I am Dedicating this whole Review, For tips on Jewelry, From the Novice to the Experts..If you have Additional Question Just leave a Message..

...CABBING

. ...Cold Doping....Cold Doping is for gems who are Heat Sensitive, These are a few that I know...Tourmaline, Garnet, Opal, Opalite, Amazonite, Turquoise....Cabochon, Means Bald Head.. Most all Cabochons should have a Perfect Bald Head, Flat Spots do not take a Polish, Their are only 2.  I don't do a Complete Bald  Head Cabochon, ..Fire Agates and Fire Opal..Due to the Nature of these Gems The Fire cab be easily Rub Out.. Cut slowly when Cabbing these 2 Stones...Turquoise and Malachite~

If the Turquoise is not Dyed nor Stabilized you can Polish it with Silver and Gold Polishing Compound, You will need a Dremel or Flexy Shaft.

Keep the Stone on the Dopstick in a well Ventilated area Malachite is Toxic and EXTREEM Ventilation is REQUIRED and Polish slow the Stone will get hot and it can melt the Dop wax and it will take seconds to Polish.

Malachite Polishing Good Malachite will also take a great and Fast Polish in Seconds.

Their maybe others and I may add more to this List....

 COLD DOPING

Take a Large Soup or Vegetable can Cut out a Large enough Section so your Bunsen Burner can fit under the Can, I make my can a Square Cut, Most Bunsen Burners have several flat side..That is for tilting your Burner..I then have my Dopstck ready with Doping Wax..Then put the already shaped stone on the Can and put the lit Bunsen Burner under the can....The set your Stone on the Can and let the heat only warm up your Stone, I take Small Amounts of water to test to see how hot my can is..Like you would test a Clothing Iron..When its hot enough, I take Pliers and remove the stone, With the Players still holding the stone I lay it flat and Put the dopstick on the now hot stone......

LAZY COLD DOPING....

I take a Dopstick and put on just enough Doping wax to cover the Top of the stick..

I then heat up the Doping wax and just before it Hardens, I put it on a Flat surface so my Dopstick is now perfectly Flat...I take my ready to Cab stone and  Adhere it with eighter Supper Glue or Clear LocTite...Wait until the Glue has dried, Sometimes I put on more Glue...

When your Stone is Cabbed then take your Jewelry Saw with a Medium Blade and saw off the stone..Then put it in Finger Nail Polish, You need only Cover the bottom where the Glue and Dop wax is..It will then free it..Tiger Eyes don't like Finger Nail Remover so I don't Cab Them this way...

THINGS NEVER TO DO.

Never Grind or Polish Dry Gems, This can lead to Silcosis Cancer.

Never Drill Grind on any Sea Shells.

Abalone is very Beautiful but Very Deadly!!!!!!

Its a Carbonate and Carbonates can be Harmful..Abalone Shells contain Heavy Metals, That is why they are So Colorful, The Abalone Fish eats Heavy Metals from the Bottom of the Ocean...It can Lead to Silcosis and Halcosis, lung Cancer  It also Emits CYNIDE Poison in the Air, Their is no Cure for Cyanide Poisoning.

Azurite, Contains Heavy Metals and I won't Cab it..I always use a Dust Cup when Cabbing Tiger Eye its a form of Quartz That Replaced Asbestos.

CINNABAR.

I won't Collect or even have it Around me, It Contains Mercury.

REGLAR and OPERMENT.

Contain Heavy Metals

Carbonates.

I won't Cab any Carbonates such as Serpentine Or any other Carbonates, Carbonates, Are Acithedic and can Cause Silicosis

SILVER SMITHING AND{ FIRE SCALE}...CAN BE REDUCED 75%.....

Silver whether its Pure or 9.25..Fire Scale is a Huge problem when it has been Soldered...Buy some Boric Acid Granules or Powder, I have my Flux in a 5 OZ Bottle, I take 2 Teaspoons Per 5 OZ of the Boric and put it in my Flux...

This will Eliminate 75% of  Fire Scale..If you are Soldering Bezel to flat sheet, It will raise it higher than Normal but just burn it until its back onto the sheet, You may need to Adjust your Bezel.. I put My Flux on all sides..

..SOLDERING

I think anyone who as Soldered, knows sometimes it can be very Frustrating..Here are some Tips..

If you are Soldering Bezel to Sheet, Take a File and Scruff up the flat sheet, So the Surface is no longer smooth, For some reason the Bezel will  Solder easier to the sheet..

My Solder Bezels I always file it until its Totally Flat, Or you will have to use too much Solder..Then take all of your Pieces and dip them in either Rubbing Alcohol and let dry....Oils from your hands can stop the Solder from Flowing and then add your Flux..If a Piece is not Soldering, Put it back into your Pickle Pot.. Don't turn up the Torch, This will just make Solder run off your Piece and onto your Brazing Board..

