Professional looking azures can be cut fairly easily using a combination of burs, in considerably less time than cutting by hand using gravers or a saw.
Cutting Azures with burs is an advanced technique. Only bench jewelers who have developed their skills of cutting with burs should attempt it. As with learning any new technique – practice cutting azures on a piece of scrap metal before attempting to use this technique on actual jewelry.
Although a square shaped cutout is most common, a number of different patterns or combination of patterns can be created with azures. Before beginning to cut the azures sketch different pattern designs to find one that is most pleasing to you and fits the area of the jewelry. By combining triangular, square, pentagon, hexagon, or octagon shapes a variety designs can be made.
| To begin, cut a tapered hole with a bud bur in the backside of the hole drilled for the stone. Then, using a heart bur held perpendicular to the jewelry, cut the corners in each hole. Start at the center of the hole and cut a line upwards to the surface to form each of the corners. |  | |
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| Next, use a small wheel bur to clean away the metal between the corners. Use the end face of the bur to cut the flat side of the azure. Caution: Make certain you hold the bur at an angle to the surface of the jewelry. Cutting straight down will remove the metal needed for the seat to hold the stone. |  | |
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Then use a polished flat graver to clean up and polish your cuts. If necessary, a small bristle brush with rouge can be used to polish the azures. With a little practice, you can easily cut professional looking azures in just a few minutes.
