[Jewelry making - Article 00257] - Re: [Orchid] Unsoldered jump rings unprofessional?

[Mark Defrates]

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    I routinely all solder jump rings, even on 1.5 mm bead chain, which I
    buy by the foot and to which I add lobster clasps. Most of the chains
    I sell are sterling, but the same is true for the gold chains I sell. 


    I always assumed, from working in retail jewelry 25 years ago, that
    unsoldered links were planned obsolescence. Since I make the pendants
    from which the chains I sell hang I always consider it bad form to
    allow an obvious weak link. For this reason I also always change out
    spring clasps for lobster clasps. Broken spring clasps were a
    recurrent problem when I used to do jewelry repair. 

    I doubt that a customer who had spent $50 on a sterling chain which
    was lost due to an unsoldered link would agree that there was not
    enough value in the metal, and if a $50 pendant was lost with it,
    would agree even less. Perhaps the jeweler who said this meant that
    he did not get enough value for the metal to warrant the extra time,
    which sounds like a pricing problem to me, and a lax attitude to
    customer service. 

    If it is compulsory to leave a weak link for the rare times that
    someone may be caught up in a chain (and I have never personally
    known somebody whose chain did not break before damage to his or her
    neck) then how does this balance against the much more frequent loss
    of chains due to unsoldered jump rings or bad clasps? The strongest
    part of chains I sell tends to be my soldered link. 

Mark
http://www.markdefrates.com
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