Fishtail Setting

Why fishtail looks the way it does

The defining visual of a fishtail setting is the two small triangular wedges of metal that sit on either side of each stone, pointing outward like tiny fins. These aren't decorative add-ons. They're the actual metal that's holding the stone in place, formed by pushing over a thin bright-cut rail on each side of the row.

From above, looking through the microscope, you see a stone with two beads at the top and two angled metal points on the sides. From the side at eye level, the points look like fish tails. Hence the name.

If the rails are even, the points are uniform, and the stones are level, the result is one of the cleanest, brightest setting styles in fine jewellery. If any one of those is off, the whole row looks wrong.

The tools

You can't half-equip yourself for fishtail and expect good results. The tooling matters more here than in some other styles because the cuts are so visible.

• Stereo microscope with 10x to 30x range. The bright cuts on the rails are the showpiece of a fishtail row, and they cannot be done by eye.
• GRS pneumatic engraving system with a 901 or QC handpiece. The bright cuts that form the rails need to come off in clean, controlled passes. Hand-pushing a graver for those cuts is possible but inconsistent.
• Onglette graver, sharpened with a face angle that gives a clean V cut. This is the graver that cuts the rails.
• Flat graver for the bead-raising and bright cutting between stones.
• Beading tools with cups matched to the bead sizes you'll be raising. For half-point fishtail, you're typically working with cups in the 0.4mm to 0.6mm range.
• Micromotor with drills and 156 burs to cut the seats.
• Dividers and callipers. Spacing has to be exact.

The full sequence

Step 1: Mark out the row

Working from the centre of the row outward, mark the position of each stone using dividers set to the stone's diameter plus the spacing you want between stones. The spacing has to be the same all the way along, because any inconsistency will read as a wrong stone position once the row is set.

Step 2: Cut the rails

Before drilling any seats, cut the two bright rails that will eventually become the fishtail points. The rails sit either side of where the stones will go, parallel to each other, with a face angle that lets the metal push over cleanly later.

This is one of the steps that looks easy and isn't. The rails have to be exactly straight, exactly parallel, exactly the same depth, and exactly the same brightness. If one rail is brighter than the other, the row will look uneven once the stones are in.

Step 3: Drill the seats

Drill each seat to the correct depth using a drill bur sized for the stone. The depth is critical because it controls how the stone sits relative to the rails. Too shallow and the rails won't push over cleanly. Too deep and the stones will sink and look set in a trough.

Step 4: Open the seats

Use a 156 bur to open each seat to its final shape. The bur should give the stone a clean, level drop with the girdle just below the surface of the metal between the rails.

Step 5: Set the stones

Drop each stone in and check it for level. This is where you also check the row visually for the first time. Are all the stones at the same height? Are they all centred between the rails? Any stone that's slightly off needs to be fixed now, not later.

Step 6: Raise the beads

Two beads per stone, raised at the top edge where the stone meets the metal between the rails. The beads sit between adjacent stones and lock each pair together.

This is the same technique as on a castle setting, but the beads have to be smaller and more precisely placed because they sit between the rails and have to look intentional from every viewing angle.

Step 7: Push over the rails

This is the move that creates the fishtail points. Working from one end of the row to the other, use the graver to push the rail metal down and over the girdle of each stone on both sides. The metal that was the top of the rail becomes the angled point that locks the stone in place from the side.

The skill here is doing it consistently. Every push has to come down at the same angle and travel the same distance. If one point is longer than its neighbour, or one is angled differently, the whole row looks rough.

Step 8: Cup the beads

Run a beading tool over each bead to round it into a perfect dome. The cup should match the bead size precisely. Too big and the bead gets flattened. Too small and the cup leaves a ring around the bead.

Step 9: Final bright cuts

The last set of cuts cleans up the metal between the stones and adds the final flash of brightness. On a properly finished fishtail row, every visible piece of metal has been touched by a graver. There are no dull patches, no tool marks, no leftover bur scratches.

Where fishtail goes wrong

Most fishtail mistakes come from trying to compensate for an earlier step instead of going back and fixing it. A short list of the common ones:

• Uneven rail depth. One rail cut deeper than the other means the points come out different sizes when pushed over. Fix it before you drill any seats.
• Stones at different heights. If one stone is sitting higher than its neighbours, the bead and the point on that stone will look wrong. Re-seat it before raising any beads.
• Beads too large. A common new-setter mistake. Big beads make a fishtail row look heavy and amateur. Smaller, more precise beads always look more refined.
• Inconsistent point angles. Each push-over has to come down at the same angle. The fastest way to develop consistency is to set the same row over and over on practice stock until your hand knows the angle without thinking.
• Bright cuts that aren't bright. A graver that's gone slightly dull will cut metal but not polish it. The cut will be there but it won't catch light. Stop and resharpen the moment a cut starts looking grey instead of mirror.

Fishtail on awkward pieces

Practice stock is flat. Real production work is curved. Fishtail rows on a curved band, on a tapered piece, on a piece with an irregular profile, all behave differently from straight-row practice. The rails want to twist as they follow the curve. The push-over angle changes as the geometry changes. The beads want to sit slightly differently on a curved surface than a flat one.

This is the gap between courses that teach the technique and courses that teach the work. The Microsetting Academy fishtail module covers the production variables explicitly because that's where most setters get stuck after their first taste of the technique.

Common questions

How long does a fishtail row take?

For a competent setter, a row of ten half-point stones takes between 90 minutes and 3 hours depending on the metal, the layout, and the level of finish required. Faster than that and you're either very experienced or skipping steps.

Can fishtail be done on platinum?

Yes, and it's beautiful in platinum. Platinum is harder to push over than gold, so the technique requires slightly more force and very sharp gravers, but the finished result holds its bright cuts better than any other metal.

What's the smallest stone you can fishtail?

Most setters work down to around 0.9mm comfortably. Below that, the rails become too small to push over cleanly with hand tools. The very finest fishtail work in the trade goes down to 0.7mm, but it takes very steady hands and a well-tuned engraving system.

Is fishtail harder than castle?

For most setters, yes. Castle setting requires the bead-raising skill but doesn't have the rail-pushing step, which is the hardest part of fishtail. Setters typically learn castle first, then progress to fishtail once the bead-raising is reliable.