Removing Lead from a gold ring.

[al_sparagus]

Hello all,

First off let me say I know nothing about gold refining but I have a problem and seems like the people on this forum are uniquely suited to deal with. I have my great grandmothers wedding ring and want to restore it. It however has been repaired with lead along the base of the band. Two small lumps. The jewelers I have taken it to say the lead cannot be removed, however upon reading on a few forums I saw that it can possibly be done chemically. Is there anyway this can be done without damaging the ring? Is there any company out there that you know can provide this service? This ring has amazing sentimental value to me and I really would love to see it restored.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Hello all,

First off let me say I know nothing about gold refining but I have a problem and seems like the people on this forum are uniquely suited to deal with. I have my great grandmothers wedding ring and want to restore it. It however has been repaired with lead along the base of the band. Two small lumps. The jewelers I have taken it to say the lead cannot be removed, however upon reading on a few forums I saw that it can possibly be done chemically. Is there anyway this can be done without damaging the ring? Is there any company out there that you know can provide this service? This ring has amazing sentimental value to me and I really would love to see it restored.

Thank you for your time.

The lead might dissolve in hot water if left long enough

 

[goldenchild]

Can you provide some pics of the ring? If the two spots on the ring are only tack welds, any decent jeweler should be able to easily fix them. Theres gotta be something strange going on with the ring's shank. Lead would be soft enough to remove with a pair of jewelers pliers.

 

[qst42know]

I wouldn't expect it to be pure lead but a lead/tin solder.

You may find the ring was broken and home repaired. If it was repaired you may have to settle for trimming with a sharp knife or a fine file.

If you are not good at whittling lead you might try a pair of nail clippers.

 

[Lino1406]

you mean removing the solder and filling with gold?
what is the carat?

 

[goldsilverpro]

I would expect that the lead has penetrated into the gold and is not just sitting on the surface. They alloy pretty readily at low temperatures. Therefore, if the lead is removed chemically, I would expect a void. I would think a good jeweler could clean and fill this void with matching gold solder. Or, maybe, the jeweler could grind away these areas and fill them with gold solder. Not all jewelers are equal. Maybe you should get several opinions. Since this is so important to you, you should have it done by a professional and not try to do it yourself. There probably are jewelers that specialize in restoration. Maybe you should try to find one.

 

[Stevious]

Lead on gold or silver jewelry is a jeweler's nightmare.

Lead solder sits on top and does not truly intermingle with the gold, so physical scraping will remove it. When heated to a certain temperature the lead DOES intermingle with the gold--but this is unlikely to have happened already as exemplified by the following:

I found this out once while repairing an item that was lead repaired and then plated with gold, so I did not notice it. Aside from dangerous lead fumes when I heated the ring to fix it using 14kt easy gold solder, it reached a certain temperature, then *poof* the molten lead became hyper-reactive and literally "ate" a chunk of the ring--dissolving it into itself like a lit fuse burns but in a fraction of a second, it destroyed the ring! (I the repair was not on the shank but on the filigreed top of the ring.

The owner of the ring later told me that she had had it repaired by a professional jeweler in Mexico. Perhaps lead solder on karat gold, which is plated over with gold was considered quality work there 20+ years ago--yikes.

After that I took to scraping an item before doing a repair solder joint just to make sure.

Soaking lead in salt water for a few hundred years might work. And since acid-lead batteries use sulfuric acid, yes you can probably soak and/or use an electrical current to turn it into lead chloride, but I really don't know. Though I do remember once coming across a "how to remove lead," but alas, can no longer remember the source. There is a "jewelry repair" book that might have it, if I can find it I'll add a post later.

But why not just have a jeweler "saw out" the offending section and then replace the section with a new piece of the same color/karat? Anyone worth their salt can do this.

 

[goldenchild]

But why not just have a jeweler "saw out" the offending section and then replace the section with a new piece of the same color/karat? Anyone worth their salt can do this.

This is what I was thinking.

 

[Elizbt]

Hiii friends...

Best way to remove lead from gold ...

http://www.XXXXXXXgold.co.uk/leadsolderremoval.htm

Thank you,

I disabled the link, as it did not have any information, Spam is not welcome here; if you wish to remain a member read and follow the forum rules.
Butcher