Is this possible - flux on my diamond???

[Yappy]

Hello PS Community!
Long time lurker in panic situation.

I have a 3 stone engagement ring that was sent in for repairs a couple of weeks ago because the side stones were loose.

I picked it up last Friday and noticed that the center stone seemed kindof smudgy and dirty so I asked them to give it a quick clean and headed out the door as my meter was about to expire. After I got home, I noticed that it was still kindof smudgy so I cleaned it with a toothbrush and some soapy water and then steamed it over my kettle.

As I was drying my ring - I noticed that it had this weird smudgy cloud on it. Kind of like kid's craft glue after it has dried clear. I spent the entire weekend trying to clean my ring in every way possible known to man and couldn't get rid of it. It seemed to change with different lighting and would vary between just looking dull vs. this ghost hovering in the middle of the diamond. At one point I panicked and thought that maybe this wasn't my diamond but then I thought at certain times that it was my diamond but just dirty.

So after freaking out all weekend - I called an appraiser on Monday and rushed down to have it examined. The stone is not certified (this was bought a long time ago before it was so common to do so) but she had the specs from my original appraisal and was able to confirm that it was my stone - except that it had flux coated all over it. FLUX!!! Have you ever heard of such a thing???

I have googled this thing to death and read a million threads on the PS forums. There is some mention of burnt diamonds but flux???

She noted that you could scrape it off if you tried really hard and showed me so under the microscope but indicated that the only to resolve the situation is to have the stone re-polished.

I have contacted the jeweler about this and they claimed that the stone was removed for the repairs to my ring (in other words - they refuse to have anything to do with it). I'm still confused as to why they would do this to 'tighten' my side stones but what I did notice though is that they seemed to have re-built my prongs and added more metal in-between my stones.

And that is the other issue - the repair job wasn't great either.
The prongs are of varying heights, and the tips are of varying shapes. The diamond is not set in the middle of the setting - if you look at a profile of the ring, you can see that it's shifted to one side. And the metal that was added in between the stones - it is quite a bit thicker and higher on one side than the other. Oh yeah and the metal is different. My ring was made of 19K white gold which was really white and did not require rhodium plating. The solder they used is 18K and quite yellow.

Right now I am trying to get the jeweler to take it back and fix it.
When I contacted them about it - they kindof skirted the issue and noted that my center stone was removed for the repair and that they had to use 18K solder for the repair as using 19K would've melted my setting.

I'm kind of wondering now though whether that is the right way to go as they went on to claim that they had the best manufacturers in the city if not in our lovely country of Canada. So I'm thinking - if you are the best and this is the best you can do . . . maybe I should be going elsewhere for help?

I'm kindof wary of having them re-polish my diamond because frankly I'm not sure they know what they are doing.
I have contacted BGD and Lesley has been super helpful about the situation. I emailed them some pictures and Brian has agreed to take a look at my ring/diamond but there is a chance that we will lose the setting when we unset.

I have faith in Brian's abilities to clean up my diamond but am feeling despondant over potentially having to remake my ring.

But better a new ring than being left with a crappy diamond that was once a beautiful diamond.
So . . . . I'm thinking that it may be better to just suck it up, call it a bad day and just shell out the money to ship the ring over to Brian to see what he could do.

Thoughts from all you experts out there?

Thanks!

 

[Enerchi]

Oh Yappy, I have no experience with this but wonder if using some nail polish remover might remove it? No idea, but it might work. Or if it is oil based, "oil removes oil" so we had a situation when we built our house and the builder suggested using peanut butter to remove the grease from a door jam, and it worked!

I hope you get this resolved from your Canadian jeweller - can you reveal which province you are in? I'm in Ontario and I'm having issues with a well known local jeweller in my city.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Do you have insurance on the ring, by chance? That is terrible that the jeweler did such damage to the ring and diamond!

 

[distracts]

Flux is what you put on metal when you're soldering it, so, yes, it's possible to have it on your ring. You should take it to a new jeweler. A jeweler with a laser welder might be able to fix your prongs. I'm very sorry this happened to your ring! I don't know if you can put a diamond in the pickle solution (it's acid), but that's what you use to remove flux from the metal. I know there are people here who suspend their diamond rings in boiling water (without touching the sides of the pot), and you might be able to try that? These are very shaky answers though as really I have no idea.

 

[Yappy]

Thanks Enerchi! That's a brilliant (no pun intended) idea.