Pickle Pots are expensive, Crock Pots are just fine.. I take an empty Gatorade or Plastic bottle, Heat a Needle and Melt 2 Holes, put Bend a wire Hanger in the Bottle for a Handle, Sparax is the Pickling Acid you can buy on eBay or any Jewelry Supply Store.

If you are only Soldering just a Couple of things to a Project, I use Hard Solder always for my Bezels the rest I use Medium Solder..I also like to use Heat Shield on my Bezel to Protect it from excess Soldering Damage..

FACETING

With Faceting no two Stones will be the same..You really need a good book that will let you know all the Critical Angle all stones have a Different Critical Angles..That Determines your Degrees on your Faceting Head.. Keep everything clean to avoid Contamination, If your Stone is showing Scratches in the Polishing stage, It is Contaminated..

Take your Faceting Lap, get some dry Laundry Powder and put it on the lap, Gently Scrub it and wash off with high Pressure water.. The Wash the stone, Your Light, everything will need to be Cleaned as its hard to tell where the Contamination came from..Once I have Doped my Stone on my Metal Faceting Dop, I like to put a little Loctite or Super Glue at the Bottom of the stone and  the Doping wax, That helps to keep your stone in Place...All of us know how hard it is to put the stone on that has been Dislodged.

HYDROLIC SLABBING

People who Cab, Like the Thickness for 1/4  for Medium Cabbing 7.mm for High Cabs..Thinner Slabs are For Intarsia and Inlay.. 1 Inch For Clocks..

After Slabbing at, Your Diamond in your blade will have Debree build up in between your Diamonds and will make your blade Bow and Stop cutting and Jam up..

Take an Old Silicon Carbide Cabbing wheel and Slab that up, If you don't have one, Then take a Cinder Brick and slab that up, Also check your and Belt to make sure it is Tight enough...You can Chance the Speed by Changing the Belt on your Pully..

Their are some Gem Rough that if not Slabbed Correctly can either give you the wrong Pattern or just Ruin some Rough, Laces if slabbed the wrong way will not show the Pattern you want..Tiger Eye, And Labradorite are 2 to take Caution on, Due to their Special Effects..Labradorite need to be cut on the Angle of the stone itself,  which is Only a 45 Degree Angle...Tiger eye if not Slabbed Correctly will show you a very Lifeless Stone..So What I do is, I slab Small Sections Around the Stone to find out which way is going to give me that Chatoyant Pattern, Or the Lace Pattern, Then that is the way I Slab it..

CASTING.

I only do Commercial Cast, I don't make Molds.

If you are having a Problem with your Casts not coming out, The most Common Error starts with Spruing.

 Make sure all fishtails are eighter Sliced off or melted off with your Hot Needle, Put in a good Plug, I then put on a good amount of the Turquoise Colored hard Wax and then I have my Project is on the Right size Rod, According to the size of the Cutlet Rod size, I never exceed 3/4 of an inch and I think 1/4 for the Rods height works best for me..

I then turn up the Heat on my Hot Needle and melt a Small hole and put in my Rod as fast as I can, And then I Melt the Turquoise hard Solder and build and Melt and have the Wax totally surrounding the Rod and now is 1 unit, Then if you are adding more make sure that they are Close to each other and are 1 unit.

HEATING TEMP. AND TIMMING FOR  FLASKS

The Large Project heat should go like this..300 1 hour..700 1 hour..1340. 2.hours 900 1 hour.

Thin Or real small Projects or Small Rings with Prongs.

The heat should be this.

300 1 hour, 700 1 hour 1360 2 hours 1000 for 1 hour.

For Medium to Large Flasks, I add 15-30 Minuets Depending on the Size of your Flasks..I use Oxygen and Propane Light Welding Torch.. My Propane Gauge is set a 30 and my Oxygen is set at 15...

For Melting Problems.

Make Sure your Crucible is Cured Correctly Keep a Soft Flame under the Crucible,

Watch you Metal Colors.. Don't pour until your Metal is a Silver Liquid, Then just before you Pour put a Pinch of Boric Powder on the Metal, Make sure its Melted with the Metal and Then Pour..I have a Vacuum Cast, So as soon as I Pour, I hit the Pump and that Sucks the Melted into the Wax Impression that is now in your Flask.

I wait 1 Minuet until I Submerge into water..CAUTION...

Investment is Pure Silica, Make sure you are in a well Ventilated area, Breathing in Silica Vapor can cause Silicosis Cancer.

Then I wait about 10-15 Minuets and then take the Cast out of the Water and then I wash off all the Investment and put it into the Pickle Pot for about 15 Minuetes.