[Jewelry making - Article 00668] - Re: [Orchid] Re-tipping prongs setting

[Don Rogers]

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>      One important note when retipping sapphs and rubies - do not coat
>     with boracic acid. Glazed boracic acid can etch the surface of
>     these stones. 

    This is what I call a "Basic Trueisum"  I found this out the hard
    way. 

    A point of interest, it is surprising what stones will take the
    heat.  A couple year back, I did a custom ring for a customer in 14K
    and set with moonstones.  the center stone was a 8x6 and the two
    side stones were 3mm rounds.  Well as it turned out, there was a
    problem with the center stone requiring a new bezel.  As this was a
    fabricated ring and the two side stones were also bezel set and very
    close to the main, I decided to solder in the new main bezel without
    removing the side stones, thinking that it would be easier to
    replace the fractured stones than to try to unset the little buggers
    and worry about unsoldering the bezels.  Well to my surprise, the
    moonstones tolerated the full heat of the torch without a problem. 
    I am sure that if I had attempted to save them, they would have
    ended in a pile of chips.  I am not sure I would like to repeat this
    experiment, but it worked the first time. 

Don at Campbell Gemstones

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