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$1,000 - where it went...



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 17th 04, 03:16 AM
Raane
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Default $1,000 - where it went...

Well, it's mostly all gone and here is how it was spent:

Smith Little Torch, tips, regulators, etc.
Acetylene/Oxygen tanks (full)
Hoses etc.

Just the above was almost 500.00

Also purchased:

Fairly powerful externally vented range hood
Bench pin with anvil
4" Jewelers saw frame
6" Jewelers saw frame
Plethora of saw blades
Set of small twist drills
Two ring clamps
copper tongs
annealing pan
soldering pads
soldering tripod
binding wire
silver solders
flux
pickle
assorted files


That's about it.
I already have a steel plate for hammering and a dual head hammer. I
need to pick up some more hammers. I don't even have a rawhide one,
yet. I also picked up a cheap generic dremel-type flex shaft tool
(20.00) just to pierce sheets. I'd still like to get a little bench
grinder, and - eventually - a rolling mill.

So much to learn!
Ads
  #2  
Old February 17th 04, 08:14 AM
Abrasha
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Raane wrote:

Well, it's mostly all gone and here is how it was spent:

Smith Little Torch, tips, regulators, etc.
Acetylene/Oxygen tanks (full)
Hoses etc.

Just the above was almost 500.00


I told you so A Propane setup would have cost you about $100 - $125

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com
  #3  
Old February 18th 04, 05:04 PM
Raane
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You *DID* tell me so - and you were right. I must admit that working
with gases where there is the potential for harm makes me somewhat
nervous - something that I must get over in order to be able to
approach this adventure fully. But living, as I do, in a very rural
area, I felt more comfortable working with something that someone
near-at-hand had experience with, and that entered into my choice. My
gas cooking stove runs on propane tanks and it is likely there is a
way to run a propane set-up off those tanks, but I fear that if I had
tried it on my own, the results may not have been positive.

Abrasha, when you first began - did you feel excitement and joy? Does
it continue over time? I have trouble going to sleep at night because
I can't stop thinking of things I want to learn and do!

Best -

C.



Abrasha wrote in message
. ..
Raane wrote:

Well, it's mostly all gone and here is how it was spent:

Smith Little Torch, tips, regulators, etc.
Acetylene/Oxygen tanks (full)
Hoses etc.

Just the above was almost 500.00


I told you so A Propane setup would have cost you about $100 - $125

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

  #5  
Old February 19th 04, 03:37 AM
Peter W. Rowe
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On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 18:15:12 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry
wrote:

I'll tell you how to stop that joy business. Try stone setting, no not the
store bought prong type, I mean the drill a hole with that fancy fordom tool
you got and use gravers to make a bur to hold the stone in...Arrrrrgggg!!!!


Bead setting, or pave' work as its called, can be frustrating, especially in
the harder white golds. But once you get the hang of it, it goes quickly
enough, and people who are good at it can make some decent money.

No, I think for quickly killing the joy of this stuff, my day today set a good
example. Had a job in the shop where the client (a store) wished a 1.45 carat,
rather well cut and nice quality diamond removed from a new filligree style,
rather fancy and costly platinum mounting, in order to set a slightly larger
older cut diamond, which they felt would be consistant with the antique style
of the mounting. The center was set in six short thick little prongs, coming
up from a center "plate", or undergallery, that the stone was set down on.
While it wasn't so hard pulling the prongs back enough to get the first stone
out, the prongs were short and stiff enough that I was needing to put a fair
amount of pressure on them with a prong pusher to bend them back down over the
second stone, after recutting the seat, of course. Not actually a difficult
setting job. it's no different from many others I've done many times over the
years.

but...

Maybe my hand shook for a moment, or who knows what, but the tool slipped off
the prong, glancing off the girdle of the stone, which as bad luck would have
it, happened to be VERY thin at that point. I didn't hear the "snap" sound it
probably made over the shop noises around me just then, but i sure saw the good
sized flake running down the pavilion surface, about halfway to the culet.
It will take cutting off a substantial amount of weight to fix this stone...

Now, I don't get too upset when I break a melee sized diamond during bead
setting. That happens now and then, and the things aren't all THAT expensive.
You get used to loosing a few in that sort of work, and factor it into the
price. But 1.56 carat diamonds, even when they're not especially good quality
ones, are a different thing entirely.

My boss, needless to say, is not thrilled...

hope your day was better.

Oh, and for those of you fighting terribly with bead setting, if you do enough
of it, consider one of the power gravers. The fordom power graver doesn't do
an exceptional job of actual engraving (too choppy, in my opinion, though it's
a great tool for very controllably running a standard hammer handpiece) , but
it does OK, and will help you with pave work if you're having too much trouble
with that. Considerably better, though more costly, are the GRS family of
power driven gravers. Or if you really want one very slick and beautufully
made tool, surf over to Steve Lindsey's web site, and after drooling over his
amazing engraving work, look at the air powered gravers he's designed and hand
builds. They're not cheap, but they are wonderous tools, and if you find
yourself often wondering where to find the power or control in your hand to
deal with long sessions of bright cutting and raising beads in very hard white
golds (or anything else), then perhaps this sort of tool is for you. I love
mine. it gets a lot more used that i'd ever imagined, and I'm not even an
engraver. They are not all THAT more costly than the GRS tools, but to me,
seem significantly better tools. (feel free to ask me for further details, if
you wish.)

http://www.lindsayengraving.com/


cheers

Peter












  #6  
Old February 19th 04, 06:33 AM
NE333RO
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No, I think for quickly killing the joy of this stuff, my day today set a
good
example. Had a job in the shop where the client (a store) wished a 1.45
carat,
rather well cut and nice quality diamond removed from a new filligree style,
rather fancy and costly platinum mounting, in order to set a slightly larger
older cut diamond, which they felt would be consistant with the antique style
of the mounting. The center was set in six short thick little prongs, coming
up from a center "plate", or undergallery, that the stone was set down on.
While it wasn't so hard pulling the prongs back enough to get the first stone
out, the prongs were short and stiff enough that I was needing to put a fair
amount of pressure on them with a prong pusher to bend them back down over
the
second stone, after recutting the seat, of course. Not actually a difficult
setting job. it's no different from many others I've done many times over
the
years.

but...

