09/08/2025
A little public service announcement and glimpse into the world of jewelry repair.
Unfortunately "jewelers" are not like doctor's, they don't swear an oath to first do no harm. In most cases it isn't done intentionally or with malice, however; that doesn't change the fact that they are both harming and weakening your jewelry, and robbing you of grams of gold/precious metals that you paid good money for.
A couple of things have happened here, the seam that was soldered was never made to be airtight, which creates the need to use more solder than necessary. What also often happens, is that in order to save money, the "jeweler" will use silver solder or low karat solder to save money, which leaves not only a visible line, but also inserts a softer substance than the original alloy, which will be removed below the surface level just from polishing.
The last thing that is occuring here is that they are not taking the time and care to "feather and blend" the two sides together and instead remove 1/2-3/4 of the material on the shank in order to create a "straight" surface to polish. This is done because they are in a rush to pump out as much work as quickly as possible.
Look at the difference between the two shanks and tell me which one you would want holding your ring together?
