Silversmithing: how I bezel set opal.

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all well! Hers a quick video to show how I bezel set opal, highlighting the importance of a well cut setting edge on the opal. Again, apologies for my fingers, but I hope you enjoy the rest of the video, thanks for your time 🤪👍

[@susannesamuelsson2930]

Don't be ashamed or excuse your working hands...it's a tell sign of a hard working man!

[@theopalmills]

Ty, 🤪👍

[@JayDub_143]

I know I came across this video late but Ms. Samuelsson said it best!! Working hands are proof of hard work and dedication you should never apologize for that. Additionally I find it rather rude for anyone to call you any names or make remarks of your hands when you are taking time from your day to share such useful information and your beautiful gift. If they dont like it there are millions of other channels they can watch. 💜

[@SirRocksAlot]

No worries on the hands. It's nice when you can sit at home, prop up the phone, press play on a free video that someone has put a lot of time into, get out the nail file and clippers and finally throw their own insecurities out at you. You do an amazing informative and entertaining job. One day we all meet up to get our mani's and pedi's done. Cheers

[@theopalmills]

🤣🤣

[@sahilsquadron2286]

😂

[@LindaDVera]

What beautiful work you do! ❤️

[@mandymcclure717]

Love listening

[@HORSLOVR]

Your hands look much better than mine and I’m a gal. No worries about it. Fellow silversmiths shouldn’t even notice it!

[@1catfishuntermiller753]

Hiya, hey if anyone complains about your hands and fingers, it's because they themselves have never worked on cutting any stones 😉, where you have a cut on your finger, I have a big chalice on my finger from cutting stones on my flat lap. 😀 Thanks for showing us how to set a stone for a ring 💍, awesome video. I hope you have a awesome blessed day. Cheers! Cya! 😸🐟out!

[@englewood1971]

Nice work 👍

[@Shining225]

so glad i found a jeweller who knows his opal this well...subscribed!!!!!

[@theopalmills]

Ty 🤪👍

[@bhutjolokia6990]

Very informative video, I think I will give this a go!! Above all don't worry about your hands and fingers!! Shows you are a man that works hard!!😁😁 Otherwise you would be a Sheila!!😂😂 Great job!!

[@hudmumper]

Lovely stones and rings and and very informative. I had no idea what went into creating a bezel on a ring! I'm looking forward to releasing my creative side. I appreciate the explanation as to why one needs to keep all these things in mind when cutting, and also the exercise of creative responsibility ,if I can put it that way. The responsibility to the setter and wearer of the piece, and also the responsibility to oneself to enjoy the process and outcome. 😄 Beautiful stones and rings, BTW! 👌

[@englewood1971]

I'm no hand model either m8. You can tell a working man by how his hands look. The only negative remarks I've had were from my grandmother. She always told me to get the dirt out from under my nails. 😆 🤣 😂 😹 As far as being banged up and cut up, who cares 👍 😎

[@surajitsaikia4139]

Great to have a skill hand rather than a beautiful hand. Mate your hands are master cutters that is enough for me. Keep cutting stones and entertain us.

[@kaynefryday1251]

Cool, first ! Your fingers are fine !

[@theopalmills]

🤣🤣

[@emilyjayne77]

Hard working hands thats what you have! You have nothing to apologise for 😅! it’s just idiotic trolling! You be you & sod the haters ✌️😌

[@laralouise2897]

the hands of an artist

[@Silvertoburn]

Good times! I learned a lot from watching Soham Harrison back 8/9 years ago! I like making big rings with stones! Dig the Boulder Opal & Labradorite as well! I use 2 gauge 1/2 round with the 1/2 round on the inside! Smooth as butter putting it on!!! Great job my dude! Wah la means there it is!

[@flyingcheff]

What language is "wah la"?

[@tlojewelrylove]

G'day from Georgia, USA! 😊 I thought I'd check out your video and learn a little bit about opals. BTW, don't worry about your hands. Anybody who works with their hands are bound to get them buggered up. If someone doesn't like the looks of them maybe they should move on to another video.😄 I personally appreciate people like you who take the time to teach others... especially for FREE!👍 Thanks for sharing!😊

[@theopalmills]

Cheers mate. 🤪👍

[@rawdawgpendants5490]

Im so close to making rings, been refining silver and gold for a while now and have quite a bit accumulated. I cannot wait to make my first one. You do great work.

[@fishwithandy]

That was Great

[@kaynefryday1251]

Bloody nice, they look awesome !

