The ring

The ring I used in this post was my personal ring I made many years ago. My house burned to the ground several years ago and this ring was in the fire. The stone was destroyed but the ring survived.Here is my preperation to restore my ring. I have only cleaned it up a little before this post. I will show it again finished.But this ring is an ultimate example to show setting on a curved surface with.

Tool to pack the glue

Here is my tool I modified to press the glue in and also remove any unwanted glue.

Mixing the glue and putting in the ring

In this picture I mixed alittle brown color to show the glue better in the ring.

Mixing the glue

Here is how I mix my glue. I use a small paper pad and mix the glue on the top sheet. When I am done I just fold over the mixed glue and throw away.

Setting a stone on a curved setting,How to

Setting a stone on a curved backing, how to

Setting a stone with a curved surface underneath can be frustrating and the stone wants to just rock back and forth. Here is the answer to this problem.
First you need a flat solid surface under the stone. I have set my personal ring stone I wore for many years and the stone never did tighten and stop rocking slightly as I did not do this. The first step is to get the surface flat. The best way to do this is to mix up some two part epoxy and just fill in the low spots and let the glue flow level.
You need two part epoxy, small paper pad to mix glue on and tooth picks to mix the glue with.
You need the ring to be level and solid . The best way is to mount the ring on a ring mandrel and to hold the mandrel in a bench vise. Make sure when done mounting the ring that it is level. The glue will settle and will level out so it is very important for the ring to be level. In my pictures I held the ring with a soldering tweezers holder. I could adjust it and get the ring level and leave until the glue sets up.
After mounting the ring level. The Next step is to mix the epoxy. Squirt out a even squirt of each on the paper pad. Mix the epoxy thoroughly with a toothpick. Throw that toothpick away and get a new toothpick to put the epoxy in the ring . I am using a ring in the pictures. Make sure you use just enough to bring the epoxy level across the top of the curve. Not much over the top of the curve unless you want to set the stone higher in the bezel. Do not get any glue on the inside of the bezel or anywhere else not needed. Try to keep the glue only on the bottom. As the glue sets it reaches a soft putty stage and at this stage you can take a sharp tool and remove any epoxy that might have got stuck inside of the bezel, or in area’s that you do not want it.
I show in the pictures my tool I use for this. This tool is a modified wax carving tool. I have ground the end very thin and sharp and flat. I scraped the epoxy loose that I had gotten on the inside of the bezel. I also packed the epoxy around the edge flat. The epoxy wanted to creep up the side of the bezel. Let the epoxy set for the time required and you are ready to set the stone. I will write a blog on stone setting so watch for that. copyrite @ James Saunders 2010