Settings & Solderings & Such

[Pondracer]

Hello,

Last week I was involved in a conversation while purchasing my wife''s ring that involved different methods of creating the setting. Specifically we were discussing the 4 prong setting on Blue Nile that I liked and had seen pictured on this forum. My wife''s ring is a Tiffany setting.

There were two methods of setting creation that we covered. The first method was using something called a ''finder'' (?) where the ring ''head'' and the ring itself are two seperate pieces. These two are soldered together to create the final setting. The second method uses a wax mold and the ring is a single piece of platinum. This method was the one used for my wife''s ring.

The whole soldering thing caused the head to set up higher in the example I was shown. I held one ring that was done each way and examined them closely. The effect was similar to the graphic I''ve attached.

I am curious, has anyone heard of this? I''m also wondering the value of the second method versus the first, and any other information on the subject. Thank you all for your knowledge... I''m a newb

 

[ame]

I have the first way. I chose that because it made sure I could wear any band next to it

 

[strmrdr]

What Dave said plus one other point.
Often an assembled custom can cost less than 1/3 what a wax then cast one would.
There is a ton less labor involved in assembling factory parts than creating a wax, casting and finishing.
Labor is the most expensive part of having a ring made.
The hard part in creating assembled rings is getting the parts to flow togerther and not look like a bunch of parts slapped together.
Thats what seperates the good from the ugly.

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Storm I agree with you completely.

Pondracer, as far as price goes there really is no difference. As far as quality goes it depends, both pieces are invariably cast anyway, be they one solid casting or a two part design. The benefits of two part designs are mentioned here by Dave and Storm - being flexibility without paying for design manufactutring time time.

There is another advantage to two part settings and a dissadvantage.

Addvantage - you can polish the components before soldering them. This allows you to have perfect formal polished surfaces before the parts are joined. Where you have a one part casting the jeweller has to use very fine files then emery down to a fine grain before he can start polishing with abrasives. Polishing the band under the setting and polishing the setting when it has already been cast together in platinum is time consuming.

Dissadvantage, Solder. In a perfect world with time not being and issue and with jewellers competant to both create very good waxes/models/moulds and casting houses never having problems with porosity on one piece mounts etc the fully cast platinum piece would be better then a two part. Solder can allow you change your setting but you wouldn''t do that in a perfect world

. The solder used won''t be to karat (if it is, it can''t be taken off - platinum solder won''t allow components to seperate under heat), it won''t look the same over time and depending on what solder was used it may discolour.

In a perfect world the difference would be huge, but it isn''t and the advantageous in two part mounts make anything not out of the ordinary or anything not requiring too many solderings worth while.

Phillip