Are your rings soldered???

[woobug02]

Would you solder these together or wear them unsoldered? They are always twisting apart? I am always pushing them back together. Is that hard on the rings? What is the negatives and positive of Soldering???? They are platinum.

Thanks

 

[cflutist]

For me, I prefer them unsoldered so I can have the flexibility of wearing the e-ring alone (e.g. in the summer when my fingers swell) or with one of several wedding bands that I have:

- 4 pts full eternity (this one is a little tight even after I had it reamed out last summer)
- 5 pts full eternity (the one I have on now)
- 8 pts half eternity
- 3 mm Plat band (for the two tone look)
- 2 mm Plat band
- 3 mm 14KY band
- 2 mm 14KY band

It really depends on my mood and how "fat" my fingers are (e.g. in the winter the e-ring tends to spin when I wear it alone).

Also, if they were soldered together, you would have a wider piece of metal you''d have to get over your knuckle, e.g. two 3 mm bands would become 6mm.

 

[ame]

I wouldn''t be soldering a set together that could be worn in separates.

 

[glaucomflecken]

I soldered my Tacori set and it is the best decision I ever made. The feeling of my rings "rubbing" or "clanking" drove me nuts. Since they are eternity, I wasnt worried about the stones or designs lining up, but the rings themselves lining up, if that makes sense. Because of the way my finger is shaped when I would wear the set together, the wedding ring would "jut out" a bit more towards my pinky than my e-ring. I have a plain white gold band I wear for travel, work etc, and its 6mm in width. I LOVE chunky rings and cant stand anything that is thin (maybe because of the size of my fingers). My w-band by itself is only about 3.5 mm so it was way too thin to wear on its own for me, and I never planned on wearing the set seperate anyway. So it really was the right decision for me, and I love how I have just "one" ring now.

I had Tacori solder them because of all the problems I had before. I didnt want anyone else messing with them. Plus, my jeweler said some jewelers dont take care in making sure the metal doesnt get contaminated and then my rings would turn colors or something. He advised if I did do it, have Tacori do it so I can be sure no contamination would take place and they would be ultra familiar with the set. They did a great job. Just added some metal to the inside of the ring since they are both 3 sided pave, and so if they ever need to seperate them the diamonds are intact. I love that they are not rubbing each other and wearing each other down.

A lot of people I talked to advised against soldering, even my jeweler, for the reasons some posters have given you here, but for me it was a great decision! The only drawback so far I have had is when my fingers swell its a bit tougher to take off (since before I could remove one at a time, now I am just taking off one big 7mm ring) and I have sizing beads so when swollen, they sometimes scracth when trying to take it off. But they are not so tight that I have to go back and get them cut off (shudder) and a quick run under cold water solves it.

good luck!

 

[orbaya]

I have mine soldered. I have a six prong solitaire and a diamond channel band that I wore unsoldered for almost 6 years. I always thought that I might wear just my band sometimes...but in all that time, I never did. I was tired of alway adjusting my wedding band so the diamonds stayed upright. I''m so glad I soldered them, I don''t know why I didn''t do it sooner. Plus, it made my ering not spin nearly as much because the width of the rings together made them "smaller". I have a .5 ct diamond wrap that isn''t soldered to my wedding rings because I don''t always wear that, and I like that flexibility.

 

[AChiOAlumna]

MY DH soldered my original w-set and I hated it, but because of it''s shape, it made sense to have them soldered.

With my upgrade, I told my DH I didn''t want them soldered at all! There are times when I where only the w-band and not the e-ring (such as travelling), which I wouldn''t have that option if they were soldered.

 

[woobug02]

wooo, thank you so much for the help. I am going for the solder. It seems like they are constantly mismatched on my hand and when someone ask to see them I have to rearrange them to complete the look I hope I like them....

 

[woobug02]

Cflutist: WOW, I would love to have all of those options.....SOMEDAY

 

[Mara]

Personally I can't stand a visibly soldered set...I think it can ruin the set and many times you can see the solder...I know sometimes it's required and makes it easier, but I always hate to think of permanently tying separate rings together...I like having them on their own, more possibilities.

