<> <> <> <> <> <> <> E-BENCH <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
A New Method of Learning in a New Millennium
June 2002
Volume 3 Issue 6
circulation over 1,700
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<> <> <> <> ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER <> <> <> <>
E-BENCH is a FREE monthly newsletter
for
Retail Jewelry Store Owners, Shop Managers, Bench Jewelers,
and Anyone
Else That Is Interested.
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Please support them with your
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E-BENCH is a BENCH MEDIA
Publication
BENCH MEDIA is a division of B W
Simon
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Spirer - Proofreader
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<> <> <> <> <> PLATINUM SPONSOR <> <> <> <> <>
If You Like E-Bench
YOU WILL LOVE BENCH MAGAZINE
A New Print Magazine For Bench Jewelers
BENCH Magazine, a new quarterly
publication from B W Simon,
Is Written BY Bench Jewelers FOR
Bench Jewelers. Each issue
is filled with high-quality
instructional articles by working jewelers
who are masters of their craft;
enhanced by line drawings, color
renderings, or photographs.
From Basic Techniques to Advanced
Applications -
From Centuries Old Procedures to the Latest in Technological
Advancements, BENCH Magazine provides
accurate informative
instruction from Professional Bench
Jewelers. In addition, each
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where you can learn tricks of
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Subscriptions are free to jewelers in
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To subscribe go to http://www.BWSimon.com/BENCH
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<> <> <> <> <> TABLE OF CONTENTS <> <> <> <> <>
REVERE’S TIPS FOR JEWELERS
Tips For Jewelers, Who Do Repairs
from Alan Revere
FEATURE ARTICLE
Learn how to make your shop more
profitable, a new technique,
or brush up on basic skills.
STEWART'S BENCH TIPS
Bench Tips from Stewart’s
International School for Jewelers
AT THE PLATINUM BENCH
Tips for working on Platinum from
Platinum Guild International
FAVORITE TIPS
Tips and Tricks to make your work on
the bench a little easier
and more productive from Bradney W. Simon CMBJ
and
E-BENCH Readers.
GERRY’S GEMZ
Stone setting tips from Gemz Diamond
Setting
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<> <> <> REVERE’S TIPS FOR JEWELERS <> <> <> <>
Tips For Jewelers, Who Do Repairs
from Alan Revere
Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts
A good reputation takes years to
build and minutes to lose.
Unless you are certain of the metal
quality and gemstone
identification, do not write them on
the job envelope.
Look for evidence of earlier repairs
and previous solder seams
prior to commencing work.
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<> <> <> QUOTE WORTH RE-QUOTING <> <> <> <>
The greatest amount of wasted time is
the time not getting
started.
Dawson Trotman
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<> <> <> <> <> <> GOLD SPONSOR <> <> <> <> <> <>
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<> <> <> <> <> FEATURE ARTICLE <> <> <> <> <>
A Pain In The Neck
By Bradney W Simon CMBJ
You start to turn and there it is
again. You go to stand up from
your chair and it happens again. It's that nagging pain in your
neck or lower back. After several years on the bench,
jewelers
often develop chronic neck or back
injuries.
Bench jewelers will spend most of the
time in the workshop
seated at their workbench. Therefore, time is well spent in
adjusting and arranging it. A poorly adjusted chair and
workbench will not only cause
discomfort, fatigue, and muscle
cramps that reduce worker efficiency,
but more importantly, it
may develop into leg, back, or neck
injury.
Many varieties of workbench styles
are available from jewelry
tool and equipment suppliers. Unfortunately most all benches
come in a standard height of 39” to
40” and are not adjustable.
This one size fits all bench height
fits worse than one-size fits all
clothing. Since jewelers are not all the same
height, the
workbench MUST be adjusted to fit
them properly.
Adjusting Your Chair
In order to
achieve the proper workbench height you must first
start with the chair. A jeweler may sit in their chair for
over eight
hours per day, every day, and even
longer during the Christmas
Season. A quality chair designed to be sat in
for long periodsof
time and ergonomically designed is
essential. Your body, limbs,
spine, and neck are supported by and
affected by the chair you
sit in. Pain associated with seating may develop
slowly, often
over many months or even years. A good chair will go a long
way toward preventing these
problems.
