Hand Forged VS. Bench Made whats the difference??

[himni]

I was wondering if someone can explain to me the difference, between hand forged vs. bench made. Is there a difference??

 

[Jim Summa]

Hi Himni,
Hmmm, I know what forged is...wondering what bench made is?
I work at the bench on items that are die struck, cast, forged, etc. I guess I could call all of it "bench made" the same way I see "hand assembled" is sounds kinda cool and it just might be.
Could you find out what that means and how its being used?

 

[Jim Summa]

Himni,
How "bench made" is being used is my question...thanks

 

[distracts]

Himni,
How "bench made" is being used is my question...thanks

Yeah "bench made" is in no way any sort of standard term. Heck, it's "made" at my bench even if I'm just stringing premade beads on a wire, yeah? It's also made at my bench if I draw the wire, create each little bead individually, and then string them. But the amount of work involved is very different.

 

[himni]

I was on Leon Mege's website and according to his site there is a difference,

here is what it says
"Jewelry could be an art or a commodity - depending on a way it's designed or made. Every piece we make is conceived with your unique taste in mind. To achieve this goal we rely on an old fashioned and time tested traditional way of making every piece by hand.


Unfortunately, the terms ‘handmade’ have been hijacked in recent years. No longer it is possible to rely on offering of ‘handmade’ as an actual guarantee of skilled craftsmanship of yesteryear, the styling and finish the term used to represent.
Bench Made is a jewelry industry term to describe high end, couture, bespoke jewelry made without the use of molds, casting, stamping, CAD modeling and, in general, any gadget that takes artistry out of jewelry making process. Here is what you should expect from jewelry qualified as ‘bench made’:
bench made handmade bespoke hand forged jewelry by leon mege
Every piece begins as a lump of raw metal hand forged into wire or plate.
No parts are produced by casting, stamping or using molds, forms or templates.
No computer modelling or 3D printing is involved.
Every piece consists of many (sometimes hundreds) of tiny parts, each painstakingly made by our skilled craftsmen using nothing more than a handful of bench tools.
The stone setting is done under a microscope.
95% cobalt-free platinum and 18 karat gold (excluding, with rare exceptions, white gold) are metals of choice. Occasional use of silver, palladium or non precious metals is acceptable.
The piece is a product of a successful collaboration and interaction between the jeweler and the client. Salespeople or dealers should not be involved in the creative process.
A client should have a choice of customization any part of a piece.


Think twice when you hear these terms:


Hand Forged
This term surfaced some time ago when somebody came up with the idea of using "hand-forged" as a synonym to the term "bench made." But what exactly is forging? From Wikipedia, "Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces."Forging, in other words, is hammering. There is a well established name for it - "Raising" metal is a staple of silversmithing.
Another great example of the technique are the famous anticlastic sculptures of Michael Good. Leon Mege happens to own one - it was presented to him as a winner the New Talent Competition by American Jewelry Design Council. Forging metal is only one of the many attributes of a truly BENCH MADE piece. A master chef does not prepare a "hand fried"dish, but a fry cook might.

Custom Made
3D printing technology has been increasingly used in numerous industries, ranging from creating clothes, architectural models and even chocolate treats. And yes, jewelry. It's possible now to paste the stone dimensions into a selected design using CAD software, cast and set with stones in a span of a couple of days. Customized? Yes. But not custom made. A burger at MacDonalds without pickles is not a custom made sandwich.

Handmade
This term has to go. for once it is not politically correct. What about handicapped people? Does this mean that their work is inferior?
Nowadays the word lost all it's former meanings: "Made without use of machines", "made one at a time", etc. Everything is handmade - because surely a pair of hands was involved. Remember Chaplin's "Modern Times"? Charlie's hand is stuck in a giant geared wheel...Handmade!

Bespoke
The term "Bespoke"s origin comes from the world of tailoring. The piece of fabric has been “spoken for” or in other words "sold". After a while the term transformed it's meaning to "old fashioned" way of cutting suits as opposed to modern, "assembly line" - style production. Next time someone (except us) uses the word "bespoke" to describe jewelry, gently ask what they mean: "old" or "sold"."


I always thought, that they were the same thing, so I guess my question is which is better? or is it a matter of personal taste? Which has better value?

 

[heididdl]

Hm which is better and which is a better value. I guess its all up to the buyer. Hand forged,, bench made. Is one more precisce than the other. Is one that is CAD on computer more perfectly formed then one by hand. Is the labor when made bye "hand" worth more than a computer generated piece.

I have no idea.

 

[Jim Summa]

When I read "bench made handmade bespoke hand forged" I thought its time for me to go home....
I met Leon several years ago in Las Vegas. How he describes things is a question you should ask him.

 

[Karl_K]

It is very wishful thinking on his part if Leon thinks that is how those terms are used industry wide.

You have to ask for clarification on how any specific vendor defines those terms.

 

[arkieb1]

Leon has a very unique way of using words and semantics to his own advantage. Why don't you ask him this, does he cast any of his work within his own bench? If he says no then more porkies are being told...... to my knowledge both he and Steven cast work just like most of the other benches in which he would claim "mass production" do. So really he is no better or worse than lots of other jewellers in that particular respect, other than using his own twist of words to confuse customers. Victor Canera is one of the few people that still does everything by hand, ie each individual piece is made without mass producing or casting any part of any of his pieces.

