Southern Jewelry News

The Retailer’s Perspective

14:25

May

2008

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Article Autor: Chuck Koehler

Random thoughts and news

Like most writers I keep a file of thoughts and ideas for future columns close at hand. Most of them are more suitable for a paragraph or two, not an entire column. But this month I had a few that I thought were rather interesting and decided to string them together. Okay, I confess. It’s more like I don’t have any good customer stories because I haven’t had any customers lately. That darned recession. Oh well, at least I got to clean my file out.

Laser Welders: This is a true story. A staff member of a jewelry store chain that was store #110 out of 150, or something like that, calls me on the phone one day. She had just sold a mounting and needed me to set some diamonds into it. She asked me if I could handle something like that, to which I said I’d be happy to do it for her. She then said: “Oh, then you must have a laser.” Now, given my history of poor customer service, I’m betting a few people are thinking “Uh Oh... this is one of THOSE customers that he writes about.”

Au contraire, I only do that to my retail customers, not my wholesale customers. Trade customers I like and always treat differently. My thinking is if she didn’t understand the laser then she needed to be informed. And for that, I’m your man. So this is for you salesperson 2279 at store #110. Something I’ll call Laser Welders 101.

The laser machines that have infiltrated our industry in the last 5-6 years don’t do everything like a lot of people think. In fact, for the most part they only do “1” thing. A laser welder bonds two pieces of metal together. Period. That’s it. It can’t set a stone. It can’t polish a ring. It can’t make a ring. It only joins two pieces of metal together and it only replaces one piece of equipment... the torch.

When I do a difficult ring sizing that takes me 30 minutes to do, I’ll use my torch maybe 1 or 2 minutes of the job. The rest is a conglomeration of all the other equipment in my shop, including skill. If I had a laser welder, the job would still take me a half hour.
So... what is it? What does it do? Why should you have one or not have one?

When a jeweler solders a ring, it requires 1,200 degrees of heat to get the solder to flow and bond part A to part B. If the ring has an opal in it that will burn up at 500 degrees, you’ve got a problem. How do you compensate for the 700 degree difference?

In the past all jewelers had their own method of ‘heat sinking’ and keeping the stone cooler than the 500 degree burning point. Step up Mr. Laser Welder. The laser uses focused light energy, not heat to bond the metal together making ‘heat sinking’ or stone removal unnecessary. The jeweler still needs to do all of the ‘before laser or torch soldering’ work just like before and the jeweler still has to perform all of the ‘after laser or torch soldering’ work like filing, rounding, cleaning and polishing... just like before. It doesn’t replace skill because it only really does one thing that takes up about 10% of the bench jewelers time. The other 90% is just like the old days... er... I mean just like always.

So... should you get one? I don’t care. I just thought you’d like to know what it was, what it does, and most importantly what it doesn’t do.

Speaking of ‘Heat Sinking’: As I mentioned before, heat sinking is a method jewelers use to sink a stone in something to keep the heat away from it during soldering. Every jeweler has their own method and swears that theirs is the best. That is until they see my method using a coiled soldering block.

As I travel around the country teaching various seminars to other bench jewelers, I always show every class my trick. Anyone that’s ever attended one of my classes knows that I’m talking about “Magic Baby Poo”.

But now there’s a problem. A year or so ago after a seminar I taught in Junction City, Kansas I got a call from an attendee informing me that coiled soldering blocks are no longer available. Gary Borel of Jules Borel and Co. did some research for me and found out that one of the ingredients necessary to make them was no longer commercially viable to mine, so the coiled soldering blocks are no more. Damn. It was such a great trick too.

Later in the year while teaching at the Oklahoma Jewelers Association I made a pledge to everyone that I’d find a solution and inform everyone here. After a bunch of failed attempts, I’ve got the problem solved. But, you really have to be a working bench jeweler to even be interested so I won’t bore everyone here with the solution. Anyone that wants to see it can go to www.CMKCompany.com. I’ve put a link on the main page to show you how to make it using products that are readily available. Magic Baby Poo is back in business... yeah.

Another Product that has gone bye-bye: Have any gemologists out there tried to buy Specific Gravity Liquids lately? Did you know that they are no longer commercially available? What is this world coming too? First cyanide, now this!

I had to get to the bottom of this, so I decided to contact the leading experts in the field of gemology. I placed a call to the Texas Institute of Jewelry Technology (TIJT), School of Gemology and spoke to Ulla Raus, the school’s director. She told me that the heavy liquids have been phased out at TIJT because they are no longer available. TIJT is now using Digital Hydrostatic Scales but their drawback is they cannot measure the specific gravity of a stone less than a half carat. Oh well, just thought you’d like to know.

Something cool I found out: While speaking to Ulla about the SG liquids, I asked her if anything new and exciting was happening at my old alma mater and it turns out that there is. TIJT has a new accelerated bench jeweler program. This new program lasts only 4 months and the student will be able to pass the JA level I bench jeweler test. Of course they still have the 15 month comprehensive bench jeweler program, the gemology program, and the horology (watchmaker) program. I’ve said it many times here that if you have a teenager that’s mechanically inclined, being a watchmaker is an excellent career choice just in case the music thing doesn’t work out. She also told me about their certificate in CAD/CAM. Students attend for one-semester which is 4 months. I’ve put a link with all of Ulla and TIJT’s contact info on my website at

www.CMKCompany.com. Check it out.

And the coolest thing of all: Every person reading can relate to this problem. You know how someone brings in a ring for repair and you are almost gagging because it’s totally gross? Once the customer leaves, you go wash your hands and then handle that bio hazard with tweezers and gloves and put it in the ultrasonic cleaner. Then about 3 hours later you take it out and it’s still caked in gunk, so you throw it back in the cleaner for another day or so... and it’s still gross. I’ve now got the solution thanks to jeweler extraordinaire Lisa Perantoni. Lisa told me how to fix the problem in 30 minutes or less. It astounds me that after 30 years I never knew this and now I use it every day and I’m going to pass it on. LYE.

Go to your local hardware store and in the plumbing section you can find powdered lye. Using a Pyrex sauce pan with a lid (Pyrex is important) pour some lye in the pan and add water. Then bring it to a gentle boil and put the ring in it. About 10-15 minutes later transfer the ring to the ultrasonic for another 10-15 minutes and it’s perfectly sterile. I now boil in lye all the repairs that come in before I work on them and the final cleaning is a breeze. How did I not know this before? Of course never put pearls, opals, emeralds, or other delicate stones in lye, but gold, silver, diamonds, sapphires, quartz, tourmaline, and all the other durable stones are fine. You can thank Lisa at info@southernjewelrynews.com.

Something you already know: Recessions suck!

Chuck is the owner of Anthony Jewelers in Nashville, TN. Chuck also owns CMK Co., a wholesale trade shop that specializes in custom jewelry and repair services to the jewelry industry nationwide. You can contact him at 615-354-6361, www.CMKcompany.com or send e-mail to info@southernjewelrynews.com.