I have a couple questions about this...

how do you push the bezel smoothly over the stone without scratching the the stone? 

How do you get it so close to the stone when the top may not be smooth??

thanks so much!! 

chrissy

It hard to know exactly what you mean without a picture. Your burnisher should be nice and smooth, nothing sharp to make scratches. If it comes to a point keep the tip away from the stone.

I have a bezel pusher/rocker that I first use to set the stone, this was store bought. Then I use my home made burnisher. It is about 1/4" dia. I have ground the end flat and rounded it. It is very hard and polished very bright. I start forming the bezel at the sharpest points of the stone and work my way around. Drusy is one of the hardest to do because you can easily break of some of the crystals. A firm pressure is needed but with practice it can be done on very odd shaped stones. If you are just beginning I would suggest that you buy some very inexpensive cabs and some silver and practice on making some rings for children that you like and give them some gifts until you skills are where you want them. Worked for me.

Ok- good tips.  i guess a another question to ask would be- how do you polish the bezel with your bench lathe without getting polishing compound on the stone? 

You can cover your stone with painter's tape but usually by the time I have finished with the bezel burnisher it is very bright and needs very little if any further polishing.