Most jewellers have benches. Some do and don't hand forge things, most with benches do. The question you should be asking is the piece completely made by hand by the jeweller or team of jewellers belonging to a specific bench without casting or mass producing ANY of the components that make up the particular item. You should also keep in mind that just because a piece or part of a piece is cast it doesn't make it necessarily better or worse than a piece that was not cast. It just means you can purchase two pieces created by different methods casting versus not casting - depending upon what type of project you are after and what level of finish you want then that should help determine which is the best for any project.

For the record I always think of hand forged as being entirely made by hand with no parts being cast or mass produced in any way and bench made as it being made by that jeweller but it can be made by ANY particular method ie by casting, by hand, mass produced, etc. It also might be worth remembering not all bench made and not all hand forged work is created equal there are better and worse jewellers at both.

 

[Gypsy]

To me: A bench is a general term.

It can be a hand forged bench. It could be a CAD and CAST bench.

Hand forged is a method of fabrication to me. Means that it is not CAD and CAST, and that the metal is beaten, the air is released and the metal is strong.

Bench made means nothing specific to me. It doesn't tell me what the method of the fabrication is. Which is what I want to know.

But like I said. That's what the terms mean to me.

You'd have to ask whoever you spoke to and have them explain the terms from their point of view.

 

[spicyitalian]

These 2 terms have no specific definitions and is dependent on who you ask. It's asking for the definition of clarity from different labs.

 

[CharmyPoo]

Arkieb ... Do you have proof to your claims? I am not disputing if it is true or not as I don't know but would love to see proof. I personally don't mind casting if it means better symmetry or end result.

 

[Abby12]

leon's site says he is 100 percent hand forged..... How would that be if it isn't?

 

[CharmyPoo]

I know my rings from Leon and Steven were fully hand made but can't speak for others.

 

[Abby12]

My rings from Steven and leon were supposedly fully handmade as well....

 

[arkieb1]

Arkieb ... Do you have proof to your claims? I am not disputing if it is true or not as I don't know but would love to see proof. I personally don't mind casting if it means better symmetry or end result.

Yes I do and for the record because I think I have had this argument with you before my father is a metal artist, so I actually do understand the methods these guys use. I think if you go through posts on here you will actually find other people have mentioned that some of the popular pieces made by these guys have parts that have been cast. They do not cast everything, many of their newer items are completely made with no casting but it is common knowledge that they do cast some things, particularly popular designs to speed up production and to lower their costs. Victor is the only one of the "golden three" that does EVERYTHING by hand without casting anything.

I have a pendant which was "fully handmade" by a Latvian jeweller. Was it fully handmade by him? YES it was, was it cast, YES pieces of it were. I think people seem to confuse what the term "handmade" actually entails. Just because something is labelled "handmade" does not mean that parts of it were not cast by the person making it. If you are in doubt then you should always ask and in the case of one vendor I am not sure he would actually be truthful about it anyway. I believe you have my email Charmy, email me I can give you specific examples. I would also like to openly state that just because something has been cast doesn't make it inferior either, sometimes the finish is actually better than a piece that was made by hand without casting. It just depends on what you are trying to achieve.

 

[denverappraiser]

I don’t recall ever hearing the term 'bench made', or some of the others he listed either for that matter, but he’s right that the use/abuse of terms like this is a serious problem in this industry. Clarity by the people using them would help a lot. You now know what Leon means when he uses them, and frankly that’s all he is able to tell you. Kudos to Leon. Others can and do use them differently (or not at all). Ask THEM what they mean. Chances are good that i'll be different.

FWIW, to me a bench is a piece of furniture. It's the people at the benches and what they're doing there that makes the difference.

 

[Abby12]

Ok if one wanted to ensure it was 100 percent cast free, what should they ask for?
Also, victor uses only 90 percent plat which i am not a fan of at all. All high end places use 95%.....
This is just my opinion of course.....

 

[nyquestioner]

I have seen this concern posted on several threads regarding Steven, but I have not seen any specific examples posted (maybe I just missed these threads). I have never seen it regarding Leon, and it directly contradicts obviously what is quoted above from his website in which he says he does not cast.
I think it would be helpful for those who know of any specific examples to post them; otherwise it seems unfair. I have a ring from Leon that I believe is completely handforged, and I have recommended both Leon and Steven to friends looking for settings. I would like to give my friends complete information about their methods, but I don't want to pass on hearsay.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I agree that discussing the methodology with the seller is a good idea if one is concerned.
The way I see it there's a real issue with terminology- as there is no standard - or agreed upon correct use- of certain terms that get thrown around a lot.

I've never seen any jewelry that was not manufactured at a work station - called a "bench"- at some point in the manufacture. By that definition all jewelry is "bench made"
There's nothing inherently "wrong" with casting.
A case could be made that a hand carved wax is a hand made piece.
For certain shapes, casting makes more sense than any other method. A broad, yet tapered men's ring comes to mind.
Die struck, and cast parts are used- in some of the world's finest "hand forged" shops.

 

[Karl_K]

A case could be made that a hand carved wax is a hand made piece.

Only if you wear the wax!
Could not resist that one,,,