​​In 1988, my bench jeweler at that time, broke his left side ring finger on his wedding day. He was carrying lots of gifts up their stairs and missed a step.  Down he and the gifts went and somewhere in there, he bent is finger and broke it.  That finger swelled up so fast that his wedding ring started choking his finger and prevented the blood from flowing.  He had a finger that looked like a purple sausage.
 
Sadly, stories like this are very common. Within two weeks this month I had to cut off two rings.
 
The first was a call and I was asked if we cut off rings that were stuck on the finger. There was an urgency in their voice. I told them that we do and they asked if they can come in ASAP. Apparently it had become tighter and really started to hurt. When Amy came in her finger looked like it was turning a bit blue. It turned out that her condition was a partial result of arthritis that had become worse and started to swell. It does not take long to cut off a ring and in 10 minutes it was off. The look of relief on her face makes helping them so satisfying. Fortunately their ring was a simple solitaire and it did not need special considerations to preserve the setting. They will wait until her condition stabilizes and we can then repair and resize her ring if necessary.
 
A week and a half later I fielded another call to cut off a 10 mm Hawaiian band. They told me they had already gone to see EMS and were told that the ring was too wide for them to remove so they called me. When John arrived it looked like he had just injured his wrist and there seemed to be some swelling to his hand. It looked really tight and I was surprised that he was not experiencing any pain because of it. He may have had pain but it could have been more a result of the broken wrist. He was to have an operation to place a metal piece on the broken bone the following day, which may have resulted in even more swelling so it had to come off before going to the hospital. The wider band took a bit longer than 10 minutes but the mission was accomplished! We wished him a speedy recovery from the upcoming surgery as he left our office.
 
People have gone to hospitals emergency rooms and had their rings cut off. Unfortunately the staff in the hospital are not jewelers and they will sometimes chip the small diamonds on the ring in the removal which makes it much more difficult to repair and more costly. The hospital staff’s only concern is to get it off not to preserve the ring. I assume that the removal is not free being in an emergency room. We do not charge for the service and we will more than likely be able to repair the ring so it can worn again.
 
Need help? Do not hesitate call us, you may alleviate all unnecessary pain and suffering.

​Ada came in one morning somewhat distraught, asking me to price out a new setting for her diamond. I asked her what she had in mind and she asked to see samples. I told her we do not necessarily carry lots of inventory but we can order or make a ring according to her specifications. Ada said she did not know but had to remount her diamond because it fell out of her ring that morning and that this was the 2nd time so she wanted to change the ring to make sure it did not happen again.

​ I asked to look at her ring and told her that the prongs tips had broken off which is why her diamond fell out. The prongs should have been checked periodically so this situation would not have happened. She was extremely fortunate that she found her diamond on the carpet in her house. I also told her that we can just change the head (prongs) and then remount her diamond. I also told her that if we remounted it in platinum it would be more secure that white gold in the long run and that changing just the head will cost a lot less than buying a new setting. She was very glad to hear that her concerns will be taken care of and it also saves her money.
 
When it was finished and she picked it up she was really pleased that we had mounted it higher which made it look more elegant. It was a 1 ¾ ct so it really stood out. She was really happy the way that it turned out especially now that it looked band new. Ada was so relieved and appreciative that she brought us a delicious okazuya lunch. Score!