Under Pressure – Understanding how stress and corrosion combine to create stress corrosion cracking

Stress corrosion cracking. It’s the bane of many a jeweler, even if they don’t know it’s happening. Ever wonder why a couple of perfectly good 14k white gold prongs failed for what appears to be absolutely no reason? Or why a 10k yellow gold chain link fails when all the others seem fine? Chances are,…

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Stress Cracking and Prong Failure

Few things can be as upsetting to a jeweler as having a customer return a ring due to prong failure. In some cases, the stone has fallen out and has been lost. This causes additional problems such as replacement cost, possible damage to the jeweler’s reputation, and the likelihood of liability. Also, many pieces have…

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Preserving the Past – Adding a Sleeve to Great-Grandmother’s Wedding Band

Precious metals are recycled time and again. When a jewelry piece is melted down, the material value remains but the history attached to the piece is lost forever. Sometimes retaining the sentimental value is more important than gaining the value of the raw materials.

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Argentium Silver – General Product Guidance for Argentium® Sheet and Wire Products

The aim of this document is to offer guidance as to the best practice to be followed when using pre-fabricated sheet and wire products in Argentium® silver.

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Finish Line – Creating cool finishes with inexpensive tools

A subtle finish is often a very important part of the design of a jewelry piece. To build the repertoire of finishes that I use in my shop, I study and experiment. I love looking at heirloom pieces and observing the details and textures in them. When I see something that I like-a nice contrast…

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Easing into Green

When you sell products mined from the earth, it’s not always easy to keep your hands clean on environmental issues. Some jewelers have already found their green grooves, but for others, even simple steps can go a long way. By Michelle Graff – May 22, 2008 – New York – From housewares to automotives, industries…

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