Hello!
I’m currently trying to figure out the best way to go about
repairing this ring. We have a customer who has a men’s wedding band
with 6 channel set stones. The end stones have slipped and the stones
are starting to rub on his finger. My home studio isn’t the best so I
took it to a fellow jeweler in town I know to see if he could help
with the repair. After looking it over he said it can’t be done and
the customer’s best bet is just to get a new ring. Customer is
attached to the ring and would rather have it repaired then just buy
a new band. I was wondering if there were any suggestions or ideas on
how to repair the ring if at all. Is there any way of rebuilding the
channels?
Coleen Byrnes, Owner
Byrnes Jewelers
Hi
Difficult to say without seing it. In my experience usually what
happens is the stones get knocked from time to time, the channel
opens slightly and the stones fall in. If this is what has happened I
have effected repair pushing the stones back up into position and
with a scorper pushed inside the back carve the metal up to make a
bearing for the stone to sit on. Otherwise get someone with a PUK or
Laser welder to tack a piece of metal in the back. Otherwise clean
and polish the stones and the metal and fill the back with Araldite
which over here is a 2pack adhesive I get from the hardware stores.
Don’t use super glue its too thin and brittle. If the diamonds are
clean, the glue up against them makes very little difference to
their sparkle. They are going to look better than when they came in
anyway. I usually tell custmers I am going to fill the back with
"Resin" sounds better than glue.
Hope this helps. Hamish
My mentor used to say that you could run silver solder down the
channel and then re-cut it. Haven’t tried it myself.
Debby
Is there any way of rebuilding the channels?
Sure Coleen, it’s called strapping. Just make strips of metal to
cover the old channels and solder them down. Unless there’s
something unique about your ring, I’m surprised your friend doesn’t
know this…
Hi Coleen,
I'm currently trying to figure out the best way to go about
repairing this ring.
I dislike the words “Can’t be done”. About any piece of jewelry can
be repaired… the question is does the customer want to spend the
$$ to have it done…and will the repair restore than piece to like
new.
We can’t see the ring so we are all at a loss to start with. It is
almost always the end stones that give the problem. Many jewelers
don’t take one simple step on those end stones that will save this
happening… and then again, those stones frankly take the most wear
around them so eventually they always cause a problem. They are not
an easy fix. However, many times we see these come in and we simply
remove all the stones, rebuild the channel, take a graver and reform
the inside, re-mount the stones and go on. It is always an expensive
repair. Hopefully the piece is 14K or up… this makes it much
easier than the harder, brittle lower karat gold. If this is like we
usually see, you will need every tool in the shop… and it is not a
repair for the beginner. Channel work is… well, ummmm…
channel work!
Hope this can help.
Dan.
Dearmond Tool
http://www.dearmondtool.com
Dear Debby, Do not and may I repeat: do not repair anything that way.
Add a thin strip of the appropriate metal to each top edge. Use a
generous amount of solder and blend in the sides and polish.
Have fun.
Tom Arnold
Do not and may I repeat: do not repair anything that way.
Thanks. Like I said, I never tried it.
Debby
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I had my husband talk with our
friend about since he has years more training then I do. On closer
inspection the ring had been repaired a few times rather poorly, so
the inside channels were layers of bad solder. We’ve decided the
best route to go was to clean the channels out the best we can and
then basically add a gold plate to the inside of the ring along the
underside of the channels, drill small holes for light, and reset
the stones. Hopefully the make shift ‘bridge’ will keep the stones
off his finger and prevent the stones from slipping down anymore.
Coleen
Sounds the sort of thing I would do. Do you need to drill holes when
the ring is on no light can get in anyway and they just gather dirt.
Just a thought!
Hamish