How I fixed that smashed ring:

My last post included pictures of a smashed ring that I repaired. I wanted to share the steps I took to make that ring wearable again.

1.) I Inspected the ring to see if there are any cracks. Metal will only bend so much before it breaks so I wanted to make sure that there where not any cracks or breaks.
2.) Next, I used an ultra sonic cleaner and steam cleaner to make sure the ring was really clean before working on it.
3.) Before trying to bend and shape the ring to make it round, I annealed the metal to relax it and make it easier to bend. This could prevent the ring from breaking or cracking when rounding it out. I was really careful not to over heat the areas of the ring that had been soldered.
4.) After the ring was annealed I used nylon ring-bending pliers to shape the ring so it would start to slide over the ring mandrel.
5.) I didn't want the metal to crack from too much stress so I annealed often.
6.) I slid the ring on the mandrel and tapped it with a raw hide mallet to round it out. I was very careful not to hit the diamonds with the mallet.
7.) After the ring was as round as possible I worked on getting all the dents out. I used a file to get all of the rough scratchy parts off first. Some of the dents were so deep that I new I couldn't get them out with out removing too much metal. To solve the problem I added a view cosmetic dents to make them look intentional. I used a diamond bur to texture the ring.
8.) One of the diamonds was set really off level so I took it out, adjusted the seat, and reset it so it was level.
9.) There was one or two large dents in the white gold bright cut plate. I used my gravers to re-cut and blend in the dented areas. I re-millgrained the edge to make it look finished.
10.) Then I used soft wheel brushes with rouge to give the ring a light polish. It didn't need too much polishing because it was mostly textured. I did polish the inside of the ring to smooth it out.

I am really happy with how the ring turned out! I hope that the customer is happy too. I imagine they never thought they would be able to wear it again.