Quick answer

Laser welding uses a focused beam of light to fuse metal at a single pinpoint, with almost no heat traveling through the rest of the piece. Traditional soldering uses an open torch flame and a lower-melting alloy (the solder) to join two pieces of metal. At Bijouterie Jamil in Montréal, we use both. We reach for the laser welder when there are stones, pearls, enamel, or heat-sensitive metals in the way; we reach for the torch when we need a wider, structural joint on bare metal. The right tool depends on what you are trying to fix, not on what sounds more modern.

Why this matters for your repair

Most people who walk into our shop with a broken chain or a bent prong do not care which tool we use. They care that their piece comes back stronger than before, with no scorch marks, no loose stones, and no surprise bills. The reason we keep a laser welder and a torch on the bench is that each one solves problems the other cannot.

Choosing badly is expensive. A torch held too close to an emerald can crack it in seconds. A laser pulse used where a structural torch joint belongs can leave a weld that looks fine but fails six months later. This guide explains how each method works, when each one is the right call, and what to expect when you bring a piece to us.

How traditional torch soldering works

Soldering is the older of the two techniques and still the backbone of bench jewellery work around the world. We heat the area of the joint with a small torch flame until the surrounding metal reaches the right temperature. Then we feed in a small chip of solder — an alloy that melts at a lower temperature than the host metal — which flows into the joint and bonds the two surfaces.

A few important details:

• The whole region gets hot. Heat travels through the metal. A ring shank being soldered will warm up across the entire band, not just at the joint.
• Solder is a different alloy. A 14K yellow gold ring is soldered with 14K yellow solder formulated to melt slightly lower. Done well, the colour match is almost invisible. Done poorly, you see a faint line.
• Stones often have to come out first. Diamonds tolerate heat reasonably well, but emeralds, opals, pearls, tanzanite, and most treated or fracture-filled stones do not. Removing and resetting them adds time and cost.
• The joint is wide and strong. Solder flows by capillary action across the full mating surface, giving you a robust structural bond.

Soldering is the right call when the joint needs to carry load (a sized ring shank, a heavy bail on a pendant, a clasp on a substantial bracelet) and when the area can be safely heated.

How laser welding works

A jewellery laser welder fires a tightly focused pulse of infrared light, usually from a Nd:YAG source, into a spot the size of a pinhead. The metal at that exact point melts and refuses in a fraction of a second. Heat does not travel far — often less than a millimetre away from the weld point, the metal is still cool enough to touch.

What that means in practice:

• No solder, no flux. We can add metal as a filler wire of the same alloy if needed, so the weld is the same material as the host piece. There is no colour line.
• We can weld next to stones. A laser pulse fired 1 mm from a set emerald or opal will not damage the stone. We do this routinely.
• We can work on metals that hate solder. Titanium, stainless steel, tungsten carbide (limited), memory wire, and platinum-iridium alloys can all be laser welded. Most of these cannot be torch soldered at all.
• The weld is small. A single laser pulse covers maybe 0.3–0.6 mm. Bigger joints need many overlapping pulses, which takes time and skill.
• It is precise but not magic. A laser weld at the wrong angle, or without filler wire where filler is needed, can be brittle. The operator matters more than the machine.

Laser welding became common in fine jewellery shops in the early 2000s and is now standard equipment in any serious bench in Montréal, Toronto, or anywhere else in Canada.

Laser vs soldering: when each one wins

Here is how I decide at the bench.

Use the laser when: - There are heat-sensitive stones still in the piece (emerald, opal, pearl, tanzanite, peridot, turquoise, most treated rubies, anything fracture-filled or oiled). - The piece has enamel, antique patina, or a mixed-metal inlay we cannot afford to discolour. - The metal cannot be soldered: titanium, stainless steel, memory wire, certain platinum alloys. - We are rebuilding a worn prong or re-tipping a setting in place, with the diamond still set. - We are doing a tack-weld on filigree or a thin antique chain where torch heat would warp the surrounding metal. - The customer wants the piece back in two days and we cannot afford to unset and reset stones.

Use traditional soldering when: - The joint is structural and needs maximum strength across a wide bonding surface (a sized ring shank on a plain band, a heavy bracelet clasp, a watch bracelet link). - There are no heat-sensitive stones nearby, or the stones can be safely unset. - The piece is thick gold or silver where building up a laser weld pulse-by-pulse would take far longer than a clean torch joint. - Cost matters and the laser offers no real benefit. A simple chain solder is faster on the torch.

In our Montréal workshop, the most common mistake we see from customers who took their piece elsewhere is a torch joint on a stone-set ring where the heat travelled far enough to loosen, discolour, or crack a stone. That is exactly the situation the laser was built for. (For a broader overview, see our guide on jewellery repair services and what can and can't be fixed.)

Real applications: what we actually fix

Every week we use both tools across the same set of problems. Here is what shows up most often.

Broken chain repair

For a thin gold chain — a 1 mm cable, a fine box, a delicate Figaro — laser welding is almost always our first choice. The links are too small for a clean torch joint without melting neighbours. A skilled operator can re-link a broken chain in under fifteen minutes with no visible repair. Heavier chains (2 mm and up, anchor or curb styles) are still routinely soldered because the joint surface is large enough to need real solder flow. Pricing in our shop typically runs $35–$95 CAD for a standard chain repair, depending on metal and complexity.

