September 2002 Volume 3 Issue 09 E- Bench Newsletter

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> E-BENCH <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

The E-Mail Newsletter for Bench Jewelers

September 2002
Volume 3 Issue 9 circulation over 2,200

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REVERE’S TIPS FOR JEWELERS

Tips for Jewelers, Who Do Repairs from Alan Revere

FEATURE ARTICLE

Learn how to make your shop more profitable, a new technique,

or brush up on basic skills.

STEWART'S BENCH TIPS

Bench Tips from Stewart’s International School for Jewelers

AT THE PLATINUM BENCH

Tips for working on Platinum from Platinum Guild International

FAVORITE TIPS

Tips and Tricks to make your work on the bench a little easier

and more productive from Bradney W. Simon CMBJ and

E-BENCH Readers.

GERRY’S GEMZ

Stone setting tips from Gemz Diamond Setting

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<> <> <> REVERE’S TIPS FOR JEWELERS <> <> <> <>

Tips for Jewelers Who Do Repairs from Alan Revere

Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts

http://www.revereacademy.com/

Avoid marring a surface by keeping abrasives moving and by

changing directions constantly.

When heating a metal to soften it the flame turns orange at the

annealing temperature.

Speed up gold testing by adding cigarette ashes to the acid

stripe.

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No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Eleanor Roosevelt

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<> <> <> <> <> E-BENCH SPONSOR <> <> <> <> <>

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Service to the Manufacturing Jeweler

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Greater Selection - Expanded Inventory - No Minimum Order

Call 1-800-282-8285 or visit us on the World Wide Web

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<> <> <> <> <> SURVEY RESULTS <> <> <> <> <>

I want to thank everyone who took the time to complete our on-

line survey. Your opinions are very important to us. Three

hundred sixty-five jewelers completed our survey, making it one

of the most extensive in the industry.

In our first survey two years ago you told us that you wanted a

new magazine for bench jewelers. As a result, we started Bench

Magazine. In the same way, the information from our current

survey will help us determine what types of new products to offer

in the future.

We at BENCH Media are excited by your responses and look

forward to developing new educational materials for bench

jewelers. The following are some of the results from the survey

and the plans we are developing to address them.

Books

By far books were the most requested format, which was not too

surprising. What IS surprising is how popular they are. 97%

believe there is a need for additional books on various subjects

for the bench jeweler, and 98% stated they would purchase a

new book on jewelry bench work if the subject was of interest to

them.

Due to the high cost of printing books, we had put off our plans

to publish new books. However, because of the survey we are

accelerating those plans and are now working on developing two

to four new books during the next year. We are also in the

process of forming BENCH BOOKS, a new division of Bench

Media which will publish these and future books.

Although not one of the questions, many of you commented on

having the book spiral bound, rather than glued. This allows the

book to lay flat at your bench making it easy to follow along. We

appreciate this suggestion and will plan on all our books to be

spiral bound.

CD ROMs

CD ROMs are preferred 2 to 1 over DVD or VHS tape, and 4.5 to

1 over the Internet. However, a book alone, or a book in

conjunction with the CD ROM, are both preferred 4 to 1 over a

CD ROM by itself. Although CD ROMs are less expensive to

reproduce than books, their production cost is considerably

higher.

Because of the survey, we are working on developing a book to

go along with our CD ROM – “Favorite Tips”. In addition, we will

be adding printable files to BENCH ROM, which debuts this fall.

A printable article you can use at your bench will accompany

each video in BENCH ROM.

Subjects

Bench Tips, Stone Setting, and Tool Alteration / Making were by

far the most requested subjects. We will continue to cover these

subjects in each issue of BENCH Magazine and work on

providing more coverage of these subjects in E-BENCH.

National Conference

80% of you are very, or somewhat, interested in attending a 2 to

3 day conference for bench jewelers; including workshops,

seminars, round table discussions, networking opportunities, and

an exhibitor show. One hundred ninety-eight different cities were

suggested as places to hold the conference. My favorite was

Tahiti :-)

Accordingly, we are beginning to develop plans to hold a

conference sometime in 2004. This will be an annual conference

held in a different city each year. In addition to having adequate

facilities to host the conference, cities will be selected based on

ease of travel and low hotel cost.

To all our friends in Australia and Europe - who knows, maybe

this will soon be an International Conference!

