Quality Control, Repair and Professional Practice
What is examined
This domain tests inspection against specification, safe repair assessment, documentation and professional conduct. It asks whether you can identify a fault, decide what can safely be repaired, record the work, and avoid damaging a customer's article or losing a stone.
Core rules
- Quality control: check dimensions against the drawing, solder joint integrity, stone security, surface finish, mechanism function, hallmark, weight and symmetry. Use a loupe, caliper, ring gauge and a clean test probe. Record actual measurements, not just 'pass'.
- Repair assessment: identify the metal, the stones, previous repairs and any solder already present. Decide whether stones must be removed before heat. Check for cracks, thin sections, plating, filled stones and treatments that affect heat or cleaning.
- Repair methods: ring sizing, chain link repair, re-tipping or replacing prongs, re-shanking, replacing missing stones, re-polishing and rhodium re-plating. Match the solder to the original metal and use the least heat that will do the job.
- Documentation: job sheet with customer details, article description, weight, stones, before-and-after photographs where appropriate, agreed estimate, authorization and disclaimer for pre-existing damage. Give the customer a clear explanation of risk.
- Professional practice: keep customer property secure and confidential, work within your competence, comply with hallmarking and nickel-allergy rules, and do not promise a result that the material cannot support.
Worked example
A customer brings in a silver ring with a loose opal. Assess first: opal is heat-sensitive, so do not apply a torch directly to the setting. If tightening can be done cold, use a polished plier or pusher with protection and check the stone after each movement. If soldering is unavoidable, remove the opal, record its presence and condition, protect the empty setting, solder with the appropriate silver solder, pickle, rinse, re-set the opal and inspect under a loupe. The reasoning is risk control: the stone's sensitivity dictates the method, and documenting its condition protects both the customer and the workshop.
Traps
Soldering before identifying a heat-sensitive stone; failing to record pre-existing damage; over-polishing and removing detail; using the wrong solder on a repair; not testing a clasp or hinge after repair; losing a customer stone; giving an estimate without inspecting the article; ignoring hallmarking or nickel-allergy requirements.