This ring’s princess cut diamond channel has worn out.
The points of the princess cut stone is quite sharp and can break.
I laser welded a square wire to the end of the channel. I filled in, with the welder, as needed. No gold solder was introduced, just 14k white gold.
This would be a tough to repair the channel with the torch. Tanzanite does not handle heat. And it is not a very tough stone as far as setting. Any contact with a metal tool and it will chip the surface.
I protected the stone with watch makers putty to absorb any stray laser beam or reflection and repaired the channel with the stone in place. I built up the missing channel by slowly melting 30 gauge gold wire with repeated laser shots. Probably did about 300 hits. The ring really looked good after burnishing the shank and sanding and polished the ring.
Most of the outer prongs holding in the diamonds were very worn.
The channel for the bagguttes also needed attention.
The 4 prongs holding in the emerald were thin and worn.
I removed the emerald and completely removed the center prongs so I could work on the retipping the diamonds with out fear of damaging the center stone.
The picture above shows all the rebuilt prongs, repaired channel and 4 new wires welded in for the center stone.
As you can see, the prongs are all beefy and the ring looks like new.
It seems like I have had a lot more channel rebuilds lately. Maybe because we’ve been showing off some of the latest ones to people and they have been going home and bringing back theirs in for work.
The half bezels holding in the big emerald cut diamonds were quite worn and thin.
I rolled some wire flat in the rolling mill and gave them a custom bend to match the stone. I laser welded them in place.
I made them a little over sized on purpose so I had metal to shape, sand and polish. One stone rechanneled, one more to go.
It is a beautiful ring. It is such a tasteful design. Now that I was able to refresh it to when it was new it can be worn and enjoyed for more years to come.
Here is another channel rebuild. This time on a diamond ring. The metal holding in the baguettes was thinner than paper. It was so crooked and jagged. I found a tapered baguette to fill the hole. I rolled a gold wire and carefully formed it to the ring and laser welded it in place. Then I flowed solder to fill any gaps.
I sanded, polished, refinished and rhodium plated the ring.
This ring was in need for a channel to be rebuilt. I was to only repair and rebuild the one channel on the sapphire/diamond band closest to the diamond band.
I first rolled a gold wire in the rolling mill to flatten it out. I gave a sweeping arch to match the channel.
I saw that it would be easier to unsolder the rings, so I could have better access to the side of the ring. I tacked the new channel in place with the laser welder.
I then flowed solder across the entire top.
Here is the new channel shown after the initial sanding.
Instead of sanding out the wear-and-tear scratches from the shank, I burnished out the dings with a tungsten burnisher.
I polished and soldered the rings back together.
Now it really shows how worn the other channel is. But it was a huge improvement. The ring looks great.
This is a remounting of the customer’s diamonds from an invisible set princess cut and baguette ring and two round brilliant cut diamond bands. (I do not have a before picture). Invisible set rings look cool but can not take much abuse or much wear and tare. She was constantly having loose stones. She lost stones enough times to finally redo the ring. We channel and prong set the diamonds for a more secure setting method.
Atlas Jewelers Bench Talk 