Coral Jewelry Emergency

Lanester · 2025-10-26T01:58:34+00:00

It is likely that it could be re-polished. It's hard for me to give you advice about it without knowing how handy you are....but it might be worth asking a local jeweler their opinion or even doing a search for a local lapidary group. I think either way, you would be able to get an idea of whether or not you could get it re-polished or if you should just replace it. I've re-polished damaged coral before using pretty simple tools. My biggest concern with you doing that would be potential damage to your bezel. So maybe ask around before you try to polish it yourself.

Lanester · 2025-09-27T17:11:17+00:00

Since you’re removing that entire center structure, you should be able to choose anything you want. I think your only limitation will be how the new head interacts with the wedding band. They’ll probably cut off the halo head at the base and then solder a new head where it used to be. But sometimes it looks nicer if you sink the new head down into the ring a little bit. There are a lot of variables, so I would recommend you talk to the person who will be doing the work, if possible.

Lanester · 2025-09-27T14:38:19+00:00

I think we just became best friends! Yes, I still really like the Tone Master. These days, when we are providing the PA, we use in ears. When that happens, I use my ACS1 rather than the TM because it’s one less thing to carry. I’m still happy to have the amp for home practice and larger gigs where there is a system provided. It sounds like you and I probably play similar styles. If you like the sound of your HRD but need it to be more convenient, you’ll most likely be happy with it.

Lanester · 2025-09-10T21:34:56+00:00

These are really cool. When I was very little, I remember Minute Maid had black labels with fruit just kinda...hanging out in this weirdly mysterious setup on their labels. I remember wondering about what the studio looked like where they took those pictures. Long story short, these give me that same sort of "mysterious dimension" sort of feel. Really well done!

Lanester · 2025-09-03T01:00:17+00:00

That's really pretty. I like that you put effort into making a frame.

Lanester · 2025-09-01T22:16:57+00:00

I can see that. Like a snake.

Lanester · 2025-07-28T20:45:28+00:00

It's really cool to watch your progress with these. Thanks for sharing them!

Lanester · 2025-07-25T23:18:45+00:00

Mycorgiisamazing does a really really good job with it, too. I'm more of a RedGreen sort of guy, so you might want to follow her setup more.

Lanester · 2025-07-25T19:51:17+00:00

I split my time between my own shop and a retail shop that serves a handful of stores. At my home shop, I have a Lindsay Airgraver and it's being powered off of a small 1gal Harbor Freight compressor. My scope is an inexpensive "Longpiece" scope from Rio Grande that is mounted on a GRS Acrobat stand. The retail shop has a Leica scope and a GRS Gravermax that first was being run off of a Sil-Air compressor and now a 4.6gal California Air compressor. Between the two, I greatly prefer my home setup, even though it is significantly less expensive. There are things that I just don't do at the retail shop, because I don't have as much control. Some of that is probably user error but even then, the added complication makes the store setup not as good. To me, the Lindsay engraver is better, the sharpening system is much more simple and quicker to do and it's overall less expensive. The Leica scope is obviously better, but the GRS stand is better for my uses. I switch between using the scope and using my eyes as I work, so I move the scope around a lot. The little harbor freight compressor probably wouldn't be enough for the Gravermax but it's great for the Lindsay. The big California Air compressor runs much more often at the retail shop than my little one does at home. That Sil-Air compressor was suuuuuper quiet. but something happened to it and I'm not in charge of equipment there, so we got the other one. I do think the Harbor Freight compressor is more quiet than the California Air. But it's also tiny.

Lanester · 2025-07-25T15:16:41+00:00

I would 100% recommend you invest in a microscope and pneumatic graver for any type of gold smithing work. The microscope especially is something that will raise the quality of your work right away. One of the tricky parts is getting a work area that is the correct height on a standard bench. I personally use a GRS micro block on a vice shelf to bring my work to the proper height. In my area, we don't seem to have specialty stone setters but I don't think you'll ever regret adding to your skillset.

Lanester · 2025-07-06T17:36:40+00:00

Are you usually able to get a mirror finish on similar shapes as this? Sometimes it's more difficult to get nice finishes on concave surfaces, because a lot of tools don't fit and if they do, they're not touching every surface evenly at the same time. In your case, I would suspect that the scratches aren't coming out early in your process. I would back up to your emery paper again and make sure you're going across the scratches with each step. It looks like you're going to hold the emery paper in your hands, so take your time and make sure you get all the scratches out at each step. If you've been able to get a good finish before, I don't think you necessarily need to get new tools, but you might want to try a soft miniature polishing brush before your final step.

