Technical Question for any Jewellers

[Ally T]

As you may know, my pear diamond fell out of the setting on Monday. I sent it back to the chap who made it on Tuesday for examination & today they have emailed me to say there was a visible crack on the V-prong, which I must have possibly done with a substantial knock, that then resulted in the v-prong movement that lost the stone. Now I'm not a jeweler, but surely you can't just crack a platinum prong???? Bend it, scratch it, dent it, but surely not CRACK it??

They are offering to fix it for me free of charge which leads me to my second concern: they are planning, with my permission, to just replace the V-prong only, soldering a new prong on. Again I am not a jeweler, but surely this method leaves the new & most crucial of the 3 prongs vulnerable to snapping at the line of solder point?? Shouldn't they be casting a new head from scratch?

I have raised my concerns & they are addressing them to the bench in the morning. They will not be carrying out any repairs unless I am 100% happy about what they are going to do.

A penny for any thoughts?

 

[ame]

I'm not a jeweler but if it was a cast piece it could've had porosity and just the right hit could've done it. I would want a new head or laser welded repair done. Hopefully a benchie can chime in, like Jim summa.

 

[Ally T]

Thanks Ame. I haven't heard of laser welding & I'd be happy to hear more info if anyone has any.

 

[Rockdiamond]

hi Alex- are there any pictures of the ring?

 

[ame]

Thanks Ame. I haven't heard of laser welding & I'd be happy to hear more info if anyone has any.

For Plat, it is in my opinion the best repair method/tack method out there bec it doesn't involve another metal and seems to be the strongest hold. Hopefully Jim summa isn't playing in the wintry mix or another benchie can chime in!

 

[Jim Summa]

Hi Alex,
Sorry to hear about the problem with your ring.

I agree that metal should bend, dent, scratch before cracking. Since I am unable to see the ring I won't speculate about what caused the problem. The good news seems to be is your jeweler is on it and wants to make it right. I worked on platinum using a flame for longer than I care to think and there are methods using a torch that are acceptable in the hands of a skilled jeweler.

What I can add is the machine Ame suggested (Laser welder) is excellant for repairing platinum.
There are a couple of major advantages, the first is that you are using the same metal to fill the crack that the ring is made from. It is stronger and the color will match the surrounding metal.
Another advantage is having control over the heat that is impossiable to have using a traditional flame. What this means is when using a flame I have to use a solder that will flow at a tempature low enough so as to not smoke the stones in the ring. This is not as strong and can tarnish at a differnt rate then the surrounding metal.

When I use the Laser I hold the platinum pieces with my fingers in a chamber using 15X magnification. I program beam tempature, diameter and length and how many shots per second. With platinum the temparture is constant thru each shot. With white gold you have the beam cool at the end to avoid metal splashing. The control is unbelievable.

I would'nt call Lasers rare, but they are expensive to own and maintain. I can think of 1/2 dozen shops in my (snowy) city that have them.
Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[ame]

Hi Alex,
Sorry to hear about the problem with your ring.

I agree that metal should bend, dent, scratch before cracking. Since I am unable to see the ring I won't speculate about what caused the problem. The good news seems to be is your jeweler is on it and wants to make it right. I worked on platinum using a flame for longer than I care to think and there are methods using a torch that are acceptable in the hands of a skilled jeweler.

What I can add is the machine Ame suggested (Laser welder) is excellant for repairing platinum.
There are a couple of major advantages, the first is that you are using the same metal to fill the crack that the ring is made from. It is stronger and the color will match the surrounding metal.
Another advantage is having control over the heat that is impossiable to have using a traditional flame. What this means is when using a flame I have to use a solder that will flow at a tempature low enough so as to not smoke the stones in the ring. This is not as strong and can tarnish at a differnt rate then the surrounding metal.

When I use the Laser I hold the platinum pieces with my fingers in a chamber using 15X magnification. I program beam tempature, diameter and length and how many shots per second. With platinum the temparture is constant thru each shot. With white gold you have the beam cool at the end to avoid metal splashing. The control is unbelievable.

I would'nt call Lasers rare, but they are expensive to own and maintain. I can think of 1/2 dozen shops in my (snowy) city that have them.
Hope this helps and good luck!

Its alliiiiiive!!!! lol thank you for posting. I was hoping you might see this. I hope you weren't on the roads like at all. I went in til 11 and thankfully was only on 55 so I didn't sit in any of that nightmare!

 

[Ally T]

Thank you everyone, and Jim Summa, for responding to this. I think its highly unlikely that this jeweler has a laser welder, but I shall throw it at him & ask if he still believes it best to solder on a new v-tip.

Thank you to everyone at PS too, as I feel very educated about all of these things, but several months ago I didn't have a clue. The jeweler could have told me he was going to use super glue back then & I would have said OK!!