We refinish rings to like new condition all the time. But I always love refinishing an engagement ring right before the wedding day. It is rewarding to make it look it’s best for that special day.
This classic platinum ring required some prong work and needed to be totally repolished for the big day. Instead of sanding out the light scratches and small dings, I used a tungsten burnisher to move and manipulate the malleable metal back into the dents. Much less material is removed. And the best part, the surface becomes harder when you work the surface with the burnisher, which makes it more scratch resistant.
platinum
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Here are a few of my favorite custom tanzanite rings that I made.
This bad boy started with a 12mm wide platinum band. I added two platinum “tree trunks” to support an 18k yellow gold trillion bezel that floats above the ring. I was always amazed how heavy this ring felt. Platinum is considerably more dense then gold.
This irregular shaped trillion tanzanite had awesome color. It screamed in this super white gold mounting.
This is another great repair for the laser welder. This platinum ring was missing a stone because 2 of the 4 beads holding it in were gone. Platinum has such a high working melting temperature it can be a problem re-tipping stones. You can damage a diamond torching a ring to repair temperatures. Most jewelers use a white gold solder to do those type of repairs.
The laser welder allows you melt metal right were you need it. Working with a .3mm beam, I hit just the tiny bead with a few shots and build it up some with platinum wire. Then I opened the beam to .45mm then .6mm to soften and round the new bead.
I was commissioned to do a braided platinum wedding band to match an existing engagement ring. I did some practice mock ups using silver wire, so I could get the tightness right to match the existing braid. Then I moved on the expensive material. To braid metal, you must have extra length to have the leverage to bend the wire at the end. I ended up with some expensive pieces of bent up platinum wire that was probably headed to the scrap bin for refining. But instead I ended up making this fun ring by randomly intertwining the wire and adding a few bezels with diamonds and a bezel set tanzanite, all out of the “wasted” wire.