Ring sizing and repairs: what can be altered, and what cannot
In May 2012, Professional Jeweller asked David Lewis how much work came through his repair workshop. His answer, for Maker Mends: roughly 1,000 repairs a day for roughly 1,000 retailers. His reason: "There is no way that a local jeweller has all the skills that they need and we can offer a solution to that."
Which is worth knowing before you hand a ring across a counter: the work is usually posted out. I have made jewellery by hand in London for 22 years, from a stall on Portobello Road to the counters at Liberty, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. What I sell is made at my own bench, and so is anything I alter.
What sizing a ring actually involves
To go smaller, the shank is cut at the back, a section of metal is removed, the 2 ends are soldered together, and the join is filed and polished until it is invisible. Going larger is the same cut with a matching piece let in. On a plain band, say 4mm wide and 1.5mm thick, that is routine work and a size or 2 either way is no trouble. Measure at the end of the day, not the morning, with my ring size guide.
The join does not always disappear
In a Professional Jeweller column from the bench in August 2014, Kevin Harland, then workshop manager at Maker Mends, said the solder sold for sizing palladium is much lighter in colour than the metal, so the join shows. The 22ct alloy used now also differs in colour from older 22ct, he said, the added gold being "normally significantly lighter in colour", so his workshop had to issue a disclaimer on 22ct sizing jobs. So the question to ask is not whether a ring can be sized, but what the join will look like afterwards.
What cannot be sized, or cannot be sized far
Anything that runs the whole way round the band. Stones set round the entire shank have to come out and go back, and there is rarely anywhere left to cut. A repeating pattern will not meet itself again. Enamel will not survive the heat. And engraving round the outside of a band cannot be cut through without losing part of what it says.
My Morse Code Ring is the clearest example. It takes up to 21 characters, engraved as dots and dashes round a band 4mm wide and 1.5mm thick, so a name or a date nobody else can read runs right round the finger. £95 in sterling silver, £125 in gold vermeil or rose gold vermeil, £575 in 14kt solid yellow or white gold. The engraving is the piece, so the size has to be right when you order.
A stone changes the answer
Heat is the problem. Harland said in that same column that princess cut stones in 4 claw settings are often insecure and "can easily fall out with the slightest knock", including after an ultrasonic clean, which limits what a workshop will guarantee after a repair. S.J. Barnard of 77 Diamonds explained why he reaches for a laser welder: "The laser isolates the heat so the stones don't get too hot." At my bench the stone comes out before the work starts and goes back afterwards, and you are told so before a price is agreed.
Plated or solid decides whether a repair is worth doing
A plated piece can be soldered, but heat and polishing take the plating off around the join, so it needs replating, which on something inexpensive costs more than the piece did. The Initial Pearl N Necklace at £30 is silver plated with a genuine pearl and cubic zirconia on a 45cm box chain. A lovely thing to be given, and not a thing to mend in 9 years.
Sterling silver and solid gold are different. They can be cut, soldered, sized, re-tipped and polished again and again, which is the argument for solid when you mean to keep a piece, and for most of my solid gold collection. For a ring with nothing running round it, the Bullring Ring is £85 in sterling silver. At the other end, the Bespoke Family Crest Signet Ring is £200 in sterling silver, £250 in gold vermeil or rose gold vermeil and £735 in 14kt solid gold, a 2mm band with a 14mm engraved face.
The ring that cannot be altered at all
Sometimes the ring in the drawer is not the right ring: 4 sizes out, the shank worn thin, or kept because of whose it was. That is what Second Life is for: the stones come out of the old setting and go into something you will wear. The page lists the smaller jobs too, a resize, a new clasp, a different chain length, a clean and a polish. Send a photograph and I will tell you what it could become and what it would cost, free and with no obligation.
For a remade piece ready for Christmas, send me your photographs by Sunday 1 November. Remodelling has the earliest cut off of anything I make, because the design is settled with you first. A piece past saving can be recycled into the workshop for a £20 voucher.
The second life is the real one. Anna Lou x.
Rings, signets and pieces that start from a sketch are in the Design bar.
Questions I get asked
Can any ring be resized?
No. A plain band is usually straightforward, and a size or 2 either way is routine. A ring with stones, a pattern, enamel or engraving running the whole way round the shank often cannot be cut at all, or can only move a fraction. Measure first with the ring size guide, and order to size where the design will not allow an alteration later.
Will the join show after a ring has been sized?
On sterling silver and on standard golds, a well finished join is invisible once it has been filed and polished. On palladium and on 22ct gold it can show, because the solder is a different colour from the metal, and Kevin Harland told Professional Jeweller in 2014 that his workshop issued a disclaimer on 22ct sizing for that reason. Ask before the work is done rather than after.
Is it worth repairing a plated or vermeil piece?
Usually not, if the repair needs heat. The plating burns off at the join and has to be replated to match, which on an inexpensive piece costs more than it is worth. Solid silver and solid gold are worth repairing, and worth remaking. If a plated piece is beyond help, recycling accepts solid silver and solid gold only, so check what yours is stamped before posting anything.