Unglue pearls

Jewelry Discussion
1 
I must confess to trying to unglue the pearl without success!!,

The next time you need to release a pearl from its post, try heating the
mounting with an electric soldering iron ( I keep a clean 40 watt iron
specifically for this purpose – no lead solder on the tip to foul things
up later). Place the tip of the iron in contact with the metal, as close
to the post as feasable and allow the heat to travel up the post into the
pearl. Moderate heat will soften even the most stubborn epoxys. Watch out
that you don’t let the glue discolor. You only want it to soften. Drill out
any remaining old glue and clean the post before remounting. This really
works well. I have used this technique for many years. I can’t remember the
last time I had to “fight” a pearl off it’s post.

Peace, Ken Weston

2

Another way of unglueing a pearl is to heat a pair of soldering tweezers
to a dull red temp and then grab a hold of the stem mounting and hold it
there and work the pearl until is loosens.

3

To unglue pearls I keep a pair of needle nose pliers handy just for that
purpose. Heat the tip and grab near the pearl as close as possible
without hitting the pearl itself and pull the pearl off a few seconds
later after the heat has had time to soften the glue. The pliers work
great and I have something to hold on to instead of the hot piece of
jewelry.