Working with Turquoise I – Treatment Types

I've been doing lapidary as a hobby for a while and a few years ago I really got into turquoise. I see people sometimes being confused about what is stabilized vs natural vs backed turquoise so that's what I'll go into in this post. Natural turquoise Only a small percentage of turquoise that is dug …

Smith Little Torch – so many tips, so little time

From top to bottom Smith Little Torch tips, Paige Tools tips with holder and adapter (the longer one) and ImpGen tips and adapter. Chances are if you're reading this that you already own the Little Smith Torch or are thinking about getting one - in which case check out also this article. Many jewelers happily …

Refurbishing old GRS Benchmate

GRS tools are amazing, and expensive and on the wish lists of many starting jewelers. For the longest time the Benchmate from GRS was on my "eventually, maybe, ..when I am better" wish list but it was just way too expensive for me to rationalize the purchase since jewelry is still just a hobby. Recently …

Buying Smith Little Torch

Photo courtesy of OttoFrei.com Smith Little Torch seems to be hugely popular with many jewelers nowadays. Due to COVID pandemic I didn't have a chance to test it out at another jeweler's studio so I decided to get a used one for myself and give it a try. If you are also looking for one …

Fun with torches and oxygen concentrators

Large tank setup (photo by OttoFrei.com) vs oxygen concentrator setup with portable propane tank. Until I decided to switch to Smith Little Torch and oxygen concentrator setup I've been using hand held butane torches but if you have used a "real" jewelers torch before you might be familiar with the setup with large gas tanks …