This is Scary!

[suzi]

First of all, a couple of months ago I got my left hand slammed in a car door and bent my ering all out of shape. Luckily, the worst damage was to my finger...but the prongs were bent and I had to have them straightened out. No damage to my diamond, but it shook me up. Well, Friday night I was taking off my ring to clean it like I do everynight before I go to bed, and noticed that one of the prongs was wonky. Actually it was more than wonky. The prong was bent away from the diamond and twisted!

So, I took my ring to the jeweler today to have the prong fixed, and the jeweler said that I must have given my ring a mighty whack, or caught the prong on something that gave it a pretty good tug to have inflicted that kind of damage. He also checked the prongs of my side diamonds, and some of them were loose. He asked me what I''d been doing with my hand to have caused that much damage to the ring. The thing is, I don''t have a clue! Isn''t that scary? To have done something that caused an impact serious enough to do damage without even knowing it? The jeweler said that it''s a good thing I''d noticed the prong, because I could have lost the stone! Now, bear in mind I had just had my ring worked on, prongs tightened and straightened up and all only a few weeks ago when I slammed it in the car door. I did ask the jeweler if this latest damage could somehow be related to that, or some residual effect of that damage, and he said not really. The prongs on my ring are very heavy and strong, and he said that I *should* have known if something was done with enough force to twist the prong and pull it away from the diamond like that.

I do not wear my diamonds while doing yard work, or when cleaning the house or washing dishes or anything where they could be damaged. So I''m at a loss to explain what happened. But it has made me wary of wearing my rings.

I love my rings, and don''t want to keep them shut away in my jewelry box, yet at the same time I don''t want to take any more chances of damaging my rings and possibly hurting my diamonds or loosing them. I feel like just putting on my plain gold wedding band and leaving well enough alone. Has anyone else ever had this type of thing happen? I know diamonds can be replaced, but the one in my ering is very beautiful and I looked a long time to find one like it. I don''t think another one would be the same.

This also makes me wonder how anyone diamonds set in a delicate setting with lots of pave is brave enough to wear them!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

The best advice I ever heard for wearing rings is to always pretend you''ve just had your nails done and the polish is still wet. You tend to move your hands more slowly and carefully that way.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

It sounds like you have a unique setting. Have you posted pics of it before?

 

[suzi]

Date: 8/20/2007 4:06:59 PM
Author: Madam Bijoux
The best advice I ever heard for wearing rings is to always pretend you''ve just had your nails done and the polish is still wet. You tend to move your hands more slowly and carefully that way.

I actually am very careful about the way I move my hands, and I usually remove my jewelry (rings, watches, bracelets) when doing any kind of work or activity that could even remotely damage my rings. I think I would have noticed if I''d slammed my hand into anything, or if the prong had caught on something and tugged hard enough to pull it loose. I''m very careful when I put my hand through the sleeve of a jacket, or when putting on gloves.

 

[suzi]

Date: 8/20/2007 4:10:35 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
It sounds like you have a unique setting. Have you posted pics of it before?

Well, I don''t think it''s all that unique, but I love it.

I have posted pictures of my ring, but it''s been a while. I''ll post a picture again, since I can''t find the thread right now that has the pictures.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

Beautiful marquise - that''s my favorite shape.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Beautiful! And lovely yard too

 

[rainydaze]

that''s a pretty ring! i''m sorry to hear about the damage, and it sure is scary. i wonder if you might have done something in your sleep to damage it? such as a good wack on a nightstand when rolling over which loosened the prong, then maybe snagged it on a loose thread? hard to imagine such a scenario, but possible i suppose.

 

[suzi]

Date: 8/21/2007 7:45:47 AM
Author: rainydaze
that''s a pretty ring! i''m sorry to hear about the damage, and it sure is scary. i wonder if you might have done something in your sleep to damage it? such as a good wack on a nightstand when rolling over which loosened the prong, then maybe snagged it on a loose thread? hard to imagine such a scenario, but possible i suppose.