I also like having my rings all over the place and I LOVE when they clank....but I think I am just a weirdo like that.

Plus, a warning for you woobug, you have some serious metal and width going on there in those rings, and when you solder them all together, you will be putting on ONE massive ring rather than three separates and it may be harder to get it on and off over your knuckle like that. I can't put my two rings on together and that is only about 5.5mm, I have to put them on one at a time or else for whatever reason they scrape the knuckle and it's just a nasty picture. So you will want to ensure that you are able to get them on and off when soldered...you may have to size them up a tiny bit...just like you buy a larger ring size when you get a wide 10mm band. For me that would be a downer too...carrying around one big ole 10mm ring rather than smaller separates.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I also like having my rings all over the place and I LOVE when they clank....but I think I am just a weirdo like that.

my rings clank around too and I''m use to this and love it. . .

as far as soldering, I wouldn''t do this because I like the option of wearing my wedding band by itself. When I garden, do house work, or am wearing cold-weather gloves (my yummy cashmere ones - don''t want to snag these!) I wear just my band. . .

 

[Demelza]

Personally, I hate the idea of soldering my rings together. I did this once with my old SP shared prong set as a last ditch attempt to permanently solve the rubbing issue. But I have to say, I totally hated the way it looked. I had a much harder time getting the rings on and off and somehow I felt like the set lost something. It''s hard to explain really, but it just wasn''t the same. Having said that, it''s a very personal decision. PNP loves her set soldered. I do think Mara makes an excellent point -- it might be very difficult to get all those rings on and off once they are soldered together. You''ve got a lot of mm width there and I would be concerned about how that would feel once they are made into one ring. Maybe sizing them up a bit would help. Or maybe it wouldn''t be a problem at all. I''d practice a bit at different times of the day trying to move the rings around as one unit.

 

[pebbles]

I personally don''t like the soldered look, but a lot of my friends have done it. In some way, it looks like it cheapened the set (no offense PNP!) - I can''t really explain it, but I always think the rings look better unsoldered unless it is a shadow band made to fit around or into an e-ring (if that makes sense).

My cousin had her two rings soldered and she loves it too. She did have to have them sized up 1/2 size because it was harder to get them on/off.

 

[woobug02]

Now I am confused. so many negatives and little positives. My jeweler said he can unsolder if I don''t like them. The are already big so hopefully it want be a bad move. I love clank of the rings too but they are all three very top heavy so the stones stay at the bottem. If I don''t like this I may have to do the sizing balls. The side bands are made to fit inside of the ER. Can you see it in the picture. That was sopose to keep them snug but not working. I hope I don''t regret this. Anyone have photos of their soldered sets???

 

[Mara]

i think that you will have to resize them as well, not sure if you want to do that, but when getting something like a 9mm right hand ring, jewelers advise that you get about a 1/2 size larger because of the girth of the ring moving as one unit...your rings seem wider, more like 12-15mm? that's alot of girth.

so if you resize them, then solder them, then don't like them and have them unsoldered..does that leave marks on soldering, extra material? also then you'd have too big loose rings which makes the problem even worse.

i'd rather get sizing beads in each ring than solder them all together, but that is just my preference. as someone else noted, i also kind of feel like it cheapens the set (sorry Punchie..!!) and i feel like we pay all this money for beautiful sets and doing something that permanent to it seems wrong to me. just my opinion!!

 

[monarch64]

Woobug, my friend has a set similar to yours (excluding the top band). The jeweler we go to made her wedding band with this little "hook" thing that fits into the e-ring. It is totally unnoticeable, and keeps the rings from shifting around. Maybe someone has a picture of what that setup looks like. I am personally not a fan of soldering, the look of it just bothers me for some reason. I also have the problem of only being able to take off one ring at a time, so that''s my other excuse!

 

[ame]

I like the separateness...and I do think that you will later regret it when you are trying to jam a big ole thick ring over your knuckle.

I don''t like the clanking!

