One thing that often comes up with inexpensive silver jewelry is that the charge to size a silver ring could far outweigh the original cost. If a ring costs $25-$40 new, but it costs $100 in labor to size it that person isn’t going to be happy.
I just helped a student yesterday size a really thick silver ring with a bezel set human molar. Kinda weird, but hey, it was his dream. He submerged the bezel set tooth in water and even with the Little Torch rosebud tip, he was never able to get it hot enough. I had to step in and help.
I ground and cleaned the solder pick down to clean metal. I melted a decent amount of silver solder onto the solder pick, so I didn’t have to worry about the solder bouncing around or to fall off. It took a while, but I waited for the flux to turn glassy, then melted a bit of solder onto the ring. My first goal was just to get some solder tack melted onto the ring. Once a bit of solder was slightly melted to the ring, I got a second torch and went at it with two torches. Eventually the solder flowed into the joint and all was well, but the student was surprised by how much time and extra effort that it took.
Sizing silver rings with stones is almost always more challenging than gold rings.
My old boss often said, “No good deed, goes unpunished.” You deserve to get paid whatever you think is a fair price.
I just returned from a welding shop that welded a crack in a rototiller handlebar shaft. A two inch weld cost me $100. They were not the least bit shy in asking for that.
Neil…I have a MIG welder in my garage that I haven’t done anything worth $100 with since I bought it. You should buy one and keep it in your garage too, at least you might get some use out of it. Actually, I did use it once to weld a bunch of trellises out of EMT and steel wire concrete reinforcing mats. Lots of fun…Rob
Having a small MIG welder pays for itself in a short time if you have outdoor steel furniture to repair and other small items. I bought one years ago for $400.00… the cost is in the argon shielding gas and accessories… prices range from a few hundred to $1000.00 The low cost ones for 2-300 dollars are no good… mid range priced ones are more than adequate… it doesn’t take much experience to use them… the learning curve is really fast… practice on welding scrap metal…old steel pipes or other recyclable junk metal.
just a thought…
Plumbers, appliance repair techs, electricians, auto mechanic shops, and other skilled labor charge over $100.00 an hour now. Just a home visit for an estimate is 85 bucks alone, with labor and parts charges on top of that… nothing is cheap anymore. Jewelers are more than blue collar skilled laborers, but also artisans and craftsmen. Prices are only limited by big jewelry chain store costs for the same kinds of repairs,
I definitely agree that having one is useful. If there’s nothing left to fix, use it to make metal sculptures out of scrap metal, or wind chimes that will stand up to strong winds…
buy a number 8 dark glass for your welding helmet for low power welders. a number 14 glass is for looking at the sun… total solar eclipse on April 8 visible from Austin thru Little Rock, the northwards…
I saw the one in 2019… awesome… nothing like it!!!
about working with steel, if you have an acetylene torch, you will need to get a cutting head for cutting steel scrap that you want to weld together and a carborundum grinder… cutting with a hacksaw is not worth the time and effort… steel surfaces to be joined have to be clean… cutting uses an oxygen jet to burn thru the steel… a full sized oxyacetylene set up with large tanks, is needed… Oyxgen goes fast when cutting…
sizing down is easier than sizing up, although it too can present problems depending on the design… if it’s too big, cutting out some metal and rejoining the ends is a lot easier than adding a piece of metal… if the sizing up is only a small difference, you can get away with stretching… heat sensitive stones and even those that aren’t can crack; safer to remove than keep in place… which makes more work… doing this kind of work is labor intensive…not to mention even the filing and buffing/ polishing to make the joint look seamless… I’ve done repairs for friends for free… but they have to know the risks…One case would have required dismantling the piece and extracting a bunch of small heat sensitive stones…I gave her the choice of taking it apart which would take a week to finish, or to use low temperature tin solder, that plumbers use for sweat soldering copper pipes or doing electronic repairs… It would not have the same color as the silver… she opted for tin… it took only 30 to 45 minutes to do… but it didn’t look right, teh joint was off color… nonetheless, my friend was satisfied… her piece was wearable again, but I did warn her that the joint would be weak and likely to break again. Using tin was cheating but the client was informed about the results…
All of the rings I made for myself and my spouse were before we developed gnarly knuckles from osteoarthritis… only a few fit now… sizing up to get it over our thickened finger joints would leave them dangling once over the joint and on the proximal phalanx… so much for growing old… adjustable snap rings would work, but installing the snaps are beyond my skill level… I also have doubts about how long they last without breaking,
Anyone out there know anything about these adjustable snaps?
