How It's Made: Lost Wax Casting Part 3 - Finishing
Photography by Ryan Leggett
With a freshly cast bit of gold in hand, it’s finally time to refine and finish our ring.
The next few steps involve sawing, sanding, and polishing our ring until the surface is just right. Then, we’ll take our time setting a beautiful Old European Cut diamond into the center.
Polishing and Setting
The sprue and button left over from casting must be removed from the bottom of the ring. A jeweler’s saw makes quick work of this task.
Next, we shape the bottom of the ring with a file. When we get the curve just right, we switch to sandpaper. We clean the whole ring using progressively finer grits of sandpaper to leave a perfectly smooth surface. Truthfully, this step can be tedious. But the results are worth it!
The inside of the ring is stamped with a hallmark and then sanded down using a sanding drum. Once the inside is perfectly smooth, the ring is ready for its first polish.
The polishing compound on this wheel is a light abrasive. It smooths down the metal and removes the finest of scratches. The surface of the gold begins to shine.
Using a bur we’ll cut a seat into our beads to hold the diamond. These notches give our diamond a secure place to sit.
The diamond is carefully placed into the ring using stick of wax. When it’s positioned just right, we use a tool to gently force the beads down over the edge of the stone. The beads are shaped back into little domes.
The ring gets the final polish after the diamond is in place. Check out that sparkle, baby!
We end with a gleaming gold ring that’s ready to wear!
