Repairing eye ring on end of indian snake chain

Greetings! I have 2 silver Indian snake chains…over 30yrs old, and 5mm in diameter. The attached eye rings are worn thin, and need repair. I was thinking of inserting appropriate tubing and soldering them in place, using easy silver solder. Question… has anyone done repairs of this style chain? Are there any issues I should be aware of? Don’t want to ruin them!

Alinda,
I have Repaired a handful of pieces from India over the years, including a few Chains and all I can say is that you have to be careful with them, as most of the ones that I worked on did not have very high Silver content… That being said, they were lovely pieces and the workmanship was incredible, but they still had more alloy in them than silver and pitted up very easily. First of all, I would remove one or more of the worn Links and heat them up with the Torch to see what they do, if they ball up quickly, that’s a good sign that it has a higher silver content, if it doesn’t and starts to bubble/pop then you know it has more alloy in it and you will need to act accordingly… Regardless of the Silver content, you will need to Flux them and then Solder them quickly, so I would use Paste Solder if you have or can get it, as Sheet Solder usually takes longer to flow, thus more time under the flame. Once you’re finished Soldering, quench it and Pickle just the areas that you worked on and only for a short time, just enough to remove the Flux and Fire Scale from the metal, then clean the joins up and lightly Polish those areas (I would Polish them with my Flexshaft, using Brushes and maybe Felt Wheels). I hope this helps, good luck!
Jonathan

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Dear Jonathan,
Thank you for your reply! I was concerned about the silver content. Paste solder makes sense. However, I cannot remove the worn eye ring because it is soldered to the end of the chain (which has a moderately designed endcap). I can take a deep breath and using paste solder, solder quickly…Another thought is some type of cold connection…any thoughts?
Thank you

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Alinda,
My pleasure! Interesting, could you post a photo or photos of the Chain Ends? I have had similar issues in the past and I’d like to see if yours are like the ones that I’ve encountered, if so, I may have a solution or two for you and either way, we should be able to figure out a few options for you…
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,
Here is an image of the 2 chains with worn eye rings.
Snake Chains.jpg

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Alinda,
Very nice and very similar to the ones that I’ve worked on in the past, I’ve always liked Indian Snake Chains! What I would do if you want to Repair this Chain and make the Chain Ends stronger, since it looks like the rings are just Soldered on anyway (sometimes the Chain Ends are cast): I would Saw or Clip the Rings Off and Sand or File the Ends Flat. Then Make some new Heavier-Weight Jump Rings out of Sterling Silver and Flow Medium Sheet Solder into the Joins. Then Hold the Chain End Barrel in a Third Hand or some other Self-Locking Tweezers (in the Flat Area just below the Decorative Barrel) and Flux and then Heat up the End to see how it Reacts to the Flame - when you’re doing this Watch for Any Original Solder Flow, Bubbling or Popping of the Old Solder or Metal - if it does, then you’ll need to go to Paste Solder and Quickly Flow and Solder the Jump Rings onto the Ends, if it doesn’t then you should be able to flow Easy Sheet Solder onto the Ends and Solder on the Jump Rings (Medium Soldered Join side down). Once you are finished Soldering, Pickle only the parts of the Chain that had Flux and Heat on it and only for long enough to remove it, then Sand down and Polish the ends with your Flex Shaft…

Alternatively, if you feel more comfortable using a Sterling Silver Tube/Jump Ring Sleeve, that will work too, but you will have to keep the Flame on it longer to Flow the Sterling Silver Solder all the way around the Sleeve, so it will probably be quicker to make a whole new Jump Ring and solder it on…

For a quick and easy Repair, since the Jump Rings aren’t compleatly worn thru and if you don’t want to Remove the Original Jump Rings, you can also simply Flow some Medium/Hard Sterling Silver Sheet Solder on top of the Jump Rings and then Feather the Solder down into the Worn Areas, thus filling them in and strengthening the Rings… Pickle as above… This is more or less a temporary Repair, as the Solder will be weaker than solid Sterling Silver and will wear faster, but this will still take quite a while, maybe even a few years (if you don’t wear it every day) to wear down again - I used to do this quick temporary fix, if the customer didn’t want to Replace the Original Jump Ring for some reason…

The only risks involved in doing any of these Repairs, is if the Chains have very low Silver Content, in which case, the Solder/Metal will bubble and pop, making it more difficult to Solder and Clean-up/Polish and Pickling may turn the Silver a Coppery colour where it was heated and worked on…

These are the simplest Repairs that you can do for these Chains, I hope that one of them will work for you, Good Luck!
Jonathan

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Do you have any extra easy silver solder?
If so i would use it. Indian silver alloys could and are anywhere between .800 and up.
Just my experence.

I turned down the last one that came in. Many repairs, and some none to good.
I didnt want to be married to it.
Jim