On-Line Magazine

There was not enough interest at this time, to justify the

enormous time commitment to develop an On-Line Magazine.

Pricing

We appreciate the responses to all the pricing questions in the

survey. Developing new educational materials does no good if

they are not priced within your budget. Your input allows us to

set a budget and limit our cost on each project to keep the final

price within your expectations.

Quality

Comments at the end of the survey indicate to us that the quality

of the information presented is by far your most important

consideration when you purchase a new educational product.

Rest assured that all new products we produce will contain the

same high quality information that you have come to expect from

us, and we will continue to bring you additional Master Jewelers

willing to share their expertise through articles, videos, and

books.

Survey

Although 365 jewelers filled out our survey, over twice that many

visited our survey on-line. We believe this large difference

between jewelers who viewed our survey, and those who

actually completed it, is due in large part to the length of the

survey. Rather than having a long survey every two years, we

will have short surveys more often in the future.

We are always interested in hearing your comments and

suggestions. Whether or not we are conducting a survey, you

can always e-mail me your opinions at: Brad@BWSimon.com

Thanks again for your input

Brad Simon – Editor & Publisher

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A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will

himself be refreshed.

Proverbs 11: 25

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“The Jeweler’s Tool of Choice”

Jewelry LaserStar Workstations

Crafford - LaserStar Technologies designs and manufacturers a

complete range of Nd:YAG pulse laser systems for retail and

manufacturing jewelers. LaserStar Workstations are 50

watt/class 1 systems ranging in power from 85 - 120 joules and

are ideal for a wide range of jewelry design, manufacturing, and

repair applications in gold, silver, and platinum. Crafford's team

of highly trained direct sales and bench jeweler applications

specialists are always available to review new applications,

share technical expertise, and provide service and technical

support from our Providence, RI USA manufacturing facility. All

LaserStar Workstations are made in the USA and comply with all

FDA (CDRH), CSA, UL, and CE certification guidelines for

safety. Four models of the LaserStar Workstation are available

to the jewelry marketplace. For more information please

reference our web site at

www.laserstar.net or www.crafford.com

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<> <> <> <> <> STEWART'S BENCH TIPS <> <> <> <> <>

Bench Tips from Stewart’s International School for Jewelers

http://www.stewartsintlschool.com/

PROTECTING YOUR TOOLS

By Jim Stewart

To keep your steel tools from rusting spray them regularly with

CRC Formula 6-56 Multi-Purpose Lubricant, then wipe with a

clean cloth. It removes rust and protects against corrosion. You

can buy it at Marine or Electrical supply stores.

DO NOT use WD-40, which stands for War Development 1940,

because the rust will come back.

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You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.

Henry Ford

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AJM Magazine

Bench jewelers worldwide have found AJM is the Authority on

Jewelry Manufacturing. This award-winning monthly trade

magazine, published by Manufacturing Jewelers & Suppliers of

America, offers the latest bench tips and tools, time-saving

production techniques, and business strategies for large and

small shops alike. From setting and sizing tricks to methods for

maximizing metal recovery or purchasing the proper tools, AJM

ensures you have the information you need to succeed. To

order a free sample copy, visit www.ajm-magazine.com. Also

check out our new books, At the Bench (for gold and silver work)

and The Platinum Bench.

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<> <> <> <> AT THE PLATINUM BENCH <> <> <> <>

Tips for working on Platinum from Jurgen J. Maerz CMBJ,

director of technical education for Platinum Guild International

http://www.pgi-platinum-tech.com/

FTC Guide for Marking Platinum Jewelry

The FTC Platinum Guide for marking jewelry made wholly, or in

part, of platinum provides that items consisting of:

* 950 parts or more per thousand of pure platinum can be

marked "Platinum" without the use of any qualifying statements;

* 850 to 950 parts per thousand can be marked in accordance

with international standards of "950 Plat." or "950 Pt.," "900 Plat." or "900 Pt.,"

* "850 Plat." or "850 Pt.” (The revised guide permits the use of

a two or four letter abbreviation for platinum);

* 500 parts per thousand of pure platinum and at least 950 parts

per thousand platinum group metals can be marked with the

parts per thousand of pure platinum, followed by the parts per

thousand of each platinum group metal (example:

"600Plat.350Irid." or "600Pt.350Ir.” and less than 500 parts per

thousand pure platinum cannot be marked with the word

platinum or any abbreviation thereof.

