I broke a prong off :(

[stepcutnut]

I am super sad and happy at the same time!

I was on a business trip last week and hit my ring(the FDY RB Halo ring) when I was picking up my luggage. Looked down and all seemed fine. Didn't think about it again until later-it was dark out so I just brought the ring to my ear to shake it and see if the stone rattled and it did. I immediately took the ring off and put it in my sunglass case in my purse. Later I took the ring out and sure enough I had broke a prong clean off! I am really bummed that this happened, because I have only been wearing the ring a couple of weeks-but super happy that the stone stayed in the setting!!!

So I guess my question is-has anyone had good luck with having just one prong rebuilt(did it match the others) or did you have to have all 4 redone at the same time so they matched and looked nice? I do not have any jewelers near me that I trust to do the work on my nice pieces of jewelry, so will have to send the ring away to be fixed. I am worried the other 3 prongs will be ruined(because they are delicate) when the stone is removed to rebuild the broken prong.

Any advice???

Sorry-I should move this to RT!

 

[Michael_E]

So I guess my question is-has anyone had good luck with having just one prong rebuilt(did it match the others) or did you have to have all 4 redone at the same time so they matched and looked nice?

Replacing a prong so that it looks just like the others is easy to do. The problem can come from trying to remove the stone without damaging the other prongs. Sometimes you end up replacing more than the original prongs. The upside is that the new prongs are always made from extruded wire which has no voids or porosity and so is nearly always much stronger than the cast prongs.

 

[stepcutnut]

Thanks Michael E!!!

I am really worried about having the prong repaired as the ones currently that are on the setting are delicate and looked nice, obviously not very sturdy-but I loved that they just disappeared into the stone and now will probably have to get ones that are heavier and will be readily noticed!

Ahhhh-I wish I wouldn't have bumped the ring!

Michael-the prongs were 18kt YG, you mentioned that the replaced prongs will likely be stronger than the original-do you suggest just replacing all 4 at the same time?

 

[Deathspi]

Considering there was only 4 prongs, your lucky the stone didn't fall out!

 

[Lovinggems]

Have you louped your stone and check for damage? Hope you get someone good to fix your ring soon.

 

[Michael_E]

Michael-the prongs were 18kt YG, you mentioned that the replaced prongs will likely be stronger than the original-do you suggest just replacing all 4 at the same time?

That depends on what happens when whoever does the work tries to remove the stones. An 18KY prong shouldn't break by bumping it and so it probably had some porosity or other flaw. If the problem was limited to the prong which broke, then you should be able to get away with just replacing one. I would recommend that you ask the craftsperson doing this to "test" the remaining prongs by bending them back and forth a SMALL amount after removing the stone. If the prongs bend without cracking, then they should work fine. If there's any cracking or other problems that can be seen through a microscope, them replace them. It can be a bit touchy replacing thin parts on rings, but there are several shielding materials which can be used if needed and these will effectively keep enough heat away from the parts which you want to keep, (like the rest of the ring), to keep it from melting. If you can find someone with a laser welder, they can probably do the replacement very easily.