When selecting a chair do not be
fooled by the visual
appearance. For example, a soft, overly padded chair
may look
inviting. When you sit in it for the first few
moments, it may feel
comfortable and soothing. Over an eight-hour workday,
however, this chair may not support
your back, legs, and spine
properly.
Once you have purchased a chair, you
must adjust it. The best
chair in the world is worthless if it
is not adjusted correctly.
Adjust the height of the chair so
that when seated with feet flat
on the floor the tops of your thighs
are parallel to the floor. You
should be able to feel the seat of
the chair along the back of your
thighs. You should feel enough pressure to
support your upper
legs, but not too much pressure as to
cut off or restrict
circulation. The angle between the torso and the
thighs should
not be less than 90° or greater than 110°. From this
position,
you need to adjust the height of the
workbench. DO NOT adjust
the height of the chair to the
workbench.
A chair too high is awkward for
shorter jewelers, and it is hard to
reach the foot pedal for the flex
shaft. It puts pressure on the
thighs, restricting circulation in
the legs. Improper support of the
legs and thighs leads to chronic back
injury.
A chair too low is uncomfortable for
taller jewelers. Their knees
are raised too high eliminating any
support of their thighs. This
causes compression of the lower spine
and body organs.
Alternatively, they bend their legs
awkwardly under them,
causing fatigue and cramping. Both lead to chronic back injury.
A backrest on the chair is necessary
to help support the spine.
The backrest should support the lower
and middle of your back,
from your waist to just below your
shoulder blades. Less than
this does not give adequate support;
more than this restricts
movement. Adjust the backrest up or down to give
this support.
Then adjust the backrest forward or
backwards so that there is
2" to 4" of clearance between the
front edge of the seat and the
inside of your knees. Just like your thighs against the chair
seat,
you should be able to feel the
support of the chair backrest along
your back. While sitting your spine is supported
either by a
backrest or by your muscles. Avoid fatigue from muscular
backache and get a chair with a
properly adjusted backrest.
Adjusting Your Bench
To determine
the proper workbench height, sit comfortably in a
properly adjusted chair. Sit up straight with your back against
the backrest. In this position, your bench pin should
come to the
center of your breastbone. If it does not, you need to adjust the
height of your bench. Buying the proper chair and adjusting it
correctly will do you no good if you
hunch over your work
because your bench is too short!
If your bench is too tall, you can
cut the required amount off
each leg. Be certain to cut exactly the same
amount off each leg
so that the bench does not
wobble. If the bench is too short,
glue a block of wood to the bottom of
each leg to raise the
bench.
Visors
Many magnifying visors
available in the jewelry industry hold the
magnifying lens plate out directly in
front of your eyes. This
forces you to look straight ahead,
not down at your work. To see
your work on your bench pin you must
bend over your work.
This also leads to chronic back and
neck injury.
Many jewelers further complicate this
problem when someone
comes to talk to them while
working. Rather than raise the
visor,
they bend their necks back and look
down under the visor to see
the person. Over time, a jeweler develops a whiplash
type injury
from this extreme bending of the
neck.
A better alternative is to use a
magnifier that sets lower in front of
the eyes, such as reading
glasses. To use, you look down
through the glasses and only need to
bend your head forward
slightly, if at all. Then to see someone you can look
straight out
over the glasses without bending your
neck.
Chiropractor
Last, but certainly not least, visit
a chiropractor. Find a
chiropractor that works with
occupational injuries and provides
maintenance care. Chiropractors that only work with acute
injuries (such as auto accidents) may
not be as proficient at
working with chronic injury that
bench jewelers develop. In
addition, find a chiropractor that
will take x-rays of your spine
before making any adjustments. Any competent chiropractor will
want to see just what condition your
spine is in before making
adjustments.
By making a few ergonomic adjustments
to your shop and work
habits as well as receiving
chiropractic maintenance; your back
will begin to feel good as new and
you will have one less Pain In
The Neck!
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<> <> <> <> QUOTE WORTH RE-QUOTING <> <> <> <>
Plans fail for lack of
counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.
