my father-in-law is an aggie class of 60-something. he has the same ring that he got then and has worn it basically every day. since gold is soft, it has smoothed out a ton of things on there. my wife & i want to get his ring re-finished. someone told me that one of those ring companies will basically restore it.

who does it? how much? website or number?

I don't know for rings that are that old but I know that if you go to the Association of Former Students ring office or just call them, you can send the rings back to Balfour for like 10 bucks and you get it back in like 6 weeks.

You should ask him first..they essentially throw his ring in a pot of gold, melt it and pour a new one...to re-ink it and make the grooves dark again, just buy some India ink and a small brush. Deep paint it and then buff the raised parts with an old soft cloth and let dry...done overnight.

Balfour does not "rebuild" the ring if that is your question. Mine is worn basically smooth and I sent if back through the Ring Office to get it rebuffed. It came back in about 2 weeks nice and shiny. If you want all the lettering restored like new the alternative is Balfour will credit you for the gold in the old one and sell you a new one. Your pop will prefer to keep his original and just go for the buffing.

I don't know about REALLY old rings, but I know that for recently made rings you can your ring "repoured" for a fee (like 85). HOWEVER, they do not use the same gold as your original ring. It's basically brand new.

if it's basically "new" gold- do you have to RE-dunk it?

Just to reiterate: They do not give you a brand new ring. I'm class of '96 and sent mine in about 4 years ago (had a strange accident with my ring and it had a HUGE dent in it). When I got it back, it looked damn near new, but you could see evidence of where some of the larger dings were...they just cleaned 'em up quite a bit.

Warning....my ring was antiqued and over time that wears off (obviously), same with the dimples on the bottom of the ring. Well, when you get your ring back (if you don't specify to go easy on it) they will completely restore the dimples and the antiquing will look like the it did the first day you pulled it out of the box. I wanted the HUGE dent taken out of my ring, but I liked the character of the worn off dimples and faded antiquing.

By the way, the Balfour place is in south Austin off of Ben White, so you can just drop it off if you're anywhere near there.



"Forty years ago kids talked about their duties and responsibilities ... today they talk about their rights and privileges."

If someone wanted to refinish my ring as a gift, i would have to decline. I think the worn out rings have a lot of character.

his ring is so smooth it almost looks like a wedding band at this point. he would not want a new one but i didn't know if they could touch them up.

It is supposed to be worn looking. old army is very dead.

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his ring is so smooth it almost looks like a wedding band at this point. he would not want a new one but i didn't know if they could touch them up.

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They can resize, clean, refinish (antique v. natural), or repour/redo your ring. That's it.

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Well, when you get your ring back (if you don't specify to go easy on it) they will completely restore the dimples and the antiquing will look like the it did the first day you pulled it out of the box.

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Same thing happened to me. I screwed up my finger playing football and had to get my ring upsized. I guess they break the ring where the dimples are to make it bigger. So, when I got my ring back, the dimples looked brand new. The rest of the ring has the original wear, but I have had to start over on wearing off all the t-sips.