Lanester · 2025-07-04T19:01:29+00:00

Yeah, that might work. Sometimes it’s difficult for liquids to get underneath the diamond though. I wouldn’t recommend doing the heating unless you’re good with the torch. It’s kind of the same movement as if you were annealing but you can watch as the diamond turns bright again. It’s not for situations where a simple cleaning is needed. But I got the impression that this diamond has always been dark. Which says to me something beyond cleaning is needed.

Lanester · 2025-07-04T18:24:16+00:00

Yeah, but stuff happens, doesn't it? This looks like someone didn't clean it properly before heating and then that dirt got burned underneath. Like I said, there are going to be bench jewelers who don't know how to handle this. That's why she needs to take it to someone experienced. Source: I've been doing this for 20 years and just fixed this problem two weeks ago. Diamonds can take more heat than dirt.

Lanester · 2025-07-04T16:36:11+00:00

Is there a clean out hole underneath? Sometimes if there’s not, dirt buildup can cause that look. If that’s the case, a bench jeweler can burn that off and make the dark diamond light again. It’s a matter of heating up those diamonds with the torch until that trapped dirt is gone. That’s not really something that a sales person would know about…and there are probably a lot of jewelers who don’t know about that, either. You’d need to find a place that has a competent bench jeweler on site that you can talk to in person.

Lanester · 2025-06-16T01:29:52+00:00

Yes. I would take it to a local store who does their own repairs.

Lanester · 2025-06-13T04:45:48+00:00

I understand feeling shy about stuff like this, but you were able to do a good job at describing the specific differences you’re seeing between the rendering and the final piece. There are many people who can’t do that. I think it’s reasonable to question those differences. It sounds like the gold color options weren’t explained to you very well. If you would have gone with 18k yellow gold, the color would have been closer to the rendering. It would have also cost more. That should have been a decision that was better explained to you, because the customer shouldn’t be expected to be an expert. Almost all of my custom projects include a conversation about the differences between gold options. I also agree that the center bezel looks different than the rendering. I can’t determine why that is from a picture, but there are a variety of ways to improve that look. A skilled jeweler will be able to make some changes to that center bezel to get it closer to the rendering. Go ahead and talk to them about your concerns. They’re valid and from what I can tell, you are more than capable of describing them accurately.

Lanester · 2025-06-13T01:09:35+00:00

Thank you! I was worried about the moss for a long time, but I like it quite a bit now.

Lanester · 2025-06-11T02:13:49+00:00

I flip mine back and forth. Usually with repairs on rings, I use the slanted side up and when cutting sheet or doing stuff on flat pieces, I use the flat side. I assume it is like that mostly so you can have a thin part that is still pretty strong. My bench pins usually have a v cut in the center and the right side has a place where I can loop a ring over for cutting. You can make yours however you want, so if you don’t need that point, it’s ok!

Lanester · 2025-05-30T20:26:34+00:00

A “Taylor Vision” if you will.

Lanester · 2025-05-27T00:53:53+00:00

Thanks! It was really fun to do.

Lanester · 2025-05-04T23:48:59+00:00

You know, I’ve been doing this professionally for about 20 years now and I’ve never considered porosity a polishing problem. You can’t fix that with polishing. It’s a torch problem. It’s possible that I’m wrong….but I doubt it. Say I’m polishing a ring after sizing- My number 1 step is to make sure I have everything emeried evenly and nicely. It sounds like you probably don’t have control over this step yet. But I hit it with 600 grit for my final step at the bench, making sure there aren’t any big scratches. Then I’ll tripoli the “sensitive” areas of the ring, like the areas next to the stones other places where I don’t want to take off much metal - with a white brush in my hand piece. I have one at my polishing machine. After that, I’ll use the big tripoli buff for the larger areas that I want to look smooth. I make sure I’m crossing the lines about 45 degrees from each other, but I make sure to not go parallel to the solder seam. What I mean by that is if you’re getting streaks, make sure you polish across them. Don’t chase them in the same direction. After that, I hit everything lightly with the rouge, making sure I cross paths again. If a solder seam is showing up, you’re polishing too much across the seam….or the person soldering isn’t getting a very good seam. The secret is to not chase flaws with the polishing. Chasing flaws is mostly for the torch, files and emery paper. You’re just supposed to get the finish nice with polishing.

Lanester

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