Maybe my hand shook for a moment, or who knows what, but the tool slipped off
the prong,


Probably no shaking, it's just one of those things that happens on
occassion. Usually we are just lucky and/or skilled enough that it doesnt break
the stone. Sounds to me like just a matter of bad timing on the wrong stone.

glancing off the girdle of the stone, which as bad luck would have
it, happened to be VERY thin at that point. I didn't hear the "snap" sound
it
probably made over the shop noises around me just then, but i sure saw the
good
sized flake running down the pavilion surface, about halfway to the culet.
It will take cutting off a substantial amount of weight to fix this stone...


How do you have this worked out with your boss? Just an FYI to everyone
else: If you do this long enough, something like this will happen. It's
inevitable. No matter how good you are. Work out IN ADVANCE who is responsible
for the cost of making this right.

Oh, and for those of you fighting terribly with bead setting, if you do
enough
of it, consider one of the power gravers.


Someday I'm going to have to try that route. I've always used hand gravers
for all of this type work. I guess it's just hard for me to get away from the
old ways I learned the hard way.
Nastiest job I ever had is still the 5ct emerald I had to pull out of a
bead set setting (without ruining the setting), bead set it in a used old white
gold mounting made for a smaller stone, and then bead set emeralds running down
both sides of the ring. There outta be a law.
  #7  
Old February 19th 04, 06:44 AM
Peter W. Rowe
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On , in rec.crafts.jewelry (NE333RO) wrote:

How do you have this worked out with your boss? Just an FYI to everyone
else: If you do this long enough, something like this will happen. It's
inevitable. No matter how good you are. Work out IN ADVANCE who is responsible
for the cost of making this right.


I'm paid hourly. My wages are not dependent on either the liability involved,
or the potential profit from, the jobs i'm given to do. And I don't set the
charges we charge our clients, nor the policies we have with the stores we do
work for. As I see it, the employer has the greater opportunity for profit
from an employees work, and that's as it should be. He owns the business, he
gets the bigger paycheck. But the flipside is that for the most part, he also
incurs the liabilities and risks. While this isn't uniformly so in all
fields, including ours, consider the general business practices of empolyee
liability. If I deliberatly sabotage my employer or otherwise can be held
responsible for gross negligence, then perhaps my employer can hold me
responsible for my actions. But for the most part, employers incur the
liabilities for their employees actions when those actions are part of the
empolyees job. A bus driver who's in an accident doesn't have to buy a new
bus. Might have his performance review downgraded, but that's different. If
a Boeing jet crashes because some rivets didn't hold, while the manufacturer of
the rivets could be held liable if they were faulty, the guy who installed the
faulty rivets, and employee of Boeing, isn't the one liable for the damages
caused by the crash of the plane.

In our case, while my boss is making noises about me paying for this, it simply
won't happen, and he knows it. He's making me pay emotionally, 'cause he knows
full well that I don't actually have the ready means to pay financially. It
will end up blowing over. Fortunately, this sort of thing doesn't happen to me
often. (whew) I WILL, no doubt, hear about it lots if and when I next get up
the nerve to ask for a raise. Depending on how this works out, that might not
be as soon as I'd planned...

cheers

Peter
  #8  
Old February 19th 04, 05:10 PM
Raane
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Here I sit, still in my nightgown, checking this group - now a part of
my starting the day's routine. I am laughing at the helpful hints to
knock "that joy business" out of my soul! You guys read between the
lines, knowing that it would probably get gone eventually, might as
well show it the where the door is and yell "don't let it hit you in
the rear" as it scurried away. You have to work harder, though...it
is still hanging around. I don't mean to be a Pollyanna - but really,
as I am reading the notes, part of me is commiserating, but the other
part is thinking about how I can't wait until I know how to set
stones, or until I have enough experience to appreciate the
differences in "gravers." I've yet to even hold a graver! So it is
all relative - I'm still work on not making tiny dings in sterling
wire if I'm making jump rings, or trying to figure out how to get a
particular finish on sterling sheet! I have beautiful ornaments
dancing in my head like sugar plums and dozens of techniques to master
before being able to make them a reality.

I have to admit, though, Peter, that reading it, I did not envy your
yesterday Cyberhug and one whispered chorus of "The sun will come
out, tomorrow..." And, yes, you MAY, cybershoot me.

Raane


wrote in message
. ..
On 18-Feb-2004,
(Raane) wrote:

Abrasha, when you first began - did you feel excitement and joy? Does
it continue over time? I have trouble going to sleep at night because
I can't stop thinking of things I want to learn and do!


I'll tell you how to stop that joy business. Try stone setting, no not the
store bought prong type, I mean the drill a hole with that fancy fordom tool
you got and use gravers to make a bur to hold the stone in...Arrrrrgggg!!!!

Les

 




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