Channel

Chan­nel set­ting is a method whereby stones are sus­pended between two bars or strips of metal, called chan­nels. Often when set­ting small stones and the bars go in a lin­ear line with the design it is called chan­nel set­ting, and when the bars cross the lines of the design, it’s called bar set. The idea is the same, though.

The sides are made just a bit nar­rower than the width of the stone or stones to be set, and then, using the same burs as in prong set­ting, a small notch, which is again called a bear­ing, is cut into each wall.

The stone is put in place in those notches, and the metal on top is pushed down, tight­en­ing the stone in place. The proper way to set a chan­nel is to cut a notch for each stone, but for cheaper pro­duc­tion work some­times a groove is cut along each channel.

Also, since the metal can be very stiff and strong, this is a sit­u­a­tion where a hand tool, called a “ham­mer” which is like a jack­ham­mer, but jew­elry sized, is used to ham­mer down the metal, as it can be dif­fi­cult to do by hand.

Then, as always, the metal is filed down and fin­ished, and the inner edge near the stones cleaned up and straight­ened as necessary.

As with all jew­elry, there can be many vari­a­tions of chan­nel work.

At times the walls will be raised — some­times a cen­ter stone will be set between two bars that rise high from the base ring — or the chan­nel might just be cut directly into some sur­face, mak­ing the stones flush with the metal.

Regard­less of style, it is still con­sid­ered chan­nel setting.