Looking for help from Jewelers. Repair gone bad!!

[Roger B]

Turtle,

It's something they don't tend to tell you in books but when soldering silver the whole piece has to be heated and when ready concentrate the heat on the solder join area - otherwise the metal will draw the heat away from where you are playing the flame. Gold doesn't do this as much and you can get away with the heat paste.

I've been caught out before on a silver ring with MOP and it gives you that sinking feeling when you peel away the "protective" barrier only to see that you have passed the point of no return.

Roger

[jlseymour]

KDAVE GAVE YOU SOME GOOD ADVICE..
I use a Surgal knife to lift the bezel just a little and thenz work it up just enough to be able to force it up and remove the stone, don't go all the way around the stone just to release it...Just release at 1 end and the 1 side so it's easier to reset without notice...
I hate working indian jewelry w/stones, have paid my dues and made plenty in the start of jewelry in "74"??????
Do what Dave said put some sawdust under the stone it last longer...
Jerry

[Daniel Houwer]

Hi Turtle,
Great you got the stone out.
I also use a surgical blade sometimes but for these stones and thin silver bezels I think they are a bit to sharp. Ofcourse this can be helped
But still for these kind of settings with very soft stones a piece of silver or silver solder rolled hard, seems to not damage the stone and leave the bezel intact.
For tougher bezels and harders stones I made a high polished bezel opener that are like surgical knifes but a bit thicker to be able to pry the bezel of the stone.

For your damaged turqoois, you could mix 2component glue (or preferably uv hardening stuff) with some turqoois filings to fill up the gap. Not the best way ofcourse but sometimes a good way to keep the same stone workable.

[Turtle]

I sent out the turquoise yesterday for its journey to Florida. I talked to the owner yesterday afternoon and told him what I was planning and he has insited on paying for the new stone. I told him "no way am I going to have you pay for my mistakes". He still insisted. So we came to an agreement to go in halfs. I would rather pay for it in it's entireity but he is just too nice of a guy. I don't think I could have gone on like nothing was wrong and not told him what walls I was butting up against. Its not in my blood to hide mistakes. I'm not very good at looking someone in the eye and telling them something else besides the truth.... So I have a question bout backing? I was taught to put thin layered cardbord paper behind the stone.. Is there a big difference between cardboard and sawdust? Or is it just a preference?

[KDavid]

it's preference, the sawdust is a little softer, you should just put some sort of cushion esecially on a fragil stone like turquiose

[goldsmith11]

Hi, with gold I can just heat the point I want to solder and get out quick. With silver, generally I heat the whole thing evenly and then the solder runs smoothly. So more heat is heading for the stone with silver. If your torch doesn't have the heat to do the job right, you'll take too long and the flame will torture the silver piece and probably load it up with firescale, which you don't want. Try a half of a pop can filled with budgy gravel and soaked in water so the water rises to the surface of the gravel. The coarser gravel size works better than sand. Push the stone into the gravel completely under the water with the part you want to solder sticking out, above the can. Finish your soldering before the water vaporizes down to the stone and you lose the cooling benifit of the wet gravel around the stone. Or add more water and continue.

[Turtle]

This is awesome!! I am getting to know so many little secerets that I will need to know for the future!! Thank you everyone!

[hand e dave]

Hi Turtle, Yup, I know you posted this many months back, but I have a couple of suggestions. First, unless you have really deep pockets and can afford some of the suggestions from others, do yourself a favour and buy a $30-$45 torch kit. 2 bottles, one oxygen and one propane, a small handpiece, and two regulators. You adjust the small flame using the regulators attached to the bottles. By using oxygen and propane, you can get a very fine hot flame. Well worth the money.


Second, sorry to say, but when silver soldering sterling silver, the entire piece must be heated. That cool stuff you mentioned won't work on sterling, only gold. Gold can be soldered at the joint, without having to heat the entire piece up. Sounds strange, but sterling is harder to solder than gold.


That said, my policy, when I made a living making jewellery, was that I only repaired MY OWN WORK. It'll save you alot of heartache and frustration. Yup, I know it was for a friend, but it was a hard lesson to learn.

I hope the pics help you out a bit. All the best. Dave.