Jewelry repair and service is the backbone of Distinctive Gold Jewelry. It is where we have gained trust from our customers and what sets us apart from the other jewelry stores in the Frankfort area. If your gold or silver necklace or chain is in need of repairs, we have you covered. With our full service, on premises metal smiths, sometimes we just make magic happen in the backroom of Distinctive Gold Jewelry in Frankfort.
When any customer comes in to repair their necklace or chain, we know exactly what the process is to fix your jewelry. We have seen all sorts of issues in our over 40 years of business. Whether there is a link missing, a crack in the chain or a knot in the in the necklace. Sometimes the best remedy is to bring it in to our jewelry store in Frankfort, IL and let our experts fix the problem. Sometimes the best compliment is getting a piece of jewelry back and knowing you wear it, love it and trust us to fix your necklace. If your chain is broken, the best advice that we can give is to give us all the details of how it broke and if something promoted it to break; even if it is embarrassing or an admission of mishandled jewelry. The devil is in the details.
Although sometimes a “simple fix” turns out to not be so simple, give us the time and patience and we will fix your necklace or provide an alternative option. In the Frankfort area, we are the go to for all repairs (Thank You it’s a huge compliment) and we want to continue the communities’ confidence in us.
Whether you are fixing the clasp of the necklace or a link in the necklace both processes use jeweler's solder and an experienced bench jeweler. Soldering a 14kt yellow gold chain (with normal or what we call ‘easy’ solder) happens at 1345° Fahrenheit. This gold solder actually starts to melt at 1200°. To keep this into perspective, your skin in a tanning bed will start to sizzle at 140°. The gold chain can start to melt at 1400° to 1500°. So control of the flame and temperature, is quite important when fixing the gold or silver necklace chain.
Along with this, there are other factors that can affect the flame and why it may melt or flow before the typical 1400° degrees it is “supposed” to be melting at. For anyone that is not sure exactly what solder is, jeweler’s gold solder is one of the most essential tools at our bench. For a jeweler fixing a necklace, we need it to be cadmium free. The Solder needs a lower “flow” or melting temperature in order for the necklace to not melt when repairing it. Having that control can only be found with an experienced jeweler that has fixed many necklace and chains.
We take a chip of solder, super-heat it to ball up the metal, pick that solder up and place it in the joint that needs to be fixed. At Distinctive Gold Jewelry we give our sales team a n opportunity to do this soldering during their training process. This is so they can understand a goldsmith’s process so that way when they are working with you, the customer, they know the technical details when they take in your repair. We do this not only for them to understand the proper process of repairing a necklace, but so they can properly address each job before the goldsmiths in the backroom even sees it.
Repairing a chain sounds simple, but we have a certain melt time and flow time of the solder before we can add the gold material to the joint and fill it. In the sample movie below, we will demonstrate how the soldering works although be aware that it does not show the jewelers torch that heats the solder chip. This visual should help to gives the basic steps of repairing your necklace. (And yes the prep work of cleaning it, adjusting it, pre alcohol dip and fluxing it are not shown).
DGJ believes that the backbone for anyone in the jewelry business is understanding not just how it is made, but how to repair it as well. Having a confidence and understanding of each of our jewelry pieces ensures us that we are giving our customers the value and expertise that they deserve when they are shopping at Distinctive Gold. Our Jewelry Repair Service has been a staple at Distinctive Gold as much as our expertise and customer service. We appreciate our customer’s loyalty, trust and patience with us for repairing their necklaces and all their jewelry properly every time!
If you are in need of your necklace, gold or silver chain to be fixed leave it with someone you trust. Leave it at DGJ. We have the ability and experience to fix your chain to look as close to new as possible. Reach out to us at (815) 469-2929!