You can burn stones with a torch, you can break them unsetting
them, or you can accidentally zap them with a laser. (You guys
probably have a lot of stories about what can happen! Anyone want
to share their worst moments, just for fun?)
or me it’s a toosup. One of the worst was WAY back when, as a
college junior. I’d started in jewelry still in high school both in
the H.S. silversmithing class, and with a part time job at a local
rock shop. The owner thereof gave me a large (about an inch and a
half long, perhaps an inch wide) freeform shaped opal cabochon that
he’d cut, to be set into a gold bolo tie that I was to make. Burnie
had like one I’d made for my dad with an also large, but much less
fragile or valuable stone. I’d cast a mounting with a wax wire
under frame, a bunch of decorative stuff around the outside, and lots
and lots of little wire prongs with balled up ends. To set the stone,
just bend in those balled up ends till the stone was tight. Stone
setting experience at that point, almost nil. Needless to say, the
thing didn’t survive, but ended up in two halves. As the first
really large stone worth more than a few bucks that I broke, it was a
horrible feeling. Burnie took it in stride, confiding that he’d not
paid much for the rough, then suggested an addition to the piece, a
decorative ribbon across the center, which would hide the seam
between broken halves when they were back in the bolo. It worked
fine. I’ll never know whether he was telling the truth when he said
it wasn’t worth much and that he wasn’t upset. Probably, but I’ll
never know.
But one I DO know about was probably one of the more costly stones
I’ve ever broken. this was about six years ago. We’d had another
very fine jeweler make up a nice platinum mounting for a large (8 ct)
ceylon sapphire, a nice heart shape. That got sent to a setter who
first set the sapphire in it’s center bezel, and then pave set a
bunch of mellee diamonds around it. The setting looked nice. then i
had to size it when the customers finger turned out to be a tad
smaller than thought. That too worked ok, but I noticed that the
setter, when drilling the top plate for the pave work, had nicked a
couple of the prong wires where the bridged between the upper and
lower gallerys. You could see the dings. I determined that I could
flow a little white gold easy solder into the nicks to hide that
damage. I did everything right. Well, almost. The ring got some
boric acid coating, of course, and with a tiny flame I flowed the
solder. I didn’t bother heat sinking the sapphire, since I was being
careful not to direct the flame anywhere near the center stone. In
fact, the boric acid on not just the sapphire, but it’s bezel, never
even began to melt, remaining in it’s white powdery state. but the
couple hundred degrees the stone did reach (and might have so done
even with just a blast from the steam cleaner) was, it turned out,
enough to cause expansion in the fluid filled inclusion, quite
large, in the middle of the stone. The thing was barely visible, and
then only with a loupe, but it was very large, actually, and neatly
split the stone in half. I heard that quiet little snap sound just
as that white gold solder flowed. didn’t realize till I got it out of
the pickle just what it had meant. You don’t want to know what the
replacement stone, not to mention remaking the mounting, cost us…
which, I suppose, brings us back to the argument of garnets not
taking heat, and only diamonds, sapphires, rubies, etc, being
traditionally allowed some heating. Truth is NO type of stone is
always immune. Including diamonds.
and Susan, yes the laser is very efficient at blasting out damaged
diamonds, or those that will soon be so, due to needed repairs on a
ring. With other stones, the setters usually just use the hammer
handpiece. but with diamonds, we blast em out. Great stress
reliever. makes quite a loud popping noice too.
Peter Rowe