Ring resizing on stone-set bands

A plain wedding band is a classic torch job. An eternity band set with diamonds halfway around the shank, or a halo ring with melee on the gallery, is a different story. Heating that band on a torch risks loosening every stone it warms. We use the laser to add or remove metal in tiny increments and rebuild the shank in place. Expect $80–$220 CAD for a sized stone-set band, versus $50–$120 CAD for a plain one. (More detail in our complete ring sizing guide.)

Prong rebuilding and re-tipping

Worn prongs are the single most common cause of lost diamonds. When the tip of a prong has worn down, we either re-tip it (add metal back to the worn area) or rebuild it entirely. With the laser, we can do this with the diamond still in the setting — no unsetting, no resetting, no risk of chipping a girdle on the way out. A typical re-tip runs $35–$75 CAD per prong; a full prong rebuild is $80–$180 CAD per prong.

Broken filigree, antique repair, mixed metals

Edwardian and Art Deco pieces often combine platinum top, gold base, and millegrain detail thinner than a hair. A torch on filigree like that is a recipe for a flat, melted mess. The laser lets us tack a broken filigree wire back into place without disturbing the surrounding pattern or the patina. This is also where we earn our keep on estate pieces — careful, conservative, reversible.

Memory wire, titanium, and "unsolderable" jobs

Memory wire bracelets, titanium wedding bands, stainless steel watch bracelets, certain medical-alert pieces — none of these can be torch soldered with any reliability. Until laser welders became affordable, customers were told these pieces could not be repaired at all. Now we fix them routinely.

What it costs and how long it takes

Honest ranges from our Montréal bench:

• Simple chain laser repair: $35–$95 CAD, 1–3 business days
• Prong re-tip (laser): $35–$75 CAD per prong, 2–5 business days
• Sized stone-set ring (laser-assisted): $80–$220 CAD, 5–10 business days
• Plain band sizing (torch): $50–$120 CAD, 3–7 business days
• Filigree or antique tack repair (laser): $90–$280 CAD, 1–2 weeks
• Titanium or memory wire weld: $60–$140 CAD, 3–7 business days

We give every customer a written quote before we start. No surprise charges, no work begun without your approval.

Why we recommend laser for delicate work

If you take only one thing from this article: when stones are involved, when the metal is heat-sensitive, or when the piece has historic or sentimental value, ask whether the shop has a laser welder and knows how to use it. The machine is roughly $20,000–$60,000 CAD of equipment and the learning curve is real. Not every Montréal repair shop has one. We do, and Nader has been operating ours since 2015. (If you're considering a fully custom engagement ring from scratch, the same laser is what we use for prong setting and final assembly.)

What to bring us, and what happens next

If you are ready to book a repair, here is what makes our quote fast and accurate:

1. The piece itself. We need to inspect it on the bench. Photos help for an initial estimate but never replace a hands-on look.
2. A clear description of what happened. When did it break, was it hit, has it been repaired before? Old solder joints affect how we approach a new repair.
3. Your contact information. Name, email, phone — so we can send the written quote and call you when it is ready.
4. Your timeline. Wedding next month? Heirloom for a birthday? Tell us and we will let you know honestly whether we can hit the date.

You drop off in person at our Montréal store or ship insured. We inspect, quote in writing, wait for your approval, do the work, photograph the result, and call you for pickup. Standard turnaround is 5–10 business days for most repairs; rush service is available for an additional fee when our schedule allows.

FAQ

Is laser welding stronger than soldering? Not always. Laser welds are precise and clean, but a properly executed torch solder joint is wider and can be stronger on bare structural joints like a thick ring shank. Strength depends on the joint, not the tool.

Can you laser weld a ring with diamonds still in it? Yes. That is one of the main reasons we use the laser. We can rebuild prongs, repair shanks, and re-tip settings without unsetting diamonds, sapphires, or rubies.

Can you laser weld near pearls, emeralds, or opals? Yes, with care. Laser heat is so localised that we can work within 1–2 mm of these stones safely. Torch soldering at that distance would crack or scorch them.

Is laser welding more expensive than soldering? Per joint, slightly. But the total job often costs less because we skip the unset-and-reset labour. On a stone-set ring, laser usually saves you money overall.

Can you repair a titanium or stainless steel ring? Yes. Laser welding is the only practical way to repair these metals. Most shops without a laser will tell you the piece is unfixable. We fix them.

My old ring has a visible solder line. Can the laser hide it? Often, yes. We can lay down filler of the matching alloy with the laser and then refinish the area so the previous repair becomes invisible.

How long does a laser repair take? Most chain and prong work is back in 1–5 business days. Resizing and complex stone-set rebuilds run 5–10 business days. Antique restoration can take 1–2 weeks.

Do you offer rush service? Yes, when our bench schedule allows, for an additional fee. Tell us your date when you drop off the piece and we will be honest about whether we can hit it.

Bring your repair to us

If you have a piece that needs work — broken chain, bent prong, loose stone, ring that no longer fits, an estate piece you have been afraid to bring anywhere — come see us. We will look at it on the bench, tell you honestly what it needs, and give you a written quote before any work begins.

Visit Bijouterie Jamil in Montréal, or book a repair consultation and we will walk you through next steps.

Nader Khazzoum is co-owner and master jeweller at Bijouterie Jamil, the family-run Montréal jewellery store his family has operated for over 60 years. He specialises in custom fabrication, stone setting, and laser welding, and has been operating the workshop's laser welder since 2015.