanks again, this is a great tutorial.

Elizabeth

Lunasa Designs Jewelry said...

Thank you Wendy!! I'm going to try it right away!

Clare said...

Fantastic tutorial. I am going to check out handdrills too.

Juliet said...

You make it look so easy!
Thanks!

SAM said...

Great tutorial. Beware the tumbling though as a weaker stone can smash!

Ashley Hope said...

Great tut but would be helpful to know what size tubing and size bur to use!

Amy said...

I would love to hear comments re: tumbling a faceted stone. I've heard it's a no-no, but obviously it works for you. Is it because it's small?

Karen said...

Really great tutorial ! Does anyone have any guidlines for which stones you can tumble with steel shot ?

plcpeggy said...

I'm late to this post, but would love to know what size/brand/type of burr you use in this example? and bezel tubing? Very new to this have never tried tube setting but dying to try it.
thx,
peggy

Queenserpentine said...

Hi there. I recently attempted a bezel setting
Which was going great up until it came to filing the top on a 45 degree angle on the outer bezel. I filed too far at one part and now i dont know how to fix it. Any hints you might be able to give me in relation to this? Hoping to hear back from you soon :)

Unknown said...

Great tutorial! Question: Can this be done for smaller (4-6mm) flat bottomed cabochons, or is this technique only used for faceted stones? Making the bezel out of wire is difficult with these smaller sized cabs, so i'm wondering if this tube setting could be done easier. Thanks!

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