Thanks, you guys, for the compliments to my ring. I never get tired of hearing those...

It''s hard to think I could have done something to damage my ring in my sleep, because I''m not really a very active person in my sleep...lol. I know a lot of people toss and turn, but I don''t really do that much. And my night stand is not close enough to my bed for me to even easily reach it. I have to actually kind of sit up and lean over to reach the alarm clock (that''s done by design btw...otherwise I might just hit the snooze button and go right back to sleep

).

After thinking about it some more, I really don''t think I whacked my ring against anything. The prong almost looked like it was twisted away from the stone. I''m thinking it must have snagged on something and just got pulled loose. It''s still amazing to me that I didn''t feel something like that, though?

It''s hard to tell from the picture, but my center stone sits up fairly high. I''ve sort of worried about that, because of the dangers of banging it around or getting it caught on something. But my stone is large enough that it wouldn''t look right if it was sitting lower, especially in this particular setting. Now I''m wondering if I should change the setting? I really don''t want to, since I love this setting so much (and I''ve only had my diamond in this setting for about a year now, so it''s still pretty new to me).

Do any of the rest of you that have diamonds that sit up high on the ring have problems banging them around or getting them caught on things? I''ve had other rings where the prongs got snagged on clothing, etc...but never have had that problem with my ering before. My big worry is that I''m going to be afraid to wear my ring now, and I was used to wearing it every day! That makes me sad. Should I consider changing the setting to something with a lower profile, or maybe something without prongs (such as a bezel setting)??? I just don''t know. I don''t think I''ve ever seen a marquise in a bezel setting, and I''m not sure if that would look right or not. I''m so confused.

 

[fleur-de-lis]

Since you mentioned "twisting" metal, is your ring white gold? Might switching to platinum help?

 

[suzi]

Date: 8/21/2007 2:09:50 PM
Author: fleur-de-lis
Since you mentioned ''twisting'' metal, is your ring white gold? Might switching to platinum help?

Oh, I hadn''t thought of that. My ring is yellow gold with white gold prongs. I might ask my jeweler about swapping out the head of the ring for a platinum head instead of the white gold. This might actually solve another problem. I had the jeweler fix the prong yesterday, and now for some reason my ring looks "wonky" to me. The prongs do not look evenly spaced now, and when I look straight down at the top of my ring it looks askew. I was going to go back and ask the jeweler if he could adjust them or something to make them look like they did before, but I was a little uncomfortable about doing it because I didn''t want him to think I was complaining about his workmanship. Maybe I could just avoid the whole awkward thing by asking him to swap the gold head for a platinum one.

I know it''s silly, but this whole thing has me so stressed. I have been dealing with a lot lately anyway, and this was just something I didn''t need to deal with on top of everything else. I tend to be a bit OCD about things, and uneven prongs or the worry that I''m going to damage my ring by wearing it are driving me crazy.

 

[Upgradable]

Jean Pockets

This is what my jeweler said the culprit usually was when undetected damage occurs. Either trying to get your hand in, or out. After he said that, it made perfect sense. A possibility?

 

[suzi]

I suppose jean pockets are a possibility, but I honestly don''t think so. For one, I don''t wear jeans much in the summer, and I''m pretty sure I wasn''t wearing them on the day this happened. You see, I clean my ring every day. It''s a ritual with me. Every night before I brush my teeth and wash my face, I take my ring off and drop it into the jewelry cleaner to soak, and after I''m done brushing my teeth and washing my face, I scrub my ring with a little jewelry cleaning brush and wipe it dry. I always inspect it for fuzz and all before I put it back on. I think the damage happend the day I noticed it.

The other reason I don''t think it was from a jean pocket is because I am right handed, and if I put anything in my pocket, it''s always going to be my right pocket. I could see if the ring was worn on my right hand, but this was my ering which I only wear on my left hand.