[@elishadoyle8191]

What an awesome jodxxxxxx

[@alan1340]

An excellent insight as to 'how its done' Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge with us. I think I prefer the bezel over the claw but I guess some stones are better suited to certain settings. Cheers Phil

[@darrenbayre162]

Good job Phil they look awsome

[@AO-lq9dq]

this is a perfect video and really wanted to get some tips from some experienced, your channel is 10/10, going to level up from calibrated doublets :)

[@rogerlimoseth4790]

Man skip those whiners. I'm here for the opal and your workmanship.

[@tlojewelrylove]

Beautiful work and beautiful multi-color stone. ❤❤❤ Your camera zooms in very well. What gauge thickness is your bezel wall and back and what gauge is the half round wire? I've only ever bezel set ruby cabs for pairs of earrings but I'll soon be making a bezel setting for an opal cab on a ring I'm making for a friend. Opals are much softer than Rubies so I only hope I can manage it without damaging her stone. This is very helpful thanks.👍😊

[@theopalmills]

The bezel is 1mm thick which requires some filing, to thin the setting edge for an easier bezel fold. 0.5mm would have been more ideal, but I wanted the extra bulk for strength. The back is 0.5mm sheet, and the half round is 5 x 3mm. 🤪👍

[@ArtOfDavidAmos]

Did exactly what you do here except on a pendant. Pushing the bezel over with a bamboo chop stick end, and right before I finished it cracked in half…. Have no idea why, it is unsettling now to ever touch another opal again.

[@jeffholmes1362]

Sorry Phil, now all I can see is how clean your fingers are......😂😂😂😂

[@Tofasttodrive]

No need to say your sorry bud your a working man that's it guy that sit at a desk will never know

[@jeffholmes1362]

Phil, those are workers hands, be proud of them. To be honest I’m looking at the shiny stuff and don’t see your fingers 🧐. Besides seems those gross fingers got you 30 subs in the past few days

[@theopalmills]

🤣👍 lol

[@flyingcheff]

Good stone cutting 👍🏻 Are you going to clean up the rings before sending off? I've found that fine pumice won't harm opal. Those bezel top edges can look good after a clean up and polish. Do you sell cabochons you cut?

[@elishadoyle8191]

Don't be sorry mate

[@TIG2MAN0]

Love your videos man. Is it better for a new cutter to try to sell loose stones or try to set them? Is it possable for a new cutter to have stones actually sell?

[@rawdawgpendants5490]

I would do all my grinding and filing over a plastic tub, save all the powder, and put it in nitric acid, but add the nitric in small amounts about 3ml incriments untill its all disolved then you put copper in and the silver in solution comes out on the copper and copper goes into solution. From there you filter until clear, and melt it in a crucible and you got close to 997 pure silver you can inquart with the copper recovered from sloution to make 925 silver for jewelry.

[@theopalmills]

I do have a filings jar, after sawing or filing I brush down my bench or vice into a jar, sometimes I put a container underneath if it’s not going to land on the bench. I was going to melt it all together and use it for a casting. 🤪👍

[@nicolestewart]

Awesome. I have an opal pendant I was given as a kid. The gold plating rubbed off when I was 12 😂. I wish I could have it fixed like it was. I checked out your site too. How can I get my opal pendant fixed? Maybe you could do it for me 😂. I don’t like gold. I prefer silver ❤

[@theopalmills]

G’day Nicole, there is a brand “nushine” who make gold and silver plating solutions that you can use at home. 🤪👍

[@g..3095]

whats a good beginner setup you recommend to get started? Like what tools and materials do I need to start and make a ring?

[@theopalmills]

G’day Gianni, I did this video a while ago and need to update it a bit, but it’ll give you an idea of what you’ll need kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKrVYaqjoLZnb9E 🤪👍

[@brontemcintosh9387]

Thanks for the video! Quick question! Do you use sterling silver for your bezel or was this fine silver bezel strip?

[@theopalmills]

G’day Bronte, I used sterling silver, I rarely use fine silver it can get messy. 🤪👍

[@SirRocksAlot]

Any particular places you purchase your silver from? What would you call the wooden ring clamp? Holding stick, keep on watching.....

[@theopalmills]

Lol, it’s a ring holder www.gemcuts.com.au/ring-clamp-with-wedge-wooden this is where I mainly shop for tools, I buy my silver from twinplaza.com/ and another option is www.jewellerssupplies.com.au/ though I’m yet to shop there, I’ve heard good things. 🤪👍

[@gabrielkirkbaca2910]

Beautiful work , questions: what gauge is the plate and the shank?

