Forehead pressed against a view master, hands inside a windowed box that magnifies his work, Hilary Klinicke painstakingly repairs a diamond ring on a late December day.
Though it's several days past Christmas, the holiday rush is still on at K & J Jewelry Manufacturing Inc. in Grand Forks.
Klinicke doesn't expect things to quiet down anytime soon, either. It likely will be a month before the steady stream of people seeking alterations on the jewelry they received for Christmas subsides, Klinicke said.
A former junior high earth science teacher, Klinicke, 72, has been repairing and manufacturing jewelry for nearly 30 years. He became interested in working with stones in 1980 after Edith Weigel, also an earth science teacher at Nathan Twining School on Grand Forks Air Force Base, brought a stone cutter to school. Klinicke and Weigel (now deceased), used the cutter so they could show students the gems inside of the stones they were studying.
"The students and I would cut a beautiful stone and (then) what do you do with it?" Klinicke asked.
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The answer: Create jewelry. Klinicke, who had taken geology classes when he was in college at UND, had long had an interest in rocks and decided he wanted to make jewelry.
He enlisted the help of Doug McPhail, another Twining teacher, to teach him how to weld precious gems, gold and silver.
Longtime designer, repairmen
That launched a career in the jewelry design and repair business that still is going strong. Since the early 1980s Klinicke has owned jewelry stores and jewelry repair stores in Grand Forks. He and his wife, Mary, recently closed Plaza Jewelers, a retail jewelry business, but still own K & J Manufacturing Inc., which repairs and custom-designs jewelry.
Klinicke, one of fewer than a half dozen jewelry repairmen in Grand Forks, has honed his skills by attending classes and seeking advice from veterans in the business. When he's not creating jewelry, he keeps busy with ring sizing, repairing prongs and replacing lost stones.
"Many times the stone is missing because the prong is worn off," Klinicke said, noting that he won't put a new diamond in a four-pronged head. He prefers to use a six-pronged platinum head for the ring because it is stronger than gold, he said.
In demand
Last month, Klinicke and Jim Noye, who works with him at K & J, worked 12- to 16-hour days to get jewelry ready for customers to give as Christmas gifts to their loved ones. Besides working on engagement and wedding rings, Klinicke and Noye also altered mother's rings and anniversary rings during the holiday season.
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"Jim and I worked several nights until midnight," Klinicke said.
Business hadn't shown much sign of slowing last week as customer after customer brought pieces of jewelry to K & J Manufacturing Inc. or called with questions about its services.
Klinicke doesn't see himself retiring anytime soon, though he would like to carve out more time to spend with his grandchildren. His customers' appreciation makes the long hours worth it, Klinicke said.
"There's something about that smile on the lady's face when they slide that ring on or put that pendant on for the first time. That's a pretty good reward, that happy smile."
Reach Bailey at (701) 787-6753; (800) 477-6572, ext. 753; or send e-mail to abailey@gfherald.com .
