Choosing Beautiful Jewelry

How Does A Jewler Repair A Ring With Channel-Set Diamonds?

9 November 2022

Bertha Garza

Channel-set diamonds are very popular in engagement bands, and they're often seen in engagement rings as well. A channel setting doesn't have any prongs that can get caught on hair or clothing, so engagement bands with channel-set diamonds are more convenient to wear when you're working with your hands.

Instead of using a prong, a channel-set diamond is held in place by the channel itself. When the ring is made, the diamond will be placed in a small indentation in the channel. Afterward, the top and bottom of the channel will be gently hammered over the edges of the diamond, keeping it in place.

While eliminating prongs makes rings with channel-set diamonds more convenient to wear, they can be easily damaged if they're bent. If the ring bends outward, the channel will expand, and the diamond will fall out of the channel. If the ring bends inwards, the channels can crush the diamond and chip it. However, it's still possible for an experienced jewelry repair service to restore it. To learn how a jewelry repair service can restore a bent channel-set ring, read on.

1. Remove All the Diamonds in the Channel

A bent ring needs to be hammered back into shape. Before doing so, however, the jewelry repair service will remove all of the diamonds in the ring in order to avoid accidentally damaging them. They'll gently hammer on the inside of the ring in order to widen the channel, and then carefully remove all of the diamonds from the ring once they're no longer held by the channel edges.

2. Hammer the Ring Back Into Shape

Once the diamonds have been removed, the jewelry repair service will slide the bent ring onto a mandrel. A mandrel is a steel rod that's marked with ring sizes. The jeweler will slide the ring to your ring size and gently hammer the ring back into a perfectly round shape using a jeweler's hammer.

3. Replace the Diamonds

After the ring is round again, the jewelry repair service will insert the diamonds back in their seats. If you lost some of the diamonds in your ring when it was bent, the jewelry repair service will examine the remaining diamonds under magnification in order to find replacements that match.

With the diamonds in their seats, the jewelry repair service will solder a piece of gold wire to the top of the ring, and then gently hammer it down over the diamonds in order to close the channel, keeping the diamonds secure in the ring.

4. Polish and Clean the Ring

Hammering and soldering a ring will leave scuff marks, so the final step to restoring your ring is to polish it using a very fine jewelry polishing cloth. Polishing the ring will remove the marks left by the repair. After polishing, the ring will be placed in an ultrasonic cleaner in order to remove any dirt or dust that may have become stuck in the channel during the repair process.

Repairing a ring with channel-set diamonds is a lengthy process, but it's often worth it to restore an engagement ring or band that has a lot of meaning. If you have a ring with channel-set diamonds that has been damaged, even if it's missing some diamonds, take it to a jewelry repair service and have it examined. They'll be able to tell you how long the repairs will take and how much it will cost to make your ring look like new again. 

For more info about jewelry repair, contact a local company. 

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