[Jewelry making - Article 01008] - [Orchid] Brittle Gold

[Les Brown]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========


    Had a new one yesterday.  An elderly woman came in needing a repair
    on a 50 year old 14ky Art Carved wedding banch she said had never
    been off her finger before. 

    The band was out of round a good bit, and the "break" was a place
    where the metal was stress cracking.  No solder joints.  

    Once I got it off and tried to round it out I realized that the
    entire ring was either some kind of spring alloy, or incredibly work
    hardened after the years of flexing on the finger. 

    We tried annealing it but no change in the structure.  So we cut at
    the tear, flushed the ends, and then attempted to move the two ends
    together - at that point cracks appeared in two other places. 

    Once we got it lined up, we attempted to hard solder the joint, but
    right at the solder flow point, the body metal began to collapse as
    well. 

    Short ending:  we repaired all three cracked areas - including the
    original - with medium solder.  But the question is, was it just work
    hardening and stress cracking, or was there an alloy issue as well?  

    Any thoughts or ideas? 

Les Brown
L.F.Brown Goldwork, Inc.
Kallispell, MT


____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________