A friend of my husband’s has a “Highlander” Celtic design cuff
bracelet marked .925 sterling, which he bought several years ago from
one of those catalogs that sells tv-show related merchandise. The cast
metal bracelet is cracking straight across due to repeated bending.
He wants to know if I can fix it. He is aware that I might wreck the
thing trying, and he’s OK with that.
But I’m not sure how to go about doing the repair.
The bracelet has symmetrical scalloped edges, and the crack is just
a little bit away from the narrowest point between scallops. It is
20mm wide at the point where it’s cracking. The bracelet is 2mm thick
at the edges, but the bracelet is carved out on the underside to
bring the thickness down to about 1mm (so it looks big and heavy, but
it’s really not…). The crack is 5mm long, and goes straight from
the edge into one of the longest carved Celtic design lines. When the
original designer carved out the back, s/he left slightly raised
lines on the back of the bracelet under the longest carved front
lines to support those areas where the metal was thinnest. The crack
is leading into one of those raised lines.
I can post explanatory photos online somewhere if necessary.
I’m thinking that I need to get some sterling sheet, and solder a
piece on the back of the bracelet over the weakened area, to support
the area that’s cracking. But like I said, I really am not sure what
would be “correct”. I’d like to do it right.
Can anyone give me more detailed instructions on how to correctly
fix this bracelet?
But I'm not sure how to go about doing the repair.
First I would anneal the piece the shape it to make the crack come
together. Don’t worry if you have to misshape it to make the crack
come together you can anneal and reshape later. Solder the crack
from behind with hard solder. Then anneal and reshape.
I would suggest checking out “low dome” silver wire. It might be
the right shape to solder along the back to strengthen the bracelet.
If not cut a strip of sheet silver, 20-24 ga, and dome it and shape
it until it fits. Solder with medium or easy solder.
Sometimes I have accomplished a repair such as you decide by sawing
a slit to the end of the crack and inserting a tight fitting piece
of sterling. Solder the piece in and then trim it to fit in with
the rest of the design.
Kathy,I have done this before and you are right the best way is to
reinforce from the bottom with 18 to 20 ga. sheet sterling. don’t
forget to also solder the crack itself. smoothe the ends of the new
sheet and it should work fine.
Sometimes it is necessary to apply a ‘bandaid’ to the backside of a
repair spot like you have described. Pieces like this will still be
flexed over and over as they are worn and taken on and off, which
will often cause breaks to come back in the same places. I have
found it to be beneficial to lay a strip of same type of metal
across the ‘wound’ like a bandaid. Solder it in place and then
smooth the edges down so they do not scratch the customer’s wrist .
It will provide some strength, by not allowing the ‘wound’ to flex
as much. Of course make sure the ‘bandaid’ doesnt show on the
frontside of the bracelet.