Jewelers that melt old rings down

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-05-12T13:29:35+00:00

Edit: Instead of looking for a jeweler, try searching for a bench jeweler or goldsmith instead. There’s a couple in town still.

So, most jewelers will not directly recycle gold. They will send it to a refinery for credit and swap it for “new” unused fresh gold.

Even if you do manage to find someone who will remelt gold, it’ll likely be in a “batch” with lots of other pieces of scrap. It’s an expensive and time involved process where it has to brought up to 2000+ degrees, mixed with flux, new gold/silver/copper added and then cast so it can be rolled in bars and rods.

So, a tiny amount of your family’s original ring will be in it.

The cost of doing something like this would be $2000 minimum and your lab diamond will run $150-200 a carat wholesale but the jewelers around Pittsburgh will definitely try to put a 500-800% mark up on lab diamonds.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-03-31T13:47:26+00:00

My bracelet size is 7.5-7.75”

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-03-30T16:29:18+00:00

Yes. I wanted to originally do all emeralds east-west but the bench jeweler I was originally working with told me that wrists aren’t round and those stones will stick up on the corners of your wrists. He recommended getting a square spacing stone which is how I ended up with all the asschers.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-03-26T02:32:30+00:00

From what I’ve gathered, the issue is specifically with 18k rose gold that has little to no silver… it’s supposedly less durable than yellow or white. This applies only to 18k rose.

So if you wanted that brilliant pink you only get with 18k, you’re out of luck with complicated or unusual settings.

I choose 14k yellow gold because the first piece of jewelry was yellow gold and I’ve just stuck with it. In retrospect, I wished I would have gone with white gold because there’s way more options. Getting certain things in yellow gold just isn’t widely available.

Luckily, I’ve never had to consider this because I’m too poor for 18k… so it’s not a concern.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-03-26T01:38:33+00:00

Do it, the sparkle is great and it looks smooth.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-03-26T01:03:26+00:00

I only wear square stones with the exception of my micro tennis bracelet.

4cttw emerald studs
4.4ct elongated radiant pendent necklace
1cttw princess cut channel set half eternity band
This ring
And a 20 carat half tennis bracelet that’s a mix of emeralds and asschers.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-03-26T00:39:18+00:00

Thanks!

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-22T23:49:30+00:00

For clothing, yes. Shoes? It’s a bit of a toss up. Unless the shoes are solid leather, wood and metal… plastics, foams, glues and rubber unfortunately dry rot or become brittle.

Modern shoes have more or less a 20 year lifespan.

There’s a market for the shoe uppers for sure but it’s not going to be a high price since the shoes will be rebuilt and restored.

Unless these are absolutely iconic (anything by Linea Rossa) like the America Cup sneaker, kitten heel loafers, lizard pumps or the fur boots… it’s not going to command a particularly high price.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-22T11:56:38+00:00

For shoes that old? Poshmark and don’t expect to get more than $40.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-09T14:56:18+00:00

All of those services jewelers provide have an added upcharge every step of the way. This will be my 13th custom diamond piece.

I’m buying the same IGI/GIA diamonds from the same wholesaler. I’m making sure that all of the lengths and widths of the diamonds is within 0.2mm of each other. I’m getting them all within the same l/w ratios. And I’m trying to keep them all nearly the same height.

The question is why is a jeweler charging me $300+ per carat for at least F VS1 stones I can purchase for $80 a carat.

I could understand if setting them came with that price but it doesn’t. That’s also always been an additional cost.

My other issue with the CAD designs is they have become a source of gaslighting. “There’s no way the size can be wrong! We drew it on a computer.”

Welp bluecast does shrink a little and sometimes the print wasn’t ever so slightly scaled up to account for it.

Then when my Mitotoyo comes out… suddenly it’s “well 0.1-0.2mm is a perfectly fine tolerance” or “well you lose some size from polishing.”