I did some more research and came across quite a few threads on how to clean flux from circuit boards. Acetone and isopropyl alcohol are common fixes but you have to be careful otherwise the flux will re-deposit on the item. Plus it also depends on what type of flux is used. Given the waxy white stuff I am seeing on my stone - I am assuming that the flux was used was rosin based but am not sure if I am on the right track as I do not know what the industry standard is for jewelry making.

I tried the isopropyl alcohol but it wasn't very effective. But I only had the 70% version and it may have been that the water content is causing the flux to re-deposit. I then tried soaking it in nail polish for an hour or so and the stone does seem a little more sparkly but I can still see that darned ghostly smudge in the middle of the stone as well as surface smudges on the kite facets.

Apparently there is product by Lepage called Poly Clens that is supposed to be really good at removing flux. Home Hardware said that they don't carry it anymore and I stumbled on a thread that indicated that it may be discontinued. Is anyone familiar with this product and if so, do you know of a similar product?

Otherwise, I am thinking of pickng up some pure acetone from the hardware store tomorrow and will try soaking my ring in that for a bit. I am concerned though whether all these chemicals will harm the gold in my ring???

I really hate monkeying around with my ring so much but ultimately my stone will have to be removed anyways to fix the setting. I guess it's just as well since my stone isn't set well. Not only is it off-centered, it's also crooked (as I found out while soaking my ring upside-down today!). At the end of the day - the ring can be re-made as long as the stone is still in good shape.

It is the stone that I am worried most about. That is why I am doing everything and anything I can think of to try and get this stuff off myself so that I don't have to re-polish my stone. I was under the impression the stone could get damaged from the cutting/polishing wheel as well as sustain some weight loss. However, the jeweler seemed to indicate that it was no big deal and no risk at all???

I don't have insurance on my ring and even if I did I am not sure that it would cover for something like this.

SIGH. . . if anyone has any information to add, it would definitely be much appreciated.

PS. Enerchi - I live in BC so I am no help to you with the jeweler in Ontario.
Distracts - thanks for the point about the laser welding. Will keep that in mind for future repairs.

 

[Christina...]

Do you suppose that initially they DID use 19k to do the repairs and that is how they knew that it would melt your setting, thus the reason for all the added metal to the prongs? How frustrating! I feel horible that you are going through this! Have you had a chance to talk to the bench person that did the actual work on the ring?

 

[sparklyforever]

I think if I were in this situation at this point I would just send to BGD and let them assess.. and go from there.

 

[Enerchi]

ARgh.... so frustrating Yappy! If you aren't getting anywhere with the jeweller who did the work (and obviously you aren't), I'm with Christina and I'd defer to BGD. It is going to incur some costs above what your store has already charged, but IMHO, I wouldn't trust your store any longer and the cost would be worth it to get it fixed.

I am not sure if pure acetone would damage the gold - perhaps it might remove rhodium if it was a plated WG set, but I'm no expert and could be wrong.

Perhaps a report to the BBBureau would be in order if your jeweller won't fix it? Do you think you've pursued it as far as you can with them and they are refusing? I don't know what requirements are needed to report to BBB but it would be good to warn others about this bench, if they are damaging stones and settings!

I hope it works out well for you... fingers crossed!

 

[denverappraiser]

The way jewelers clean flux off of rings is with a solution they call 'pickle'. It's a boiling dilute sulphuric acid solution and every bench jeweler who does repairs has pot of it. If the guys you're working with won't soak it for a while for you, take it somewhere else. It should be easy. Actually, take it somewhere else anyway. A 3rd party opinion would be very helpful here. Whatever the problem is, you need a new jeweler and this is a nice easy to start the hunt for one.

 

[Amys Bling]

The way jewelers clean flux off of rings is with a solution they call 'pickle'. It's a boiling dilute sulphuric acid solution and every bench jeweler who does repairs has pot of it. If the guys you're working with won't soak it for a while for you, take it somewhere else. It should be easy. Actually, take it somewhere else anyway. A 3rd party opinion would be very helpful here. Whatever the problem is, you need a new jeweler and this is a nice easy to start the hunt for one.

good to know.

 

[kenny]

Yeah I once had a diamond with a residue I could not clean off no mater what I tried, and I tried everything.

The solution (pun intended) was for a competent pro to boil it in an acid solution.

 

[Karl_K]

Since Brian agreed to look at it I would send it to him.
It is very unlikely you would find someone with his knowledge locally.
I would not recommended trying to fix it yourself.