i have a pendant with a10x8 faceted garnet, bezel set. my problem is
that the setting is slightly crooked, just enough to be noticeable.
can i heat it to soldering temp. and adjust it, without cracking or
discoloring the garnet? i’ve soldered with rubies and sapphires in
place with no problem, but what about garnet? this particular stone
is free of inclusions, so it probably won’t explode. what other
stones can take high heat?
NO WAY! garnet will not take heat…remove the stone… but more
than likley you have become focused on the orientation… show it to
somebody and ask what they think… if they say crooked then perhaps
you really do need to fix it. Often iI have let small things go and
years later saw the piece and could not say crooked at that time. Ringman
Doug, Don’t try it unless you have a replacement for it. It is the
easy way to go if you ask me… burn the garnet and remove it without
gouging the bezel and then set a new one in it’s place. The only
stones able to take high heat in a bezel (unless your soldering spot
is far enough away to heat protect the stone) is red (ruby)
white(diamond) and blue(saphire) and these can still be risky.
Patty from Missouri
patty rios
Hello Doug: Garnet will not take the heat. Remove the stone and
repair the item and reset the stone. If the solder joint is far
enough away from the stone you can hold the stone underwater while
doing the repair. To answer your question about what stones can take
the heat hot enough to flow solder are Diamond that is not fracture
filled and ruby and sapphire but with all the heat treating of
sapphire you can change the color so you must be careful. Michael R.
Mathews Sr. Victoria,Texas USA
Doug, The garnet won’t take the heat, inclusions or not, and I can’t
see how your proposed solution would work anyhow, even if the garnet
would take it. If I visualize the problem correctly the bezel is not
oriented correctly on it’s backing. If that is the case, the best
thing to do is remove the stone, remove the bezel completely,
reorient the bezel and resolder. Rule of thumb for stones that can
take that kind of heat are red, white and blue, that is ruby,
diamond and sapphire. Even then certain precautions must be taken to
keep from burning or frosting the stone. Check the Orchid archives.
There have been quite a few discussions on this topic over the
years.
Jerry in Kodiak
We believe that no stones should be heated if it is at all
avoidable. While some may say that various stones are not effected
by heat it is our belief that so many stones are treated in so many
different ways today that you are always taking a large risk in
heating any colored stone (and some diamonds too). This would be
particularly the case if the stone you are working on belongs to a
customer. If it’s yours, you can always see what happens.
Daniel R. Spirer, GG
Spirer Somes Jewelers
1794 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-6000
@spirersomes
www.spirersomes.com
We specialize in Garnets since we are located next to the Garnet
mines up in the Adirondacks of New York. I have had to do soldering
repairs with mounted red Garnets. I have never attempted it with any
other color of Garnet.
If the original was done with soft to medium solder you may easily
get away with it. If it was done with hard solder, it is doubtful.
Either way, the garnet will appear to change color during heating and
will become brittle. Bring your heat up very slowly, and cool down
even more slowly as in ever widening circles around the piece. The
color of the garnet will return to original most of the time and will
frequently even improve its clarity and brilliance.
Judy Shaw
yes it will explode! Rubies, Sapphires, Diamond, Syn Spinel except
green (usually in mothers rings), can take heat. I wouldn’t put heat
on Ruby or Sapphire Cabs though.
I have found that CZ’s can usually take heat but only once and must
cool gently. If they break they are inexpensive enough to
replace…as are the Syn Spinels.
To straighten your garnet you will need to remove it and either
reseat it or redo the bezel.
Mark
Patty, You can also add the star corundums to that list. I have done
both black and red star sapphires with direct heat. Heated one black
star till it was red hot and it came out perfectly. As you say
though, there is always a risk…you never quite sure what will
result. Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFL where
simple elegance IS fine jewelry! @coralnut2.
You can also add the star corundums to that list.
I believed this myself for quite a while.
I got a job to set some natural sapphire crystals into some stuff
one time. I decided to warm them, drop them onto some molten wax and
let them cool to form the seats. With just a little heat, the first
one broke in two. I was stunned. I was shocked. I was amazed. Nothing
had ever happened quite like this. I had been real gentle about the
heat. I let the boss know what had happened. He was alot more
forgiving than the crystal. On the second crystal, I followed the
same procedure. Wham! It happened again. What I believed was a
million to one occurance happened twice in a row.
Later in a GIA course, I learned that corundum can have two phase
inclusions. When discovered in a stone it indicates that that stone
has never been cooked. Good idea not to heat untreated sapphires. If
you do choose to heat stones larger than mellee, make sure that you
know it has previously been heat treated…
Bruce D. Holmgrain
JA Certified Master Bench Jeweler
http://www.goldwerx.com