I have a customers sterling silver ring that has two semi precious
stones in the middle of the band, bezel set, and two gold wire pieces
22g in the shape of swirls in between them. One of the gold swirls
broke off and now she wants a new one put on. Any suggestions as to
how I should solder it back on. Any help would be greatly
appreciated. Bari
Hi my name is Aurelio. I believe you have to unmount the
stones(unfortunately) do the work and then make a new besel but you
can try to unmount the stones without damaging the besels. if they
are in good shape use them again. I hope you understand my english
am Mexican, let me know if you succed.
Aurelio Duque
Juarez 665
Col. San Antonio 78436
San Luis Potosi S.L.P.
MEXICO
That depends.What type of stones are they?You said semi precious I
would say you need to take them out.They are bezel set.If the bezel is
in good shape you can put an xaxto blade ,a pointed one on the edge of
the bezel and slowly and gently rock the edge of the bezel around the
stone until it opens.Or you can take a very thin saw blade and make a
very thin slice in the bezel on each side of the stone.If the stones
are soft making sure you don’t cut them.Then peel the bezel back
remove the stones solder the cuts by slipping a fresh piece of bezel
on edge into the cut you made clean excess with burr and wheels and
then solder your wire and clean up and set stones.Or if you can bend
the wire you have to solder away from the stones and you can solder it
so the flame is not pointed in the direction of the stone and you can
heat sink the stones and you feel confident and it is not a full moon
and you have’nt broken any mirrors or walked under any ladders Do it!
J Morley Coyote Ridge Studio
Bari,
It really makes a major difference what the stones are (And I am
hereby kicking off a campaign to rid the lexicon of the pejorative
and relatively useless term “semi-precious” - it’s as useful as
"semi-pregnant" and not nearly so evocative ) - will they take the
heat of soldering near them or not? Are we talking turquoise agate or
garnet? Each has its own set of concerns! This could be one of those
jobs where you’re better off saying "Sorry, this is not repairable"
and selling another ring, or a remake of this one, because:
-
Even if the stones will “take the heat” there’s a better than
even chance that they will scorch, or crack from uneven thermal
expansion or any number of possible disasters (remember Murphy’s Law
! ) so: -
To be safe you’ll have to remove the stones, solder on the wire
swirl, then reset the stones and repolish and all that, hoping all
the while that the ring’s original maker didn’t cut some corners, or
use extra-easy solder to place his bezels or … (think up 45 other
potential disasters-in-waiting) and even if you don’t run into any of
those disasters, you have put in enough time and energy and resources
that you are going to have to charge your customer twice what she
paid for the ring for your repair. your probably farther ahead
talking her into starting over! Good luck!
Mike
J. Morley, Coyote Ridge Studio In Re: Removal of silver bezel-set
stones for repairs. I agree with you that removal of stones for
solder repairs is the method of choice for silver jewelry
Nonetheless, there is a better way of opening the bezel than using the
exacto blade. I too formerly used that method, but it nearly always
resulted in some degree of damage to the bezel. The tool that I now
use is one that I made from a worn out half round jewelers file which
I modified in such a way that the end was spade shaped and came to a
knife edge. The flat side should also be sanded and polished so that
no damage can occur to the stone. The flat side is obviously inserted
adjacent to the stone and the bezel is gently pried back as you
progress around the stone. This method always gives harmless and
relatively effortless results. This tool can also be used to pry back
prongs on stones that have been set in heads. In this latter instance
I use it only to start the pry and then go to a prong lifter tool
Ron at Mills Gem, Los Osos, CA.
If you carefully roll the fine silver bezel (all good silversmiths use
fine silver for bezels and this is one of the reasons) away enough
to remove the stone, the bezel should not need replacing.
I just completed a repair job today on a native-american style ring
with a lovely, green turquoise.It needed to be resized from a size 8
to a 13, which meant I had to remove the ring shank and add one of the
appropriate size. I used the knife blade on a small swiss army knife
to loosen the bezel from the stone. All went well. Not the tool best
suited to the job, I will give you that. I am just adding my 3 cents
to affirm that this is not brain surgery…
Lee Einer