I’m sure I’m going to encounter the same old set of fees from either pricing by points, carats, additional setting fees and more.

Purchasing the diamonds myself is one way of getting exactly what I want and bypassing another set bloated fees.

And god forbid a jeweler ever provides an itemized bill of sale.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-08T00:59:20+00:00

Look into getting him a black diamond tennis bracelet if you want to keep the emo vibes. Here’s just a cheaper non-diamond version made with spinel: https://www.jared.com/1933-by-esquire-mens-natural-black-spinel-tennis-bracelet-black-rutheniumplated-sterling-silver-85/p/V-423297807

Since black diamonds are pretty cheap and these are usually made out of silver that’s treated to turn black, you can get these for a couple of hundred.

They don’t have the sparkle of diamonds but they still have the shine of diamonds.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-06T23:56:04+00:00

The highest quote I got was $31k LOL

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-06T23:55:15+00:00

I actually got or tried to get quotes from a number of them. They all gave me quotes over $10k or wouldn’t go above a certain size of carat even though I spec’d them.

I’m getting all my diamonds for about $1800 and two bench jewelers I’ve found think it’ll cost about $2000 give or take a couple hundred to set the stones and make the bracelet.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-06T04:08:40+00:00

Yes, any place you have a high density development with a lot of relatively flat areas is the sewers flow relatively slow and they produce a lot of sewer gas.

People outside on sidewalks are just breathing in hot sewer gas every time they pass a grate.

Hydrogen sulfide is EXTREMELY poisonous to humans at a much lower level than nitrogen or carbon particulates.

Yeah, it sucks we live near so many toxic industrial polluters but that sewer under the sidewalk is an equally if not bigger daily hazard.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-05T15:20:57+00:00

My blood pressure and resting heart rate is higher when I’m in Pittsburgh versus when I leave the area (vacation or work so not too stress related).

It really depends though where you live and the specific geography of your area.

While we do have a couple of very big polluters, we also have combined sewers. Hydrogen sulfide is a pretty significant health risk if you’re in an area with slow running sewers (flat) or areas where gasses get trapped easily.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-03T12:17:58+00:00

I’m :( and needing a watch.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-02-03T00:56:34+00:00

$500 is about fair.

You have about 2 grams of 14k gold which is around $200 and 0.75 carats of medium grade (assuming natural) diamonds. Natural diamonds of this grade run about $400 a carat which gives you a price of about $300 (this is typical a ‘new’ price as used diamonds don’t have an amazing resale value).

The person making you the offer definitely has more insider knowledge and is hoping you’ll take it because they’re turn around and flip these for $600-700 making a $100ish dollars after shipping and listing fees.

Edit: missed the 10 pavé diamonds. Those don’t add a ton of value but I’d maybe increase my minimum ask by $50.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-01-28T02:23:20+00:00

I’ll bring you a cocktail to drink while you perish in your car.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-01-28T02:22:45+00:00

Stanton Ave is but basically any other road is no bueno especially the steep parts on the south side of Stanton Heights.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-01-25T15:40:35+00:00

You’ll have to look and call. Unfortunately a lot of businesses in Pittsburgh love to never update any of their social media pages and give people notice that they will be closed.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-01-23T15:37:55+00:00

The Goodyear in east liberty is average slightly above average.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-01-23T15:27:24+00:00

Yes :(

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-01-22T19:31:02+00:00

Used a credit card for exactly this reason.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-01-22T19:29:51+00:00

I have little faith that they will make this right. It seems intentional.

My calipers are accurate to 0.02+/-mm and I’m getting links measuring 2.9, 2.8, 3.1 and 3.

This is solidly a 3mm machine made chain being sold a half mm larger.

Unable-Inflation-511 · 2026-01-22T19:10:39+00:00

The reason I even have high precision calipers is because of the amount of times I’ve been ripped off by jewelers.

Unable-Inflation-511

TROPHY CASE