A repair solder looks simple from the outside: heat, solder, done. Inside the workshop it is a sequence of decisions that determine whether the piece comes back whole or comes back damaged. Most repair failures are not bad soldering — they are bad preparation.

Alloy matching is the first decision

The solder has to match the alloy. Soldering a 14K yellow ring with 18K yellow solder creates a joint of different karat, different color, and different flow temperature, and the mismatch shows up as a faint line even under polishing. White gold is trickier because different white alloys (nickel-white vs palladium-white) want different solder formulations. A shop that pulls a generic white solder from a jar for every white piece is gambling, and customers pay for the gamble as a visible joint a year later.

Solder flow temperatures: easy, medium, hard

Solders come in graded flow temperatures. Easy solder melts lowest and is used for final repairs where you do not want to disturb earlier joints. Medium sits in the middle. Hard flows hottest and is used for structural joints that may later be re-soldered elsewhere. The reason this matters: if a ring already has a half-size joint on the lower shank and you have to repair a broken prong, using easy solder at the prong lets you avoid re-melting the lower shank joint. A shop that uses the same solder for every step risks opening the previous joint while fixing the next one.

What has to come off the piece

Before any heat, the bench evaluates every stone. Pearls, opals, emeralds, turquoise, lapis, any resin- or oil-treated stone, and most heat-treated colored stones come out of the setting. Diamonds and sapphires usually tolerate gentle localized heat, but pavé settings and very small stones are still protected with heat shields. Old rhodium plating burns off under the torch, so white-gold repairs almost always end in a fresh plate. Antique patina and painted enamel are damaged by heat and should be flagged to the customer before the torch lights.

The heat itself: small, focused, fast

Repair soldering uses a fine, focused flame — a micro torch or a pipette flame — directed only at the joint. The piece is held on a solder pad or in a third hand, flux is applied to the joint, and the metal is brought to flow temperature quickly. Long, slow heating is the enemy: it anneals surrounding prongs, discolors adjacent surfaces, and can crack stones by thermal shock. A clean solder joint flows in seconds, not minutes.

After the torch: pickle, file, polish

Fresh solder is fire-scale dark. The piece goes into a warm pickle (diluted acid dip) to remove oxidation, then is rinsed and neutralized. The joint is filed flush, sanded through a grit sequence, and polished to match the surrounding finish. On a textured shank, the texture direction has to be recreated across the joint. On a rhodium-plated piece, the whole ring is replated because the solder itself is not white and would show through a local touch-up.

Repairs that should not be soldered at all

  • Titanium, tungsten, and stainless steel jewelry — standard jewelry solders will not wet these alloys; they need specialized processes.
  • Pieces with cracked shanks caused by fatigue — soldering the crack without reinforcing the shank just delays the next break.
  • Vintage or signed pieces where original solder joints carry collector value.
  • Heavily cast pieces with deep porosity — solder will wick into pores and create a weak joint.

What to ask before dropping a piece off

  • Will the stones be removed, or protected in place?
  • What solder karat and flow tier will you use?
  • Will the piece need re-plating after the repair?
  • What is the warranty if the joint fails within six months?

Our repair service notes lay out how we triage incoming pieces. The takeaway for buyers sending pieces out: the repair shop that asks about stones, alloys, and prior repairs before quoting is the shop doing the work correctly; the one that quotes a flat price without looking at the piece is guessing.

Warranty on the joint

A repair solder is a joint, and like any joint it can fail. A reputable shop warrants its own solder work for a defined period — typically six months to a year — against the joint itself cracking or coming apart. What a warranty does not cover is the underlying cause: a thin shank worn through, a prong that was bent, a stone that was already loose. Buyers should ask whether the warranty covers labor and material, and what happens if the failure turns out to be a deeper structural problem the repair did not address. A shop that will not put a repair warranty in writing is signaling it expects callbacks. When in doubt, ask for the repair to be photographed before, during, and after the solder — a shop that documents its work is a shop that stands behind it.

Rhodium plating, which gives white gold jewellery its bright finish, is covered in the Wikipedia article on rhodium.

Related reading: Soldering Joints in Jewelry Repair: What a Clean Joint Actually Requir, Jewelry Repair and Restoration: Breathing New Life into Old Pieces, Jewelry Repair When to See a Professional Jeweler.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ring sizes can you supply in bulk?

US sizes 5–12 including half sizes. Send a size breakdown with your order and we cast to that curve; comfort-fit inner bands reduce resize requests.

Can I order a mixed size run instead of one size?

Yes. Mixed runs are standard for wholesale: specify quantity per size and we pack and label by size at no extra labor cost.

What is the MOQ for custom ring designs?

50 pieces per design for existing molds; 100–300 pieces when a new mold or CAD model is required.

How should I price rings for retail margin?

Most partners use a 3–4x markup on FOB cost for sterling and 2.5–3x for moissanite solos, which keeps landed cost under 30% of retail.