July 2009 |
Volume 10 Issue 7 |
circulation over 5,500 |
ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER E-BENCH is a FREE monthly newsletter for Retail Jewelry Store Owners, Shop Managers, Bench Jewelers and anyone else that is interested. We encourage you to forward this newsletter to anyone that you think may benefit from it, provided you forward all of it without modification and not just portions of it. This document may NOT be distributed for profit. E-BENCH is a copyrighted newsletter and all rights are reserved! E-BENCH is sent to you each month FREE of charge because of the generous support of our SPONSORS. Please support them with your purchases. |
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Southeastern Findings |
Quote Worth Re-Quoting "The winners in life think constantly in terms of Denis Waitley
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USING A ROLLING MILLAttach a sponge lightly saturated with oil to your rolling mill. Place one sponge above the top roller and one sponge below the bottom roller. As you use the rolling mill, the sponges will keep the rollers clean and the oil will keep them from rusting. Before you use it, turn the rollers one complete turn to clean any dust or debris that has accumulated on the rollers. You can keep the sponges in place with binding wire. Just make sure you keep everything away from the gears. When using a rolling mill always place the metal being rolled in the center of the rollers. This will ensure even pressure on the metal and cause less wear on the rolling mill. Reducing the width of a rectangular wire can be difficult, as the wire tends to turn while rolling. To alleviate this problem hold the wire in a pair of parallel pliers leaving about a half inch protruding from the jaws. Feed this end into the rollers until the jaws of the pliers make contact with the rollers. As you continue to roll, allow the wire to pull from the pliers. The force of the pliers’ jaws will keep the wire upright. For more tips on Stonesetting visit our Stonesetting Blog at: http://BenchMedia.typepad.com
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CORUNDUM Part 2 Sapphire left for many hours in a warm pickle solution can develop a very thin surface oxidation that looks like oil on water. Sometimes this can be removed by rubbing the loose stone briskly between your hands with a tablespoon of ordinary table salt, but sometimes this surface needs to be re-polished by a lapidary. Sapphires worn for many years also can develop this surface, especially blue stones. A more recent type of corundum treatment involves the use of beryllium, and, perhaps, lithium. When heated to very elevated temperatures near the melting point for ten hours or more, many of the natural inclusions in sapphire begin to dissolve in the presence of beryllium. In some instances, the beryllium penetrates completely to the center of the stone and can cause startling color changes. Pastel, off-color corundum, or overly dark material formerly of little value, can now be treated with beryllium to create stunning orange, pink-orange, yellow, lilac, and even blue colors. Sometimes this treatment is possible to detect with a loupe or microscope, but sometimes it challenges the finest labs. Occasionally when the inclusions have been only partially melted, a blue halo can be seen surrounding the partially melted crystals, especially in ruby. What effect these treatments will have on corundum in the future is open to speculation, but for our purposes, it is moot. The beryllium treatment is permanent, and ordinary cautious heat from a torch and use of an ultrasonic cleaner will present no problems. Remember that when using an ultrasonic with hot cleaning solution or a steamer, it is always wise to bring the temperature of the stone up gradually to avoid the risk of thermal shock and cracking. Laboratory grown (synthetic) sapphire or ruby is readily available in a wide range of colors. Because of its purity, synthetic sapphire is somewhat harder then natural. Some of this material, particularly ruby, (see photo) is grown by the Czochralski pulling method for laser production and the resulting crystal is nearly perfect at the atomic level. This material is a favorite of many cutters, including myself. It is nearly indestructible and can easily handle torch heat if it is not excessive or very prolonged. You can contact Wayne Emery at wayne_emery@msn.com
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Quote Worth Re-Quoting"The secret to productive goal setting Denis Waitley |
Sales of Your Custom Jewelry Down this Year?
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Director of Technical Education TESTING FOR PLATINUM Even though there are electronic testers and acid tests to determine the metal of a piece of jewelry, the quickest way to test if something is platinum is very simple. With a graver, remove a very small splinter of metal from an inconspicuous area, such as the underside of a ring. Place that splinter on a soldering surface and apply heat with your torch. If the splinter starts to brightly glow and won't immediately melt, it is platinum. If it balls up, it is some other white metal. This is not very scientific, but it works. It will not tell you the alloy combination. To check if something is Platinum /Cobalt, just file the item a bit and see if you can pick up the filing with a magnet. Pt/Co is ferro-magnetic. For more Tip to Working on Platinum Jewelry from Jurgen Maerz visit our Platinum Blog at: http://BenchMedia.typepad.com/platinumguru |
Quote Worth Re-Quoting "Without goals and plans to reach them, F. Dodson |
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SOME POLISHING AND FINISHING AIDSFor polishing it is recommended to use primarily bristle brushes for most of the removal work and to follow up with a buff where necessary. Feel free to use a lot of compound; it is the compound that does the work, not the buff. Old polishers would have dozens of shaped and turned wooden, leather and even paper shapes and wheels to go on the spindle for different problems. A paper clip serves very well as a handle for any small part with a hole in it; one threads the paperclip through and then holds it while polishing the small part. Some polishers will take a stiff paste of baking soda and water or icing sugar and water and fill up holes for stonesettings and other places they don't want polishing residues in on a piece of jewelry. When it dries this prevents accumulations of polishing compounds in those places. When the polishing is finished one washes out the water soluble paste and saves time and effort in cleaning out such places. When holding a ring onto a felt ring polishing mandrel on the machine it is often useful to have a short piece of a leather belt looped over it so as to hold the ring in place on the mandrel while it is polished. The two ends in the hand become a handle. This also protects the fingers from heat while polishing. A tool can be made from a wooden clothes pin which is hollowed out slightly with a large round burr in the curving hollows already in the jaws. This holds a ring while polishing primarily for the flex shaft but will also work on the large inside ring buff on the polishing machine. Never use gloves while using a polishing machine! I have seen and heard of some pretty nasty accidents from this. You never want to get your hand tangled into a powerful electric motor. Always work with respect for power tools, don't talk while using them and keep your attention on what you are doing. |
Quote Worth Re-Quoting "Let us not become weary in doing good, Galatians 6:9 |
The Metal Plating Bible
The Definitive Guide To Metal Platinghttp://www.MetalPlatingGuide.com CHAPTERS INCLUDE: This downloadable eBook is only $37. For all the Details go to: |
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