Plating on jump ring flakes

I have R&T silver plated medium jump rings (#37-136-3) and every time I open one the plating flakes off - Is there anything I can do ??

[marym]

Hi Kim,

I'm not sure there is anything you can do, but I've passed this question on to the buyer of that jump ring- hopefully he will have some feedback for you. We will post when we have more info- so check back.  

In the meantime- my suggestion would be to call customer service at 1-800-366-2156 and see if you'd like to return/exchange this stock.  Hope this helps!

-Mary
Rings & Things Staff

[tease_designs]

I do a lot of work with jump rings and the flaking can be caused by something as simple as over opening the ring. The easiest way to fix the problem is to just barely open the ring you need. For most things you only need to open a jump ring about 1/16 of an inch (or essentially the thickness of whatever you want to attach to the jump ring).

Hope this helps!

Tease

[Luann Udell]

Years ago, when I first started making jewelry, I got a batch of silver-plated headpins that did the same thing.  A guy in the biz who represented a consoritum of findings manufacturers in RI responded to my query on a forum.  He said there was too much...chrome or chromium??...in the plating mixture.  This hardens it too much, making it brittle and less "sticky"--and the plating flakes off when the metal is manipulated.

Sort of like two-part epoxy with too much hardener added...

Definitely let your source know so they can let the manufacturer know.

Jump rings ARE usually stiffer than headpins, and you CAN over-open them, as Tease suggested.  But even so, the plating should not flake off.

hope this helps,
Luann

[marym]

Thanks Tease and Luann.  Luann is right- the plating should not do this.

Our buyer says- go ahead and keep them, but give us a call and we will send you new ones that won't have the same issues. (4oz of this 'bad' stock has already been pulled from our shelves).

Luanns explanation does make a lot of sense- and the bottom line is:  The plating on things like jump rings, split rings, head pins and eye pins should be ductile, when it is not, it's wrong.  So thanks for letting us know!!

-Mary

Thank You all - I will call customer service.

Kim