[@theopalmills]

Hi Gabriel, ty, the shank (whole ring) is 3x5mm half round, and the plate is around 1.2mm. I know industry likes to use “gauge” in reference to measuring, but due to lack of formal training, I order in “millimetres”, even then, after sanding and pre-polishing, depending on how much sanding, the final gauge/measurement is less. 🤪👍

[@michaelprue9024]

Dirty hands = CLEAN MONEY

[@keelyharra-shepard7079]

I've read you should "glue in" stones into the bevels, but I didnt see you do that when you wrapped the opals - is it necessary? Or does the bevel hold it in well enough? I'd rather not put glue on my opals when I make necklaces, if i can not :) I'm totally new to this also - what is the silver wrap/bevel material called- what do I look up to buy it? I'm going to go REALLY slow when I start, that's for sure!

[@theopalmills]

G’day Keely, I’ve never glued in a stone when setting, the bezel holds it well. It is called ‘bezel’, in this case, silver bezel and the idea is to get a close fit so the stone goes in with minimal to no wiggle room, then, closing in the top of the hole that the stone went in, will stop it coming back out and you should be able to get a great finish. If the bezel is too thick to push, then you can carefully file a bevel around the top of the bezel, thinning it for more malleability. 🤪👍

[@keelyharra-shepard7079]

@@theopalmills awesome! I'm glad to have a way without having the stone permanently stuck :) oh, I think that may have been auto correct on the bezel ;) It does that to me so many times, and i don't always catch it! Do you know how to get an opal unglued - like from an old ring? It has prongs, but I think its glued also - I pulled back the prongs carefully, but they don't come out...sigh..

[@theopalmills]

@@keelyharra-shepard7079 it depends on the glue used, the go to for most is to put it in the freezer, the stone, glue and metal ring should have different contraction/expansion rates and they’ll separate due to shrinkage. Acetone or nail polish remover could work as long as it’s not a matrix, Ethiopian or other type of porous opal. 🤪👍

[@keelyharra-shepard7079]

@@theopalmills these are (I'm guessing) australian opals- and may be fairly old? I found the ring in an antique store and I REALLY wish I could have gotten the entire collection of what they had - I just got the ring, but there was also a set of earrings..couldn't afford it at the time. They are orange opals w beautiful green and yellow glints! Wish it was possible to include pix :) I'll try the freezer first! If that doesn't work, gently w acetone :)

[@theopalmills]

@@keelyharra-shepard7079 I should add, use acetone only if they’re solid stones, as doublets and triplets are glued together and would fall apart.

[@annermel9121]

What gauge did you use for bezel wire?

[@theopalmills]

It was around 0.8-1.0mm.

[@elishadoyle8191]

Where do you buy the tools from which your using

[@theopalmills]

G’day mate, www.gemcuts.com.au/ 🤪👍

[@elishadoyle8191]

@@theopalmills thanks heaps 😁😁

[@RoysRocks]

Haha need a hand model for the channel? 🤣

[@theopalmills]

I though they’d complain about my face before my hands. 🤪👍

[@RoysRocks]

Man I love the burnisher stage!!!

[@RoysRocks]

@@theopalmills Haha I've got a great face for radio but a terrible voice so Shot in all formats 🤣

[@jeffholmes1362]

You offering Roy?

[@elishadoyle8191]

Yeh but I use s dremel

[@elishadoyle8191]

Wow why are you apologising? Your alright 👌. Gee some people will complain about anything

[@terihennigan722]

Should not have to pologpize for your hands. I cut and polish stones and my hands often get strained or scuffed and I'm a woman. Can't always have perfect womanlyp or clean hands due to stairs and scars from carving, shaping, and cutting stones. All that possibly should be said is that such hands show hard0p working hands and love of the art. Just mpy thoughts.

[@mattmarshall728]

Is that ring holder a baseball batt?

[@theopalmills]

Lol, no, I bought it as is, though with a hinge, a bolt, a wing nut you could make one out of a baseball bat or shovel handle 🤪👍

[@stephenmills4283]

Try using white gloves.

[@jessicahart2115]

Your Hands look fine,theyre Workers Hands..

[@shawncharton9416]

People seriously complain a out your hands??? Wow.

[@theopalmills]

Yep 🤣🤣

[@peggykirby2377]

Anybody who is bothered by seeing hands that work, is at the wrong place. They wont ever be a metalsmith.

[@theopalmills]

🤣👍

[@sierrahjmartinez6703]

Men should have working hands. If they look all nice kept up then you're a delicate male.

[@Nobbybuttons]

a working man needs not listen too keyboard jockeys...their hands are soft as their brains.

[@williamsnelson]

No worries mate. The world full of Karen's

[@mandymcclure717]

Fyi. Your accent does make up nicely for the dirty nails. Lol.

[@theopalmills]

🤣👍

[@lisamiller2227]

Who really cares what your hands look like? It's what you create with them that matters 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@flodareltih9407]

lol clean your hands you grub-joking!

[@theopalmills]

🤣👍

[@Mass-jab-death-2025]

Not bad for an old leeper.