Proverbs 15:12
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<> <> <> <> <> STEWART'S BENCH TIPS
<> <> <> <> <>
Bench Tips from Stewart’s
International School for Jewelers
http://www.stewartsintlschool.com/
How To Repair A Broken Hollow
Chain
By Jim Stewart
Take time to clean the chain because
oils and hairspray may get
inside the hollow links. You may have to clean the chain using a
mixture of one tablespoon of Red
Devil Lye to a few cups of
water at 180F. If you use this solution you will need
proper
ventilation. You can cut through link one on both
sides using an
ultra thin cutoff disc or you can
unsolder the links using a small
reducing flame and twist the link a
little using soldering tweezers.
Now weave link one into link two and
solder together using paste
solder. Then weave the other link one into link
two and solder
the same way. Paste solder is not necessary but it is
a little
faster.
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<> <> <> <> QUOTE WORTH RE-QUOTING <> <> <> <>
Try to forget yourself in the service
of others. For when we think
too much of ourselves and our own
interest, we easily become
despondent. But when we work for others, our efforts
return to
bless us.
Sidney Powell
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<> <> <> <> AT THE PLATINUM
BENCH
<> <> <> <>
Tips for working on Platinum from
Jurgen J. Maerz CMBJ,
director of technical education for
Platinum Guild International
http://www.pgi-platinum-tech.com/
Testing For Platinum
Even though there are electronic
testers and acid tests to
determine the metal of a piece of
jewelry, the quickest way to
test if something is platinum is very
simple. With a graver
remove a very small splinter of metal
from an inconspicuous
area, such as the underside of a
ring. Place that splinter on a
soldering surface and apply heat with
your torch. If the splinter
starts to brightly glow and won't
immediately melt, it is platinum.
If it balls up, it is some other
white metal. This is not very
scientific, but it works. However, it won't tell you the alloy
combination.
To check if something is Platinum
/Cobalt, just file the item a bit
and see if you can pick up the filing
with a magnet.
Pt/Co is ferro-magnetic
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<> <> <> <> <> <> GOLD SPONSOR <> <> <> <> <> <>
SIMON
SEZ SEMINARS
Bradney W. Simon is an accomplished
platform speaker,
providing Keynote Speeches, and
Educational Seminars.
Topics include:
Shop
Management
Bench Tips
Jewelry Demonstrations
For information on having him speak
for your organization log
onto; http://www.BWSimon.com/SimonSez
Seminars
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<> <> <> <> <> <> FAVORITE TIPS <> <> <> <> <> <>
I've used spring clothespins in many
configurations for a long,
long time in my shop. What's great is that they're cheap,
readily
available, versatile and easily
customizable. Here are some of
my favorite uses.
1). Pearl Clamp
To view picture log onto:
www.jbacher.com/images/prlclamp.jpg
Drill a hole large enough to
accommodate an earring post or tie
tac post, centered in the curved area
at the mouth of the clip.
When epoxying beads, simply insert
the post through the hole
and allow the clamp to close over the
bead until dry. For rings,
simply omit drilling a hole. With this method, you can also place
the entire apparatus into the job
envelope to allow curing
overnight. Use enough epoxy for a good bond, but
not too much
to overflow the cup and adhere to the
clamp!
2). Shank Cutting Bench Pin
To view picture log onto:
www.jbacher.com/images/benchpin.jpg
Sometimes, using the standard bench
pin is a bit awkward when
cutting ring shanks. Simply remove the spring from a
clothespin,
align one half of the pin flat side
down and extending over the
front of your bench and screw it to
your benchtop. If you prefer
to be able to swing it out of the
way, use only one screw.
Beginning at the front center of the
pin, cut a straight groove all
the way past the dip. The dip in the pin allows you to easily
hold
almost any ring for a straight
cut.
3). Ring Holder
To view picture log onto:
www.jbacher.com/images/ringclamp.jpg
When masking a ring in preparation
for rhodium finishing, it's
sometimes difficult to find a way to
hold the ring without getting
nail polish all over your own
fingers. Simply clamp the ring
shank into a clothespin and mask
away. It will allow you a larger
area to hold and keeps your fingers
out of the way! You can also
place the clothespin on the shelf
with your plating solutions,
and/or rectifier, keeping it out of
the way until dry and ready to
plate.
