How Jewelry is Tooled

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Using a Graver to Assure Jewelry The awl-like, wood handled tools that jewelers use are called gravers. In this picture, the jeweler is shaving platinum from the openings behind the stones in order to make an attractive honeycomb pattern on the reverse side of the setting. This is a detailed, time-consuming process and is usually found only in fine handmade jewelry.

Using a Graver to Carve Jewelry A skilled jeweler, model maker, or stone setter may have dozens of gravers at their workbench. Each of the gravers is ground and polished to different angles suited for carving, shaving, and engraving metals in different ways. In this illustration, you can see that the graver is guided with the index finger against the thumb to shave away precious metal.

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Gold Milling and Lathe Work Here, a jeweler is turning a gold cylinder down on a mini lathe to form a wedding band. In jewelry making, lathes and mills are used to work on both wax and precious metals. As with all jewelry making processes, it is important to be extremely careful to salvage all of the turnings and filings, as they are precious metal and must be refined.

Applying Mill Grain to Jewelry One of the most common detailing techniques in jewelry making is mill graining. Mill grain is the fine beaded pattern that is used to define edges of stone groupings, decorate filigree, and trim edges of bracelets, rings, and wedding bands. In this illustration, the jeweler is using a micro roller with a convex cutter to apply delicate mill grain to the edges of a platinum wedding band.

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Mill Grain-Finished Platinum Ring In this final band, you can see the finished mill grain after it has been applied. The mill grain was used as a delicate trim to soften the mass of the ring rails and provide a decorative border to highlight the motif of this ring.

Applying Florentine to Jewelry Another common finish applied to jewelry to offer contrast is florentine. In this photo, a plain polished gold band is being held in a bench clamp and carved with a florentine graver. With clean, evenhanded strokes, the craftsman is shaving fine, bright, parallel lines into the metal and then crosscutting them to give the piece a shimmering satin finish. Florentine tends to look best when contrasted by a bright, polished border or surface.

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Florentine-Finished Band In this picture, you can see the final results of the tooling done in the above photograph. A florentine finish offers a bold contrast to bright metal on any broad surface. It is also popular because the multi-directional lines do not show scratches as easily as many other finishes used on jewelry.

Come See Our Jewelry Factory Jewelry Designs is the area’s leader in retail and manufacturing of fine diamond jewelry. Jewelry Designs is located in Danbury, Connecticut in western Fairfield county bordering Westchester and Putnam counties on the New York state line. Click here for directions. Click here for store information.

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