QuestionQUESTION: Hello
I have an 18k gold diamond engagement ring (purchased 2000 so not that old) and the shank cracked right through so that you could see light between the band. It has been repaired once but is starting to get a 'line' in the same place again; is it possible it will just keep breaking now?.
It had previously been tack soldered to my wedder and eternity bands. Has the soldering process weakened the shank or could the jeweler have twisted the band whilst soldering? I have been told by 1 jeweler that the band is porous #he did the soldering work# and the store who sold the ring says it's wear and tear on the jeweler and that I should not have had the rings soldered together. Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated. Thank you.
Repair Method
ANSWER: Tracey, to truly have an idea of what may be going on with your ring I would need the ring in these hands for a real view of things. I will try to address your question so you will be helped and not frustrated further.
If the line is straight across the band and in the same place the ring was repaired previously, this tells me the solder joint is failing and that is likely what happened the first time. There are several reasons this could happen, only one of which is a weak solder joint in the first place. Another possible reason is chemical damage, exposure to chlorine as in a swimming pool or hot tub. Chlorine will sometimes work on jewelry solders and weaken the joint. Prolonged or repeated exposure can create the porous look to a break in the metal.
I do not know the color of your ring but 18k yellow is only rarely affected by chemical damage while 18k white is more susceptible. Even so, 18k white is much less affected than a lower karat gold would be. If the ring had been hammered to bring it up to proper size when the repair was done, hammering will create stress in the metal and stressed areas are where chemical damage from chlorine will occur. Then again, perhaps the solder joint was weak and stressed and simply broke.
I have included a possible solution for the repair. See the simple sketch? The jeweler needs to remove a small section of metal on either side of the break, exposing fresh metal. Then a matching piece of 18k gold is used to fill this gap, done exactly as would be done to size your ring larger. This sort of repair gets away from redo of a possibly weak spot in the first place. Whether a break in the metal or a broken solder joint, this repair should fix it. A fairly hard (higher temperature) solder should be used for strength.
As for joining the rings together with a small tack solder, that could possibly lead to problems if the rings tend to move apart at the top, putting stress on the soldered area. A solution is to also put a very small tack at the top so all is secure. With that approach, there should be no problems with the two rings joined together.
Tracey, I do hope this helps. God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
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QUESTION: Thank you so much for your help and advice Thomas. It is yellow gold and does not have exposure to chlorine or very many chemicals; I take them off most of the time to do even the housework :). I will take them back into the jeweler to suggest to them fixing it for me. It is a little hard to take a photo as the crack is very small present.
Thank you again, God bless you also.
AnswerTracey, thank you for the reply. I answer this to say thanks but also because when I receive anything as a follow-up or question, the allexperts machine believes there is a question left hanging. My reply will clear the "question" from my waiting file.
I do hope it all goes well with the ring and your problem may be solved
God Bless. Thomas..
