About the Course
Jewelry Repair
Retip worn prongs, size rings up and down, and replace setting heads — the repair work every bench jeweler does daily.
Building on Bench Fundamentals and Torch & Soldering, this course teaches the most common repair jobs a working jeweler encounters: rebuilding worn prongs, resizing rings both up and down, and replacing a damaged setting head. Each skill combines the sawing, filing, and soldering technique from the first two courses in a real repair context.
Class Details
Duration: 5 days (Monday–Friday)
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (one-hour lunch)
Class size: 6 students max
Prerequisite: Bench Fundamentals and Torch & Soldering
What's included: Tools provided for in-class use; materials and finished practice pieces are yours to keep
Suggested price: $1,000–$1,250 (provisional — consistent with the premium pricing band from our repricing discussion; not yet finalized)
Skills You'll Gain
Assess worn prongs and rebuild or retip them with new metal
Size a ring down, removing metal and solder the band
Size a ring up, adding metal or sizing stock and solder the band
Remove a damaged setting head and prepare the shank for a replacement
Solder a new setting head onto a ring shank cleanly
Day-by-Day
Day 1 — Sizing down: removing metal from a band and solder it to a smaller size.
Day 2 — Sizing up: adding metal or sizing stock and solder a band to a larger size.
Day 3 — Setting head replacement, part one: removing a damaged setting head and preparing the shank.
Day 4 — Setting head replacement, part two, and capstone: soldering a new setting head onto the shank and finishing.
Day 5 — Retipping prongs: assessing worn prongs and building and soldering new prong tips.
What This Class Doesn't Cover Wax carving (covered in Wax Carving Fundamentals) and gemstone setting itself, including how to set a stone into a new head (covered in the Diamond Setting track).
What You'll Leave With A set of repaired practice rings demonstrating retipping, sizing up, sizing down, and setting head replacement.