Bezel Setting Cabochon

In this tutorial, I will set a Onyx cabochon is a silver bezel.

The bezel of the stone in the picture is too high at this stage.

If one were to fold the metal over now, it would absolutely work, but there would be too much metal covering the stone.

So the first thing to do is to file the bezel lower.

These two bezels are for illustration purposes.

The one on the left has been filed down to the correct height.

The one on the right , if it were set like it is now, would have far too much metal covering the stone.

Here is a top view of the left cab after it was filed to the right height.

It is quite possible to fold the metal over the stone at this stage.

Is will require a reasonable amount of strength, or a hammering hand piece to force the metal over, especially if one is working in a hard gold like 14k, for instance.

I prefer an easier method.

Firstly,  I file an angle to the top of the bezel, as is shown in the picture.

This effectively reduces the amount of metal that has to be folded over onto the stone.
Because the metal is much thinner, less force is also needed.

Another thing to keep in mind concerning a bezel setting, is that the amount of metal needed to hold the stone in place is actually very little, because there is a 'band' of metal going right round the stone.

Unlike a prong / claw setting, which has only six or eight 'dots' of metal holding the stone in place.

To push the metal over, I use a brass pusher with a 'mushroom' handle.

The tip is flat and I use a 1200 grit buff stick to give it a satin finish.

I don't polish the tip, as I find that it tends to become too slippery.

I use my pusher at this angle and rock it side to side whilst pushing down.

First I do the north, south, west, east points and this usually locks the stone down.

Here is a close up of the first four.

Then I do the same all around the stone, pushing on opposing sides until there is no more space where I have not pushed over.

Here I have pushed over all along the top.

Now I use a fine needle file and smooth the bumps out that were made by the pusher.

To smooth the needle file marks out, I use pumice wheels.

These wheels will smooth the metal out, but will not scratch the stones.

Other rubber wheels will.

Once the the file marks are removed, the bezel can be polished.