Thumbstud Jewel Mounting

E

EdgeRock

Joined
Sep 7, 2007
Messages
12
Hello all,

I recently aquired a Lightfoot Catchdog. When ordering the piece, Greg offered to leave one side of the thumbstud open for aftermarket jewel mounting and I accepted. What is the best method for mounting stones in stainless thumbstuds. It seems that common jewelers are unfamiliar with the process and used to working with much softer metals, gold, silver, etc. All suggestions would be appreciated.

Best regards,

EdgeRock
 
I am surprised that local jewelers are "unfamiliar with the process". I'd keep checking around until I found a real jewelsmith. They may not be used to working with hardened steels, but a good, competent jeweler should have several ideas, ranging from silver soldering to epoxy mounting, and on.
 
Stones should never be glued in place.
You perhaps could get the stone set in a proper sized tube, and then low temp. silver solder the tube in place.
 
I'm not recommending a glued stone. I'm recommending finding a jewelsmith who's competent enough to come up with several ideas.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Stones should never be glued in place.
You perhaps could get the stone set in a proper sized tube, and then low temp. silver solder the tube in place.
Click to expand...

That's it, but not in that order. You silver solder the bezel on first, then set the stone in the bezel. :)
 
First off - thanks for the replies.

So, Cougar, my understanding is that the "silver solder" process works for fusing together stainless steel with, let's say, platinum or white gold. Therefore, attaching a white gold or platinum bezel to a thumbstud is possible using this process, which would facilitate setting the stone into the bezel. Is this correct?

Thanks again,

EdgeRock
 
Depends on the stone, Cougar. Most will withstand the 400 degrees for low temperature soldering. I was suggesting having the jeweler set the stone in the tube or mounting. Then the user can solder the mount in.
 
It's true that some gemstones can stand high temperatures, but there's no need. Jewelers are accustomed to soldering the bezel (or prong setting) on first and then setting the stone; that's the way it's done. (I used to do craft jewelry.)

When you work with gold you use a lower carat gold for solder, not silver solder. (I only worked with silver, myself.) I can't tell you about platinum.
 
LOL! You never know who you're talking to on the net, and you can really make a fool of yourself when you think you know more than the other guy.... I've often noticed you know a bit about knives, didn't know you were a jeweler too. :eek:

Back to the original poster: I thunk I knew a bit about how to set stones, and there's only a couple of different ways I know how to do it, but I don't know everything.... :eek:
 
I'm grateful for the insight on both parts. The stone I'm looking for will be a high quality lab-grown blue sapphire. Since a sapphire has a 9 hardness rating, I'm sure it will withstand the relative heat involved with soldering. I'll leave it up to the jeweler to decide on which would be the best method of the two mentioned.

Thanks again!
 
Cougar
Haven't you figured out that I know EVERYTHING? ;^)
There are a lot of ways to set stones-some of them "correct" and some not.
Visit my website- www.billdeshivs.com and learn a little about old Bill!
 
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