Using Power Tools

[JJenkins]

I am fairly new to jewelry making and I am starting to use power tools.  Can some one tell me what the burs are used for and when should you use them in jewelry making?

[daverobertson]

Hi JJenkins,

Thanks for your question here.  I hope you'll get a satisfactory answer -- for my part I can say that tools like the cup bur that we sell are used for eliminating rough ends on wires. 

Can someone with more experience talk about power burs?

--Dave

[Polly]

Other shapes of burs are for removing (or de-burring) rough spots, such as after you cut the loop off of a charm.  They can be used somewhat like a file.

[Russ Nobbs]

Some burrs are made specifically to cut the seats for faceted stones in prong heads or "bright cut" settings.

[Metalman]

There are many types and styles of burrs out there. The hardness of the burrs is a factor relating to the metal you are cutting. For example: cutting steel - you need carbide. A tool steel burr is fine for most applications in copper/bronze ore silver. The kinds of teeth affect things as well - got to read the product info.  Most suppliers should be able to give you some tech fill in if you ask. The speed of you power equip is important as well. Control and drill presses help also. If you don't hold the tools steady , you can get chatter in the burr seat [a type of bad cutting] and or the burr can jump and skitter over your surface causing cuts and damage.  Diamond sintered burrs work great but the surface of them gets gummed up by silver [and probably copper as well] Diamond burrs are great for hard materials like stone and glass [but always use water to keep them cool and clean]
These types of power tools alos have all kinds of various polishing bits that you can get. Abrasive loaded rubber tips all the way done to fine polishing silicon tips. [again - more reading] 
How do I know about this stuff? - I have been going through the catalogs and reading and then buying burrs/bits/tips/discs/etc that look like they will do what I want and trying them out. [Yes, I have a collection of this sort of thing that didn't work out, c'est la vie]  --Hope this helped