Elvatech Canada Ltd.

11/06/2026

Happy Diwali to everyone celebrating this weekend.
Wishing you and your families light, good health and a bright year ahead, from all of us at ELVATECH CANADA.

11/05/2026

Can an XRF analyzer miss gold plating? Sometimes, yes.
X-rays only reach a thin outer layer of metal. A thin plating usually gives itself away, because the instrument still sees the base metal underneath. A thick gold layer can hide that base metal, and the reading looks like solid gold.
We'd rather say this plainly than let you find out at the counter. Our new article explains when plating can fool an XRF reading and what to do when a result doesn't feel right: test in several spots, check worn areas and compare the weight with what the piece should weigh.

Read it here: https://f.mtr.cool/xzsmuveltc

How do you double-check a piece when the result looks too good?

We measured the same gold-plated pendant twice, on practically the same spot. The first time, the analyzer flagged possible gold plating. The second time, after the pendant was simply turned around, it reported no plating at all, and the calculated gold content actually went up. The instrument was n...

11/03/2026

585, 750, 916. Do you know which karat each one is?
Many pieces that reach Canadian counters were made in Europe, South Asia or the Middle East. They're stamped in thousandths instead of karats:
375 = 9K, 37.5% gold
585 = 14K, 58.5% gold
750 = 18K, 75% gold
916 = 22K, 91.6% gold
999 = 24K, 99.9% gold
916 is common in South Asian jewelry, and demand for 22K usually rises around Diwali. If an unfamiliar stamp lands on your counter this season, the number tells you what the maker claimed. Jewelry Lab tells you what's actually in the metal, in 10 seconds.
Which foreign stamp do you see most often?

11/01/2026

Happy Halloween from ELVATECH CANADA.

Tonight is for ghosts and costumes. For jewelers, the scary part comes at the counter, usually in one sentence.

"It's my grandmother's. It's definitely 18K."
It might be. Old pieces often have worn or missing stamps. Test before you name a price.

"But it has a stamp."
A stamp is the maker's claim, not a measurement.

"That's not the gold I gave you."
The classic after a repair. A composition recorded at intake ends this one quickly.

"Can't you just tell by looking?"
Nobody can, not even after 35+ years in X-ray fluorescence. That's why Jewelry Lab takes 10 seconds.

Which phrase gives you chills? Add yours in the comments, and enjoy a quiet Halloween at the counter.

10/28/2026

Gold Testing Myths, episode two.

"It turned my finger green, so it's fake."
Not necessarily. 10K and 14K gold contain a lot of copper, and copper reacts with sweat and lotion. A real 10K ring can leave a mark. A plated one can leave none.

"Rub it on a tile."
The unglazed ceramic test leaves a streak, and a golden streak is supposed to mean real gold. With a plated piece, the top layer is real gold too. And the test works by scratching the piece.

"Hold a lighter to it."
Solid gold won't darken. Neither will good plating, at least not right away. What can suffer are the stones and the customer's trust.

Every one of these tests checks the surface or guesses from a side effect. None of them measures the alloy. Jewelry Lab does, in 10 seconds, without a scratch.

Which home test do your customers swear by?

10/24/2026

Ten seconds after you place a piece in Jewelry Lab, this is what you see.
Every element in the alloy, with its share of the total. Gold first, then whatever else the maker added.
The weight from the built-in scale, so you don't need a separate scale on the counter.
And a printout with both, ready to hand to the customer or file with the receipt.
Free demo on your own pieces: elvatech.ca

10/23/2026

"That's not the gold I gave you."
Every repair shop has heard it at least once. Before the holidays, with resizing and stone resetting piling up, the odds go up.
Our new article shows how to take a piece in for repair so this conversation never starts: test it, write the result on the intake ticket, take a photo.
Read it here: https://f.mtr.cool/zpjie28zhk

From late October on, the repair envelopes start to pile up. Rings need sizing before they go under the tree, chains need fixing before holiday parties, and family pieces come in to be reset as gifts. For bench jewelers, the holidays are the busiest stretch of the year. One bench jeweler, writing in...

10/23/2026

Quick quiz: how much gold is in a 10K ring?
Less than half. 41.7%, to be exact.
Karat counts gold in parts out of 24:
10K = 41.7%, stamp 417
14K = 58.3%, stamp 585
18K = 75%, stamp 750
24K = 99.9%, stamp 999
The rest of the alloy is other metals. They make gold harder and set its colour.
The stamp tells you what the maker intended. Jewelry Lab tells you what's actually in the piece, in 10 seconds.

10/22/2026

Quick poll for jewelers and gold buyers.
A customer puts a gold chain on the counter. No stamp anywhere: not on the clasp, not on the links. What do you do?
A. Buy it at the 10K price, just to be safe
B. Politely say no
C. Test it before naming a price
Vote in the comments. We'll post our answer there too.

10/15/2026

Do you test a shipment before it goes into the display case?
October is when stores stock up for the holidays. The manufacturer stamps the karat, but if something's off, the customer brings the questions to you.
Our new article covers when spot checks are enough, when to test the whole batch, and what to do if the result doesn't match the stamp.
Read it here: https://f.mtr.cool/rs6eiao6wx

For many jewelry stores, October is when the final orders before the holiday season are placed. New stock arrives in large batches, the team is busy preparing displays, and there is pressure to get everything onto the showcase as quickly as possible. That is exactly why the receiving desk deserves e...