[Jewelry making - Article 01063] - Re: [Orchid] Platinum coated diamonds

[Peter W . Rowe]

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    Doc, just what did you do? If you laser welded or PUK welded the
    shank, and are now faced with "smoke" from the welding (black fumes
    deposited on the diamonds, but the diamonds are OK underneath this),
    then you need not go so far. Heavily coat the diamonds with ordinary
    boric acid firecoat first, then more soldering flux (Batterns works
    fine, or any of the paste fluxes.) Then gently heat until the flux
    liquifies. Heat to "just-barely-glowing-in-a-dark-room" sort of
    temperature. The flux will lift off that metal vapor that condensed
    on the diamonds. 

    If, on the other hand, you torch welded the platinum, and the
    diamonds did not get coated with metal condensate, but instead, got
    hot enough to burn the surfaces (and now look white and frosty,
    instead of blackened), then you too are cooked, figuratively. Acid
    won't restore the polish to the diamonds. You'll have to replace
    them. By the way, if that's the case, and you have trouble with the
    bead set prongs, someone with a laser welder or PUK welder can
    easily restore them without damage to the diamonds. 

    Oh, and HF won't dissolve a platinum vapor film very well either. It
    dissolves silica just fine, and does a number on your lungs, and all
    that stuff. But it won't much help your cooked diamonds, if indeed
    they are heat damaged. If only coated, then HF is more than you need,
    and dangerous stuff too. 

Peter
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