Ian Barnard

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Ian Barnard Diamond Setting School, I talk about tools, setting, and how to become a better setter. NIQUA Jewellery Instruments Ambassador
(1)

24/10/2026

Nothing makes me want to throw my tools across the room faster than a diamond that refuses to sit level. 😅
I cut my pavé seats in a particular way so the stones press in snugly, and I can level them as they go down. When it’s going well, I can get into a nice flow.

But of course, it doesn’t always go well

Every once in a while I encounter a setting where the diamond starts going in, tips to one side, and I’m back trying to straighten it up. Huffing, and holding back rage. Try again and it tips again. Over and over.

What makes it so frustrating is that I can look at the seat and the stone and struggle to see why they’re not playing nicely together.

I think it’s sometimes the four corners of the seat aren’t quite right. Or something about how that particular diamond is cut. Or maybe calibration? Dont know, but its annoying as hell

The temptation is to go back in and open the seat a little more. But there’s only so much room for that before I’ve taken too much away and lost the snug fit I wanted in the first place.

So when this happens, I’ll often try a diamond with a slightly smaller calibration and use the original stone in the next hole. 

It can be a tiny difference, but most of the time, it’s an easy fix to the issue. New stone goes in the bad hole, bad stone goes easily into a different hole? I would love to understand it better, it pi**es me off when I dont understand things like this, but until the day I can properly understand, this is my go to

Still incredibly annoying when one little stone interrupts the whole flow.

What’s the thing at your bench that throws you into a blind rage this quickly?

22/10/2026

The diamonds are set. But for me, the channel still isn’t finished.

A lot of people set the stones, lightly clean up the edges and polish. That gets everything looking shiny, but it doesn’t give me the crisp facet I’m after.

So I feel bright cutting is necessary on channels, giving it a clean, defined face that catches the light. It completely changes the look of the setting.

But that facet needs to finish properly in the corners too.
leave those soft, the job aint finished (Kobe voice).

So that’s what these last cuts are doing: bringing the bright edge right into a crisp corner.

Easily my favourite part.

17/10/2026

Carbide is far and above better than steel for drilling.
It stays sharp longer and cuts cleaner and is easier to resharpen.

But its only better at that because it’s so much harder, which also makes it brittle. As a result it’s a lot less forgiving.

When it breaks, it can be an absolute nightmare, there’s no acids that will eat it away, it’s an annoying slow process of digging all the pieces out, because if anything is left in the hole it will destroy your burs when you go to open up the holes.

Steel doesn’t last as long, and doesn’t work very well in stainless, but it’s much cheaper, and much more forgiving. So if you’re just learning, I would stick to steel drills.

If you’ve got the hand control, try some carbides. You will never look back. Just don’t break them in a piece and say I didn’t warn you 🤣

16/10/2026

I really enjoy getting stones this close. It s a great look.
It’s not typically visible to the naked eye, but it’s satisfying to do.
That said, it can introduce a whole host of problems. There’s very little room for mistakes, and requires perfectly calibrated stones. It can introduce issues with sizing down the road and durability, a good knock can push stones together and make them chip. And even going from 0.05 to 0.01 spacing, while it doesn’t sound like much, it can often take 50% or longer to set the same job.
But it sure is fun 🤣

15/10/2026

Sometimes a millegrain tool just isn’t enough. When you want large defined beads for millegrain it’s always better to go with a beading tool. Preparing it correctly can make or break how clean the beads come out 👌

29/08/2026

The app for saving time on the bench - Carit, available now on IOS and Android

28/07/2026

It doesn’t make for entertaining content to show cutting a proper seat for a bezel. But it typically takes make longer than hammering and cleaning up and bright cutting.

A princess cut especially has fragile tips, and if they take any pressure upward or downward they will chip. Cutting these seats so the stone is level and secure and the tips are protected from pressure is critically important.

Done correctly, hammering is relatively easy, let the main girdles hold the pressure, and go gentle around the tips, and you will be fine.

It’s small details that save you expensive mistakes.
I teach the whole sequence for bezel setting among many other styles in The Microsetting Academy

17/06/2026

For 10 years I’ve worked out stone counts with paper, a pencil, and pi. Now it’s a couple of taps, and so much easier. If you’re interested in trying it out for yourself, link is in my bio. 👌

17/06/2026

A 90 V on castle side cuts, every time. A 60 or a # 2 or 4 onglette I find to just be too narrow, the individual facets sparkle, but from the side look blade and dead.
I find the 90 makes them light up from the side, because both facets can reflect outward.
What’s your go to graver for these cuts?

I built .app for jewelers looking to save time on the bench, have a look 🤌

12/06/2026

This was a feature request from my stories from a couple of weeks ago, thought it was a great idea.

This is out with the new update of .app that came out yesterday, if you don’t see it, head to the App Store and update.

If you’d like to try it out, it’s live in IOS and Android stores now.

More coming soon 🙏

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