Soldering with stone in place

Greetings All:

Need advice and help please I’m very amateur at goldsmithing,
though I do know soldering techniques. A very good friend (not of
the wealthy class) asked me to solder a 10K gold ring that has a
dimanond in place. The ring was summarily cut (with cutting
pliers?) off her finger before surgery. Unfortunately the type
who did the cutting made the cut at the 9o’clock position on the
shank if you you look at the ring with the diamonmd on top at
the 12o’clock position. I will have to file the cut edges and
insert about 1mm thick 10-12 gauge wire to compensate for size
loss. My question is whether it is safe to solder with small
flame and easy solder when the stone is packed with Jool Cool,
and wet asbestos or other fiber?

Your advice will be much appreciated.

Best regards,

Joe Bokor
@Joe_Bokor

Yes, if you have checked that it is really a diamond and that it
has no major breaks in it.

Hi Joe, Don’t worry about the diamond. You can get it as hot as
necessary without fear. Nothing will happen to it as long as you
don’t quench the piece while it is hot. Have fun. Tom Arnold

This should be easy even for an amateur. You don’t need to worry
about heating the diamond at all, just be sure to have the stone
heavily coated with flux. Hard solder the repair and let air
cool before pickling hope this helps. Janine, in HOT Redding Ca.

RE Soldering a diamond ring close to the stone. Joe being as it
is common practice to solder new tips on a diamond, after coating
with boric acid,and flux I would not hesitate to solder the ring
shank with the stone in place, provided that it is not clarity
enhanced, or a fancy color.

WayneM

Hi Joe,

As long as you don’t quench the diamond while hot you should
have no problems. Just test and make sure it is a diamond first.

All the best,
Don
McLeod’s Jewellers-Goldsmith-Designer
Specialist in hand made jewellery & corporate gifts,
made to order in gold, silver and platinum.
http://www.mjgd.com.au
dmac@mjgd.com.au

Hi : First off, you must clean the diamond completely, steamer
is best, ultrasound minimum, then put small amount of cool jewel
or other heat sheild to keep direct spot heating on the stone.
Flux well and replace what shank you need to. try to use a
medium solder, but you can do hard if the band is not assembled
or has a joint. direct heat, pointed out is the best, do it
quick and don’t dally. Diamonds are forgiving unless they are
badly flawed. Ringman John Henry

Joe, A diamond will take the necessary heat to solder that shank.
In fact it will take heat necessary to rebuild prongs or change
the head. Use a hard solder for this repair. I personally use 14K
hard or weld even on 10K and reserve 10K solders for real problem
jobs. The only caution is to not quench the diamond. On extremely
rare occaisions, a feather can expand or even break the stone.
You might coat the ring with boric acid to prevent oxidation.
Good luck.

Bruce

Bruce D. Holmgrain
Maryland’s first JA certified Master Bench Jeweler
http://www.goldwerx.com
manmountaindense@goldwerx.com

And also check whether the diamond is filled with silicon along
the fissures. Just in case if the fissures is filled with some
kind of silicon e.g. Yehuda treated diamond, then upon burning,
the fissures may turn brown. Check it out for any pink flashes
along the fissures, if it is treated. Good Luck.

Tay Thye Sun

Please remember to thoroughly CLEAN the diamond before you do
anything. Otherwise, you risk burning the slightest bit of
oil/dirt onto the surface. Which means that the diamond would
have to be repolished. And you don’t want to do that.

Metalsmith gathering getting close July 31, in Newport, RI email me if you
are in the area and want to come.

Heat the sucker as hot as you want, just make sure its cool to
the touch before you place it in pickle. If its a real diamond
you’ll be fine ( check first to make sure there are no heavy duty
inclusions, especially that come to the surface, as these might
expand and cause the stone to break or cleave) if its not real,
well atleast its real cheap to replace, ha ha. Best of luck, Alicia Arnold

When soldering on a diamond make sure it’s totally clean. I have
had some pieces of jewelry I’ve cleaned for a half an hour and
they still had gunk lodged in places hard to see. A sure fire way
of telling is to start the repair and if you SMELL anything STOP
and clean some more. This smell is soap or hand lotion or
hamburger or whatever else gets caught under the stone over time.
Your flame will carbonize the dirt on the diamond or metal and is
very tough to get off. I’ve heard of some stones needing to be
cleaned on a diamond cutters wheel to remove this discoloring.
Regards, TR the Teacher & student

Joe: As a 25+ year vetern of jewelery repair, I know well what
you’re talking about. I recently had a channel-set wedding band
come into my hands that had been wrenched open after the
wirecutter treatment. I was unsure how it would survive. but I
got it done with little trouble. First, if your friend’s ring
has only a diamond and no heat sensetive stones or enamels you
don’t have to worry about the heat. Just even up the ends of the
shank, add metal necessary to size & use welding solder.
Pickle, file & finish as usual. The type of flame you use
depends largly upon the heft of shank you’re dealing with. If
it’s narrow & thin, use a sharper flame. If thick, use a larger
flame & heat a larger area to “sweat” the solder. Be sure it
flows completly through the seams. Hope this helps. Steve Klepinger

Joe, This is a no brainer… It wouldn’t matter if they cut the
ring off the finger right next to the diamond… Diamonds will
take the heat… Use hard solder as suggested by Bruce… do not be
afraid of this diamond… As far as direct heat goes, use a flame
hot enough to ball up the solder on the soldering block, then
use that flame to heat up the ring, take your flame back and
forth across the piece you have to put in and across the joints…
apply the solder and heat across the entire section until the
solder flows… With practice you will soon know exactly how much
heat is necissary and what kind of flame to use… Now one very
important thing that nobody has mentioned… When working on
PLATINUM… First off please don’t ever size platinum rings with
white gold material or solder… only butcher’s do that…
Secondly, Platinum takes an extreme amount of heat to get the
solder to flow… NEVER, never do any kind of platinum work next
to diamonds or any other kind of stones… Diamonds most likely
will smoke, by this I mean they will burn, turn a milky white and
then they are useless, except maybee for the tip of a drill
bit…other stones will just break and get nasty… sizing
platinum rings with diamonds is ok for the most part, but repair
work near the diamonds is dangerous … take em’ out… the myth
that a diamond cannot burn is just hat a myth… Diamonds when
exposed to the kind of heat that it takes to melt platinum will
frost… Good luck with everything…you will be fine… Marc
Williams MarcCo. Jewelry Mfg. MarcCo. Jewelry Mfg.