observation

[Beladran]

Well I just ended my second week as apprentice bench jeweler and have seen some things that just make me shake my head. Some of the people that have come in asking to have their jewelry cleaned have had at one time some really nice engraved stuff! Notice I said "at one time".. seems like some shops go straight to the buffing wheel no mater if you have detailed engravings or not. Poor lady came in with a three ring set plus her husbands band. Each side of the rings was engraved along with the tops(running leaf on top, little scrolls on the sides) gents ring matched. These rings was less than five years old and you should have seen the condtion of the engravings! Almost gone!! the lady said she took them 2-3 times a year to a place in her home town to be cleaned and polished. The guys ring still looked great he had never had his polished but hers was so bad I could barely make out what was cut and in some spots they had been totally buffed out. Then a guy came in with a gold Rolex with his intials cut in the clasp.. Only the center leter was readable.. These shops cant be this stupid can they? Or is this a way to get some return business? More like run away business in my book! I am johnny on the spot

 

[bdext002]

I've been a bench jeweler at a small store for 3 years now and I can tell you that you've only scratched the surface (no pun intended). Customers trust the jewelers to take care of their jewelry. It's the jeweler's job to appropriately clean the jewelry. The issue is, and this was happening in my store until I had a store meeting, that the sales people are trained to "clean a ring" by first polishing it, then cleaning it in an ultrasonic. They are not trained (in some cases) to identify which rings are NOT to be buffed. The only thing you can do is inform them of this fact and then, hope they listen.

-Bryce


Bryce Dexter

 

[Beladran]

All the bench guys here are engravers so we know what happens to engravings when the buffer hits them. They do a ton of repair work an I have heard horror stories of what they have had to fix.. I am really enjoying this work. I have fallen in love with the laser welder

 

[Willem Parel]

You can easely buffing the engraving away ofcourse but many times it is the result of wear.
Some people never take off their rings no matter what they are doing. (for example gardening)
So in no time you can fade an engraving this way.

 

[bdext002]

I had an circa 1930's platinum ring come in to be repaired a few weeks back. The owner had a jeweler elsewhere take out the stones and put them in a different ring. Instead of merely cutting the prongs to remove the stones, for some reason, the jeweler cut apart the heads (all of which were saw pierced) and destroyed a majority of the hand made ring in the process. The laser welder saved a ton of time and allowed me to restore the beautiful ring to a healthy state. However, I find it is better to use solder when I can and only prefer to use the laser to tack pieces together before soldering, as solder has a stronger and more malleable hold than a weld. I only mention this because a jeweler I worked with previously liked to use the laser welder to do a majority of his ring sidings and most of them came back to be repaired again.


Bryce Dexter