A gem of a tool

A jeweler on Corey Avenue is using a laser to do more precisely many of the tasks of the soldering torch.

[Times photos: Michael Rondou ]

Lornie Mueller, owner of Lithos Jewelry, sits in his back shop with the high-tech laser equipment he now uses for many jobs instead of the traditional smoldering torch. With the new device, he can hold a piece of jewelry in his hand and repair or alter it without burning his hand.

Smoke rises from the ring Lornie Mueller is repairing using his new laser equipment. The laser beam cannot be seen by the human eye.

This onyx, diamond and gold ring made in the 1940s recently was refurbished by Lornie Mueller using his laser equipment, which he has had for a year and a half. Mueller was trained on its use but said it took about six months to perfect his skills.

ST. PETE BEACH - It seems incongruous to consider a laser a hand tool in a jewelry shop. At Lithos Jewelry, it is the ultimate welding device.

Lornie Mueller, who owns Lithos Jewelry on Corey Avenue with his wife, Rose, uses a laser instead of a soldering torch in some of his jobs making and repairing jewelry.

With tiny pings of the light beam, he can repair platinum prongs on a diamond ring without burning the stone or mark an elaborate gold setting for work with a soldering torch.

"A laser is just another tool," said Mueller, 53. "If you don't have the metallurgy skills from years of experience," it won't help much.

He and his wife have been in the business of making and repairing jewelry for 25 years.

Lithos carries different designers and offers a variety of services, including custom design and personal property appraisals. The Muellers are certified gemologists and hold other certifications in their field.

Lithos has had the laser about a year and a half. Mueller was trained on its use but said it took about six months to perfect his skills.

The laser is not glamorous-looking, a cross between a large metal tool box on wheels and a nurse's mobile station.

Mueller looks through an attached microscope into a boxlike area and finds the cross hairs. Holding the piece of jewelry to be repaired, he then sticks his hands through openings on either side of the box. His hands and the piece of jewelry to be repaired must be visible in the cross hairs because that is where the light beam will hit.

"It's like looking through the scope of a rifle or a periscope," because you are using both eyes, Mueller said.

A floor pedal activates the laser after Mueller sets the width of the beam, the time it will be used and the voltage.

The flash of the beam lasts less than a second.

"It's not just one flash and it's welded," Mueller said. "On one ring, I might do a thousand passes, repeating as needed to get the kind of weld I want."

The laser may soften precious metal, but it is not hot enough to burn Mueller's hands in the brief flashes.

"It's great for cauterizing cuts (in fingers), too," he says.

Lasers used by jewelers are priced at $27,000 to $28,000, Mueller said. His was delivered by truck in a huge crate. He put it together in about two hours and then received training from the vendor.

The actual beam is cone-shaped. Marks made by lasers are small; some are not visible to the eye.

Diamond factories in Canada are using lasers to put identification symbols on their stones. Those marks helped identify stolen diamonds that a person recently took to a jewelry store to sell, saying he had found them on the street, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

A laser is better on some repairs because it does not carry the heat a soldering torch does. Its beam is small enough, for example, to repair a crack in an emerald ring without taking the stone out of the setting.

To melt platinum requires a heat of 3,200 degrees, Mueller said, which is more than a diamond can stand. So trying to work on a platinum setting with a soldering torch could damage the stone.