Jewelry Making | Gold Finishing, Scribing & Assembly

Pickling & Acid Dipping Gold

Pickling, or "acid dipping," involves submerging the piece in a heated acid solution (usually acetic, citric or nitric acid) to chemically remove any sub-surface fire-staining and carbon deposits that resulted from the annealing process. It is also used to dissolve surface oxides or oxidation and leftover flux.

The acid solution is then removed by rinsing in cool water. The pickling process shold remove all of the firestain and oxidation caused by the soldering stage.

Silver or Gold Polishing & Scribing

Abrasive blast cleaning (aka sand-blasting) and texturing creates a "frost-textured" or matte finish on the surface of the metal.

Working the edge of the piece by using a tempered-steel burnisher lubricated with soap and water adds a highly reflective edge to the rim of the base.

A "graver" is used to create a star-burst pattern around the bezel by dragging the graver head outward to scribe the metal.

Adding Links

Michael is using a "seating bur" to give a beveled edge to the hole to allow for free movement of the link.

Links and stud posts are soldered onto each piece, taking care not to overheat the piece and melt the solder joint between the bezel and backing.

Final assembly of the links is completed. All parts are given a bath in the ultrasonic cleaner before final stone setting.

Final Stone Setting

Before the stones are set, Michael takes one last pass at working the edge of the bezel using the tempered-steel burnisher lubricated with soap and water (below, left). The stones are placed into the bezel (below, right).

A bezel setting tool, "bezel rocker", or "bezel pusher" is used to apply slow, steady force pressing the bezel against the stone (above, left). The final finish is accomplished by brushing the golds with a brass "scratch brush" to give the gold a satin or finely "scratched finish".

Back To Page 1: Basic Jewelry Making Techniques

Page 2: Gold Annealing & Cold Rolling

Page 3: Stone Setting

Page 4: Final Finishing & Assembly