 

[MellowCat]

Put me in the "get them soldered together" camp. If they are driving you crazy now, I don''t see why you wouldn''t want to have them soldered. I couldn''t have stood one day with mine flopping around. Make sure it can be reversed though! You never truly know how you will like it until the deed is done. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[Patty]

Do you ever plan to wear just one of the wedding bands with the e-ring?

Do you ever plan to wear just the e-ring alone?

If not, I''d solder them and stop worrying about them liniing up.

 

[glaucomflecken]

LOL girls...no offense taken. Maybe its because they DONT look soldered that I like them BEING soldered. In fact, you cannot tell at all from the outside, and barely from the inside. I agree it is a personal decision. woo, your set looks like it was made to be worn all together, so it may actually be a great idea for you! Personally, for me, I dont think they cheapened my set but actually made them worth more to me because now I actually WANT to wear them since they dont move and clank and misalign, which drove me bananas. Here I had a $xx,000 wedding set and I was wearing my $49 WG plain band from ebay because it bugged me. I do agree that you should try practicing taking them off as a set to see if you need to make them bigger before soldering, if you go that route.

good luck!

 

[Mara]

punchie do you have a picture of your soldered rings to post?

 

[glaucomflecken]

Date: 12/21/2005 12:29:01 AM
Author: Mara
punchie do you have a picture of your soldered rings to post?

LOL Mara you beat me to the punch! (ok no pun intended) I was just taking some pics for woobug. I apologize for my lack of getting clear center stone pics.

Here''s from the front

 

[glaucomflecken]

Here''s a back side view

 

[glaucomflecken]

Here's a shot from the inside as well. I dont know how other non 3 sided pave ring sets get soldered (like if they are just metal on metal, do they add solder all the way around or in between the rings, etc) but Tacori said they only add a bit of metal in the back of the ring, as you can see where the "line" of the rings is blended, so if you do seperate them, the diamonds are unharmed. Not sure how the milgrain in that area is affected but that can always be redone if needed.

Yes, I purposely asked Tacori to solder the one ring "upside down" as you can see by the inverted stamp inside! Pardon the dirt also inside the ring...

 

[Mara]

are those sizing beads inside? if so i dont think i have ever seen them before!!

you can''t even see the solder on your rings that i can tell, that''s very cool...very subtle.

 

[glaucomflecken]

Date: 12/21/2005 1:12:10 AM
Author: Mara
are those sizing beads inside? if so i dont think i have ever seen them before!!


you can''t even see the solder on your rings that i can tell, that''s very cool...very subtle.

Yep, those are sizing beads! They are the "small" size. After my whole ring fiasco, and trying to get the right size, I lost weight before my wedding and then the rings were slightly too big (well for a normal person they would have been ok, but I am so neurotic about them fitting to the ''T'') so I put them in and so far seems to do the trick of keeping them tighter and upright!

 

[Lynn B]

WOW! That is the best solder job I have ever seen. Your rings look gorgeous! I don''t think the soldering "took away" from that set AT ALL! And those little sizing beads... can you tell at all when the rings are on that there are beads in there?

 

[glaucomflecken]

Date: 12/21/2005 6:29:43 PM
Author: Lynn B
WOW! That is the best solder job I have ever seen. Your rings look gorgeous! I don''t think the soldering ''took away'' from that set AT ALL! And those little sizing beads... can you tell at all when the rings are on that there are beads in there?

Hi Lynn!
I havent been able to tell that they were there from the first day I got them. Very comfortable. I did get the small sized beads though, so I am not sure if the larger sizes would be more uncomfortable. You cant even really tell when I have them on that there are beads inside. If I look really close, and at an angle, I can see a small indentation in my finger but really not noticeable. The only thing I notice is that when my fingers are swollen (this was both before and after I soldered them), that when I "twist" it off, the beads sometimes feel a bit scracthy on my finger, but a quick run under cold water solves that!

 

[woobug02]

PNP, your photos are fabulous!! Your thoughts and concern are my exact concerns. I paid $$$$ and felt like my rings never looked right. I had them soldered and the jeweler did a great job. Next week I will take pictures. I do however have to admit that your rings rest together even better than mine but I am still thrilled. It does make for a heavy ring