he has been married for decades and was understandably upset with the loss of one of the ruby baguettes from his custom-made wedding band. this ring matches his wife’s band – so the less change, the better. one of the hardest tasks for a jeweler is match the color of stones – especially years later. but i soon found out that matching the color was the easy part!
at first glance this appeared to be a straightforward repair, but it proved to be much more complicated. finding the under-gallery torn was a surprise, and the repair kept getting more and more challenging. a crisis of confidence just added to the challenge. in one-piece jewelry castings, the tensile strength is not particularly strong, so the jeweler must work harden by hammering to increase the tensile strength. to harden metals, one hammers it. stated simply, this moves the molecules closer together, thereby increasing the tensile strength. this is needed to securely hold the channel-set rubies in place. in this case, the metal failed due to a lack of strength.
we decided to add new settings from the underside of the ring to physically hold the channels in place and secure the rubies. there was a lot of sweating, swearing and finally celebrating when completed.
it is very humbling to initially expect a straightforward repair, only to find the job becoming much more complex and time-consuming than anticipated. he was extremely patient, and when his wife picked up the ring when he was out of town, she was very pleased with it, too.
repair of gents 14k yellow gold wedding band with three straight-cut genuine ruby baguettes.
location: Canton, CT
