[Jewelry making - Article 00174] - Re: [Orchid] Ring sizing tricks

[David L. Huffman]

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>         Does anyone happen to know any tricks to soldering an amethyst
>     and silver ring for sizing? 

Hello Jesse;

    I have lots of trick, I'm just flat out tricky. :-) Really, though,
    it depends on how the ring is made. Can the stone easily and safely
    be removed? Is the shank particularly massive?  Amethyst doesn't like
    excessive heat, and a heavy shank can conduct a lot of heat. You can
    submerge the stone in water, but if the heat is conducting down
    faster than you can pour it into the solder joint, it's not going to
    get hot enough. I have gone so far as to submerge just the stone in
    water, then prop up a piece of refractory material behind the shank
    and use a very large torch tip or even two torches at once. Still,
    the water boils and hisses and the shank never gets hot enough for
    even easy solder to flow. Even if a stone is bezel set, it sometimes
    is easier to just cut of the bezel at the line of the stone girdle
    (being very careful not to damage the stone with the saw blade), then
    remove the stone, size the ring, replace the bezel and re-set the
    stone. On the other hand, smaller, light colored amethyst are cheap
    enough, if things go haywire. If it's prong set, I think it would be
    silly not to just pull back the prongs and take out the stone. I know
    lasers don't always perform will with sterling, but I believe the
    newer ones can handle it. Just make sure you get paid enough for your
    time. Only two jewelers ever went to hell.  One went for the habit of
    dragging his files on the back stroke, the other got burned for
    undercharging. 

David L. Huffman

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