Turquoise Repair

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi Sam,

Is it OK to wet sand with 600 grit sandpaper by hand then buff on a
muslin wheel?

Yes, I padded the setting with some cardboard from a cereal box. The
problem came from a burr on the inside of the bezel from where I
soldered it together. It was a sawtooth wire bezel. In setting the
stone, the burr must have put too much pressure on that side.

I think what happened is that in trying to solder the shank on, I
got too much heat on the weld and the bezel joint moved and created a
burr (probably some melted solder). Oh well, it was a good
educational experience.

The stone is stabilized and it has a dark hard waxy backing. I
purchased the stones, so I don’t know anything more about them. This
stone was particularly thin, but has a beautiful pattern
nonetheless.

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge. I’m off to buy some
epoxy.

Tracy
Tracy’s Treasures

2 
Is it OK to wet sand with 600 grit sandpaper by hand then buff on
a muslin wheel?

Tracy, yes that works, with the 600 on a stick, right? If you are
doing it by hand you don’t need to work wet. You may find that the
amount of sanding you need to do will go through the stabilized area
down to something not as nice, it just depends on how it was
stabilized. The dark backing is probably Devcon which is commonly
used to back turquoise.

Let me know how it goes and if you have any other questions, let me
know.

Sam