I don’t have a picture but these are cheap rings that have an adjustable latching device in the shank that works by pushing the ends of the ring together up to a certain tightness
Steve,
Have you thought of using “Sizing Balls” or “Arthritic Balls” on the insides of the Rings? Essentially they are (2) Small Metal Balls (Metal depending on the Metal used in the Rings) that are Soldered at the 5 O’Clock and 7 O’Clock positions at the bottom of your Ring Shanks. First you would Size the Rings to Fit Over your Knuckles and then add the Sizing Balls… They are not perfect and oftentimes they don’t make the Ring fit a whole lot tighter, but they do typically keep the Ring from flopping around on your finger.
I have also made a simple “U” Shaped piece of Flat Stock with Slightly Curled-Out Tips, that you would then Solder Only the Bottom of the “U” to the Inside of the Bottom of the Shank, Leaving the (2) Upper Arms of the “U” Free to be Adjusted ( the Arms should be slightly Tempered). When these Arms are adjusted properly, they act like a “Spring” and when the Ring is slid over the Knuckle, the Arms open back up slightly and give a tighter fit.
There is also several different Adjustable Ring Shanks that you can add to the Bottom Half of your Shank - Most of these are quite expensive and somewhat complicated to put on, but very doable, I have used most of them and they all work pretty well, some much better than others.
Here are Stuller’s Adjustable Shanks, the Finger Fit Adjustable Shank is the one that I’ve used the most, but it is probably the most expensive one available and then the Adjusto-Shank, which are also good, though not as sturdy as the others… CLIQ’s are very good also, but many people with Arthritis cannot get them back open once they’re Clicked closed. I’ve never used the Forever-Fit, but it looks like a good idea anyway…
Anyway, just some other options for adjustable Ring Shanks. I hope these might be of some use. Good Luck!
Jonathan
I am not able to access Stuller without and account. I am an individual and no longer holding a TIN number for a jewelry business. The adjustable shanks are the ones that I’ve seen work well… I’ve had the same problems with refiners. Most will not deal with individuals. I may have to create a “shell” proprietorship for my needs… do you have any ideas? Or should I go thru a local jeweler to access their site for me? In eh past I was able to by findings as an individual to a local manufacturer of Black Hills Gold Jewelry but I don’t know if their policy now is to require business registration either.
My jewelry business is strictly a hobby business. I do have a NYS Sales Tax Certificate and have a registered DBA with my county clerk. I have had accounts at Hoover and Strong, Rio, Otto Frei and others for years. I was able to establish an account with Stuller several years ago with these credentials and a lot of paperwork. They did ask me recently to update some of these documents, but I have purchased from them in the past…Rob
Steve,
I understand, but unfortunately no, I looked at several of the places that you can purchase the various Adjustable Ring Shanks and all of them require a Wholesale Account to be established, so you would need a Business License or at the very least a Tax ID Number…
Personally if it was me and I only had a few Rings to deal with, I would try the first two possibilities (Sizing Balls or the “U” Shaped Flat Stock) out to begin with, as we sold far more of them than any of the others in all the years that I was a Bench Jeweller… They really are a good alternative to what are now the only real other options (if you want it to hold up to everyday wear), which of course are unfortunately quite expensive…
I will say this, that it is possible to make your own version of the various Hinged Adjustable Shanks, though it is not easy and you have to be very accurate, but I have made one like the Finger Fit Shank, just without the Steel Rod that is inside of it to keep it together and moving correctly… My poor-man’s version used two modified “Figure 8” Locking Clasps on each side of the Shank, not Ideal, but I couldn’t get the Fold-Down Snapping Clasp to hold tight and without the Steel Insert to hold the Hinged Shanks together, there was a risk of it coming open and the Ring being lost… As far as I know, it’s still working for the customer today - I made it well over (10) years ago and she never came in with any problems for the first (5) years, though the store I worked for has been closed for around (5-6) years now, so I don’t know beyond that… Anyway, if you would like for me to send you or post some drawings of my poor-man’s version of a Hinged Adjustable Shank, just let me know and I’ll try to do some working drawings of it…
Sorry that I don’t have any better advice or information for you… Good Luck!
Jonathan
I think I’ll start with one of the local businesses that I’ve dealt with here and see what they can come up for me. There’s several but not a huge number of pieces that need to be altered… I can try simpler techniques on my own also… my priorities are downsizing so that I can move to Albuquerque… as previously mentioned, I have a bunch of silver that I want to exchange for investment grade bullion, some gold and a lot of unset gems… I joined the GIS site to get an idea of how much these stones that were purchased 3 decades ago are worth now, or at least a range…(delighted to have seen Roy John there also)…my own person collection of fabricated rings that I want to keep are the ones that I will either try to alter them myself or let a professional do it for me…some of them have decorated shanks that are done in mixed metal applique that go all around the shank…
Thanks to all who have given very helpful tips on how to manage this problem… thanks to all …