4). Bench Shim
To view picture log onto:
www.jbacher.com/images/shim.jpg
When placing your bench in the
appropriate area of your shop,
you may find that the floor isn't
quite level. Rather than messing
with trimming the legs or folding
matchbooks, simply slide in half
of a clothespin until the bench is
steady. For a more 'finished'
look, cut off the remaining
portion.
5). Organizers
(Do we really need a picture here?)
When starting the day and organizing
your work, group the
similar jobs and clip them together
with a clothespin marked for
the type of task (size up, size down,
polish, etc.) That way, you
can find the task type with a quick
glance. You can also use
them to hold the job envelope(s) at
the station you're currently
working at, so as not to misplace
them.
Joe Bacher
< < < < < <> > > > > >
Tip for finding your chuck key: Make
a brass wire twist around
the chuck key and one just above the
handpiece of your flexible
shaft, both ending in a double ring
(making a single hole); then
loop 2 other pieces of wire together
making them just long
enough to reach from the end of your
handpiece to the chuck
hole. When the bit is changed it just drops
out of the way. I use
4 pieces because over time I find
fewer pieces tend to crimp and
finally break.
Jay Ritchie
< < < < < <> > > > > >
Tip for channel setting multiple
stones: As you snap stones into
their seats, rub bee's wax over
them. When all the stones are in
the channel smear the wax across all
the stones and scrape the
top wax off so you can see that all
the stones are at the angles
you want. Hammer the whole channel at once, all
the stones will
stay put. Before steaming wax out try to wiggle
them with
tweezers first to be sure one is not
loose.
Jay Ritchie
< < < < < <> > > > > >
One of my favorite tricks, for
cleaning under diamonds and other
stones without using a steamer: an
ultrasonic toothbrush, such
as a SonicCare, works very well,
better than my ultrasonic
usually. Customers often already have one, so it
is good for
home use.
David Clarkson
< < < < < <> > > > > >
If you have a tip you would like to
share with our readers send it
in an e-mail to mailto:Brad@BWSimon.com
<
< < < < <> > > > > >
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
<> <> <> <> QUOTE WORTH RE-QUOTING <> <> <> <>
Enjoying success requires the ability
to adapt. Only by being
open to change will you have a true
opportunity to get the most
from your talent.
Nolan Ryan
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<> <> <> <> <>
GERRY’S GEMZ
<> <> <> <> <>
Stone setting tips from Gemz Diamond
Setting
http://www.gemzdiamondsetting.com/index.html
By Gerald N. Lewy
When drilling through metal, always
ease up on the pressure
when the twist drill is about to exit
from behind / underneath.
Why? It is easy to ram the chuck into the
gold being drilled and
leave an impression of the 'chuck' on
the front surface. Its not a
good sight to see. It’s also easy to break a drill bit as
it exits the
metal.
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<> <> <> <> <> SILVER SPONSORS <> <> <> <> <>
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< < < < < <> > > > > >
MENTAL PATIENT MAKES $50,000 a year
TWISTING WIRE!!!
Yes, it's true and I can show you how
to make wire jewelry and
do the same thing. You can make money
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table making wire jewelry and still
keep your day job.
Please send a blank email to
mailto:wireworker@royal-responder.com
< < < < < <> > > > >
>
Jewelry Dealers World Trade Network
http://www.JewelryDealersNetwork.com/
<> <> <> Bench Jeweler Discussion Channel <> <> <>
Ask questions, share tips, and take
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< < < < < <> > > > > >
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<> <> <> <> <> Thank You for Reading <> <> <> <> <>
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Visit often, as we will be making
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< < < < < <> > > > > >
Information provided in this document
is provided ‘As Is’ without
warranty of any kind, either expressed or
implied. This
publication is
designed to provide accurate and authoritative
information concerning the
subject matter covered. It is
provided
with the understanding that the author or publisher is
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engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other
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advice or other expert assistance is required,
the services of a competent
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sought.
< < < < < <> > > > > >
For editorial suggestions, comments,
ideas or requests,
please send an E-Mail to Bradney W. Simon
mailto:Brad@BWSimon.com
Copyrighted, 2002, B W Simon. All rights reserved.
B W Simon
106 South Pinepoint
Dr.
Spartanburg, SC 29302
864 - 680 - 4416
http://www.BWSimon.com
< < < < < <> > > > > >
