Sizing Down: Platinum Cobalt with no Diamonds in the Shank Using a Torch

Cover the center stone with firecoat solution. Wrap it with wet tissue to protect from the intense heat.

Use 1,700 platinum seamless repair solder. Preheat the inside of the ring, holding the torch below the joint. Position the torch so that the area just beyond the flame’s inner cone is at this location, then move the torch to a position above the joint, directly heating the joint and solder.

Use an intense oxidizing flame for soldering platinum cobalt

Pull the torch back as soon as the solder melts and flows into the joint. The flame must be intense, as the wet tissue and carbide-tipped tweezers act as a heat sink and pull heat away from the joint.

The piece removed during size reduction weighed 0.3 pennyweights. Twenty pennyweights equal one troy ounce.

Approximately 2.2 millimeters = 1 size

The current platinum market price is $1,686.00 per ounce. Based on current pricing, the value of the small piece of scrap is approximately $25.00.