[Jewelry making - Article 01166] - Re: [Orchid] Repairing old platinum ring

[John Donivan]

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>     The ring was not obviously worn and the only thing I could think of
>     is, that over time, with different people working on it, it just
>     became soft. 

    Hi, Steven. It's difficult (impossible) to say what's up with your
    ring without having it, but there are thoughts..... If it's really
    that old, there's a good chance it's a platinum ring, which is to say
    pure platinum, not 10% iridium or anything. Fine platinum is very,
    very soft, somewhere between 18kt and 22kt, to my touch (don't know
    Brinell or anything for that). Those old pierced rings were and are
    set in shellac, where the entire ring top is filled with it. If you
    do repair work without shellac, you need to make allowances in your
    touch. It may actually have "become soft", but not so a human could
    tell the difference - annealing happens over time, but lots of time.
    More likely people like you have replaced stones and things and
    removed more and more of the structural metal, little by little - not
    accusing, it's just the ring's life history. Those old pierced rings
    (people call them filligree, but they're not) depend on engineering
    for strength - a disk of gold is flimsy, but if you dome it, it
    becomes strong, stuff like that. Bottom line: Maybe the ring has been
    weakened, over time - maybe some of the metal between the stones is
    broken and stuff, too - happens with pave at times. It could be that
    it is as strong as it's ever been, and you're just not used to
    working on a finely pierced, pure platinum piece - it takes a light
    touch, and they're not intended for wear while doing dishes and the
    like to begin with. I would agree, though, that installing "Flying
    Butresses" is inappropriate, though maybe a little more structure
    would help in places. Again, there's no real way to know over the
    internet.. 

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
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