Copies of the Platinum Guide Federal Register notice and the

entire Jewelry Guides are available from the FTC's web site at

http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Public reference

Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington D.C. 20580; (202) 326-2222

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Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work,

so most people don’t recognize them.

Ann Landers

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SIMON SEZ SEMINARS

Bradney W. Simon is a JA Certified Master Bench Jeweler with

over 25 years experience on the bench. He is the Editor and

Publisher of E-BENCH, BENCH Magazine, and BENCH ROM,

and is an accomplished platform speaker, providing Keynote

Speeches, and Educational Seminars.

Topics include:

Shop Management

Bench Tips

Jewelry Demonstrations

For information on having him speak for your organization, log

onto; http://www.BWSimon.com/SimonSez Seminars

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<> <> <> <> <> <> FAVORITE TIPS <> <> <> <> <> <>

Before bead setting stones, measure the thickness of your metal.

At a minimum, the metal should be as thick as the distance

between the girdle and the culet. If the metal is too thin, you will

not have enough metal to get a good bead.

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Old needle files make great burnishers. The various shapes of

files provide you with an almost endless assortment of different

shaped burnishers. To make the burnisher, grind the teeth off

the old file being careful that you do not overheat it, as you do

not want to remove the temper from the metal. Then polish the

metal to a high shine.

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Prong retipping is probably the most under recommended repair

yet one of the most important. Whenever you take in jewelry for

repair with stones, examine the prongs, and if they are thin,

broken, or missing, recommend retipping in addition to the other

repairs. Any prong worn to less than one-fourth the original

thickness must be retipped or the security of the stone is in

jeopardy.

Inform the customer of the possible consequences of worn

prongs, and encourage them to examine the prongs under

magnification. If the customer declines retipping after being

informed of worn prongs, state on the envelope the condition of

the prongs, the customer’s desires, and that you will not be

responsible if the stone is lost. Not only are shop profits

increased from the additional work, but also store liability from

stones falling out after the customer picks up their jewelry is

reduced substantially.

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The key to productivity is NOT working faster but working more

efficiently.

To increase productivity find areas of wasted time and work to

minimize or eliminate it.

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To measure the size of a finger with a large knuckle, take an

inexpensive set of plastic ring sizers and cut a slit in them with a

fine saw blade. Then when measuring with them, they will open

to go over the knuckle and you can measure the finger for a

proper fit of an adjustable shank.

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Place small bezels into your #30 handpiece. Then hold a

burnisher against the bezel as you turn it slowly. The bezel will

form over the stone smoothly and evenly all the way around the

stone.

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Keep broken saw blades in a container near where you solder.

You can then use them to point to the brake in a chain to see

where to solder.

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Use bent chain nose pliers to set stones with, instead of regular

chain nose pliers. Then, your hand and the body of the pliers will

be out of your line of sight, allowing you a better view of the work

you are doing.

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If you have a tip you would like to share with our readers send it

in an e-mail to mailto:Brad@BWSimon.com

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A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought.

There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.

Victor Hugo

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Jewelry Dealers World Trade Network

http://www.JewelryDealersNetwork.com/

<> <> <> Bench Jeweler Discussion Channel <> <> <>

Ask questions, share tips, and take part in the on going

discussions, or just read and take in all the advice from many

Excellent Jewelers from around the world.

Membership includes: Many topical Discussion Channels,

Plus you may buy, sell and trade on the Buy/Sell Channels, Plus

Much More.

Trial Period Available

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<> <> <> <> <> GERRY’S GEMZ <> <> <> <> <>

Stone setting tips from Gemz Diamond Setting

http://www.gemzdiamondsetting.com/index.html

FLUSH SETTING

By Gerald N. Lewy

When you attempt to push the metal over a flush set stone, be

very careful that the pusher is nowhere near the facets. As you

are bending the metal over, you are slowly compressing it onto

the stone and it will spread. This ‘spreading’ will do the

remainder of the metal pushing for you so you won’t have to

actually touch the stone risking damage to the stones' facets.

Let the spreading do the final work for you.

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MENTAL PATIENT MAKES $50,000 a year TWISTING WIRE!!!

Yes, it's true and I can show you how to make wire jewelry and

do the same thing. You can make money right from your kitchen

table making wire jewelry and still keep your day job.

Please send a blank email to

mailto:wireworker@royal-responder.com

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If You Like E-Bench