In my mind, I''ve been retracing my activities from that day to figure out when and how I whacked it or snagged it without realizing it. The only thing that''s really coming to mind is that perhaps I banged it against a shopping cart while I was grocery shopping. That''s just about the only thing I can really think of. If that''s what I did though, I didn''t even realize it when it happend. There have been a few times where I''ve knocked my hand up against something, but I usually know I''ve done it and the first thing I do is look at my ring to make sure I didn''t inflict any damage.

 

[asscherisme]

Beautiful ring Glad its OK

I have to tell you something funny. You know you are spending too much time here when you think about posts out and about in your daily life.

I was driving home from the grocery store today and I thought about this post (which I read yesterday) and it made me laugh that ONLY the true diamond obsessed would make a statement to the effect that thank goodness the damage was to the finger and not the ring. As in "whew, my finger is all smashed but my ring is gonna be OK" because the sad thing is I realized I would be exactly the same way about my emerald cut 3 stone ring!!

 

[suzi]

Ha ha ha...I know, I''m so lame sometimes. When my hand got slammed in the car door, my hubby and my kids saw it happen, and they were all like "wow, are you okay? Does your hand hurt very bad? Do you need to go to the emergency room?" and I was like "forget about my hand...is there a jeweler nearby, I think I bent my ring!!!"

I often think about the posts I read here, and a lot of times the first thing I do when I log onto the computer is to check in here and see if there is any "news" on some of the posts that particularly caught my attention. Especially the ones where someone promises that they are going to post pictures of some new bling! LOL! A couple of times my husband has asked me why I keep obsessively checking the computer. I''m a little embarassed to tell him about my diamond voyeurism...

Update on my own ring...I went back to the jeweler''s today to see if they could tweak my prongs. The guy that worked on my ring wasn''t there, but the owner of the jewelry store was, and he happens to be a friend of mine. He said that he could see that one of the prongs was just a little off, but he was suprised I even noticed it. I reminded him of how OCD I can be, especially where my jewelry is concerned. He took the ring and had it fixed up while I waited. I''m so glad I went back. That would have bothered me had I not done something about it. I have to confess that I love my ring so much that I frequently take the time to stop and stare at it for a moment or two several times a day.

Especially when I''m out in the sunshine, or in a store with great lighting, or in the bathroom, or while I''m sitting in my car at a red light...you know, pretty much all the time.

So, even though it probably wouldn''t have even been noticed by other people, something like having a slightly wonky prong would have driven me insane.

 

[perry]

Nice Ring...


One thing I have noticed about myself... Is that when I am focused on doing something that I do not notice the abuse or even most minor damage to my hands (arms, legs, etc).

I have, on more than one occasion, had other people tell me that I''m bleeding and I have no idea where or on what I cut or gouged my fingers or hand on. I''ve even had to fill out "accident reports" at work on this (how did I cut myself taking pictures?).

I also know other people who experience the same. I doubt that it is just a guy thing.

Thus, I suspect that you actually are doing things that you are not concious of on how much they could affect the ring.

Perry

 

[suzi]

Thanks, Perry. You''re probably right. I''ve noticed little scraches and things on my hands from time to time (like paper cuts or something) and I wonder later, "how did that happen?"...so I''m thinking I must''ve been preoccupied whenever I did the thing that I did that damaged my ring.

Which leads me back to my original dilemma...should I be wearing my ring all of the time if I could damage so easily without even knowing it?

A few weeks ago there was a thread on here somewhere about people wearing their rings, I think it was about sleeping in them or something. Anyway, I responded that I wear mine all the time, even when sleeping and so on and only really take them off when doing something where I know there is a chance of damaging them (like doing yard work or using tools or that sort of thing). I always figured why have them if they are not going to be worn?

Another possibility that I hadn''t thought of was that I might have caught the prong and pulled it loose while I was making the bed. Someone told me the other day that making beds with rings on is one of the most common ways prongs get damaged. I would have never thought of that. But I guess it makes sense, if you are sticking your hands between the mattress and boxsprings while tucking in the blankets and so forth.

Has there ever been a thread about the most common ways to damage a ring?