Howdy: I have a client who wanted me to take flush set diamonds
out of a ring and use them in another design. I told her to
bring the ring to a repair person and have the stones taken out
first then come back to me. I was afraid of trashing the
stones. The diamonds are 2 or 2.5 mm. Is there a proper way of
removing flush set stones? The ring was 18K gold.
DeDe
Dear Dede, Stone safety and time are my criteria. Most times the
stones are in so that is’s impossible to dig them out from the
top. Taking them out from the top would also be very time
consuming. What I would do is to saw the metal at a 12:00 and
6:00 position to relieve the pressure. Saw the item in half
until the stone is only left in one side of the piece. It should
come out easily. You may dull a saw blade when you come to the
stone but that’s a small price to pay for not damaging you
customers stones.
Best Regards,
TR the Teacher & Student
The best way to remove gypsy set stones is to just cut them out
with a saw. If the customer is trying to save the existing piece
this is going to create problems, but there isn’t much reason to
keep a ring that had flush set stones removed.
Hi DeDe, You ask about how to take flush set diamonds out of a
piece of jewelry. This is something we do quite often. The
Etienne Perret Collection uses flush set diamonds extensively to
create sparkle in the 18 kt and platinum. We find that stones
can be removed without too much difficulty using a sharp graver
and carving the metal away around the diamond. Do not lean to
heavily on the diamond, just carve carefully and the stone will
come out. Usually you will be able to reuse the setting with
slightly larger stones.
Good Luck,
Etienne Perret
http://www.etienneperret.com