Spinel durability?

[kriskn04]

Can anyone comment on the durability of spinel? Does it wear well for an engagement ring?

 

[Edward Bristol]

It is equal to sapphire.

Better even when compared to deep fried sapphire.

 

[kriskn04]

Deep fried sapphire??

 

[Edward Bristol]

Yes, sapphire high-heated to remove inclusions and improve color.

 

[kriskn04]

Thank you!

 

[T L]

Can anyone comment on the durability of spinel? Does it wear well for an engagement ring?

Well, any stone can chip, even diamond. It depends how hard you are on your jewelry. I would never do yard work, or do a fix it project, in a ring, or even wash dishes for that matter.

However, in general, as an every day ring, it should be fine, especially if you take it off each night, and you don't live and breathe in it.

It's funny, but I watch a lot of celebrity cooking shows, and I see them doing all this cooking with their e-rings on, mixing raw meat, cutting, chopping and so on. Not only is it gross, but I think, what happens if you bang your stone??

 

[soberguy]

I thought sapphire was harder and more durable than spinel. Am I reading something wrong?

 

[kriskn04]

Is it likely to chip though? I know MOHS scale is at about 8, but in terms of hardness, I don't know how that relates to "reality". The only thing I worry about is chipping and scratching.

 

[T L]

Is it likely to chip though? I know MOHS scale is at about 8, but in terms of hardness, I don't know how that relates to "reality". The only thing I worry about is chipping and scratching.

I wear a spinel almost every day, and although I'm very careful with it, it has a microchip. You cannot see it with the naked eye. It doesn't have any scratches at all. Stones that are a 7 or below tend to scratch more easily in my personal experience.

In any case, sapphire & ruby (corundum), chrysoberyl, alexandrite, spinel, and diamond of course, are best suited to e-rings. My mom had a diamond ering, and she knocked two huge chunks out of it, and she cracked a side baguette. She never took the ring off though. I also remember seeing tons of micro pits and facet abrasion on Elizabeth Taylor's ruby ring that was in a Sotheby's catalog at high magnification. Some people are very hard on their jewelry, so my advice is that no matter what stone you get, always take it off at night, don't sleep with it, don't shower with it, don't do household chores with it, and make sure you check the prongs every so often so that the stone is secure, especially in a gold setting.

Therefore, just take good care of your jewelry, and you should be fine.

 

[kriskn04]

Thanks for the info TL. I was looking at sapphires but spinels started sparking my interest. Most spinels seem to sparkle more than a lot of sapphires so I've been going back and forth.

 

[chrono]

Spinels are rarely scratched but do chip. I have a microchip at a facet junction on my red spinel but it is super tiny and can only be felt by careful touch with a nail. As with all stones, nothing is impervious to damage but spinels are fine for an engagement ring stone. In terms of risk of chipping, spinel holds up far better than 95% of other gemstones available. I wear my spinel almost everyday but remove the ring once I am home. No gym, gardening, sleeping in it and etc.

 

[kriskn04]

Chrono, just curious how did you chip it. Did you hit it really hard? Do you think it's more likely to chip than sapphire?

 

[chrono]

Spinel 1 = nicked a crown facet junction when futzing around with the temporary ring holder
Spinel 2 = dropped it from waist level to my wooden foyer floor. Fortunately, this ding is on the pavilion only and cannot be seen face up.

I think any sapphire would sustain the same damage in the two scenarios above.

 

[kriskn04]

Thanks! That was helpful

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I took a deep breath and checked my spinels unde the loupe. I wear my spinels all the time and I am clumsy. Two spinels each have a microscopic chip that I can see under a 30x loupe, but not under a 10x loupe. I have dropped both of them on the tile floor, the sink, and knocked them around plenty. Funny but these two rings and a sapphire ring I have all have the almost identicle micro-chip located in roughly the same place on each stone. Weird.

 

[colorchange]

Spinels do tend to chip more easily than sapphires or rubies. For that reasons, while many gem traders carry sapphires or rubies together, they normally don’t do so with spinels.
They are a bit more scratchable too, but that shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Regarding Ed’s comment, while clearly glass filled gems can’t have the same durability (that’s because the material is bad to start with, and enhanced in look, not in anything else), I can’t remember ever hearing that high temperature heating caused any durability issue. (not interested here, I don’t deal in either)

 

[queenshaboo]

Hi, sorry about replying to a not so recent post but I'm a newbie and long time lurker and fan of the amazing depth of knowledge (and gorgeous gems!) of the members of this forum.

Having recently purchased a spinel e-ring myself and wanting to minimise damage I was curious as to the advice to take rings off while sleeping since beds/bedding are pretty soft and I would've thought the risk of banging one's hand on anything whilst sleeping is very low? That said I am a curler-upper not a flailer when I sleep so I've been known to wake up in a virtually identical position as when I went to bed.

Could anyone enlighten me on the reasoning behind that particular advice?

 

[FrekeChild]

Actually, you shouldn't wear any jewelry while you sleep, no matter the stone, and there are a few reasons for it:

1. Your fingers can swell and the rings can be painful and difficult to get off.
2. Your fingers can shrink and the rings can fall off while you sleep
3. The prongs can catch on fibers/cloth and bend, potentially losing the stone.
4. You can scratch yourself or a bed mate very easily.
5. You can bang it on a headboard or nightstand.

Also, TL, even though it's a really old thread, your mention of Food Network and how the hosts wear their jewelry while mixing raw meat and stuff. EW. Back in culinary school, we were taught to not wear ANY jewelry (do you know how easily rings can come off when you're kneading bread dough, for example?) and if we ABSOLUTELY had to, we were allowed a plain metal band. Because it's the most sanitary and easy to clean. Kitchens are actually really dangerous for rings, necklaces and earrings, and I'd never suggest anyone wear jewelry in an industrial kitchen.

If only you could see my face right now. None of the emoties quite capture it.


ETA: I broke a necklace in my sleep once. That was fun.

 

[T L]

Also, TL, even though it's a really old thread, your mention of Food Network and how the hosts wear their jewelry while mixing raw meat and stuff. EW. Back in culinary school, we were taught to not wear ANY jewelry (do you know how easily rings can come off when you're kneading bread dough, for example?) and if we ABSOLUTELY had to, we were allowed a plain metal band. Because it's the most sanitary and easy to clean. Kitchens are actually really dangerous for rings, necklaces and earrings, and I'd never suggest anyone wear jewelry in an industrial kitchen.

If only you could see my face right now. None of the emoties quite capture it.

Yes, it's pretty gross. I can't believe some of the things I see on that channel, although I love to cook.

 

[FrekeChild]

Also, TL, even though it's a really old thread, your mention of Food Network and how the hosts wear their jewelry while mixing raw meat and stuff. EW. Back in culinary school, we were taught to not wear ANY jewelry (do you know how easily rings can come off when you're kneading bread dough, for example?) and if we ABSOLUTELY had to, we were allowed a plain metal band. Because it's the most sanitary and easy to clean. Kitchens are actually really dangerous for rings, necklaces and earrings, and I'd never suggest anyone wear jewelry in an industrial kitchen.

If only you could see my face right now. None of the emoties quite capture it.

Yes, it's pretty gross. I can't believe some of the things I see on that channel, although I love to cook.

Yup! I especially cringe at Paula Deen's huge diamond getting massaged with butter. Yuck.

 

[queenshaboo]

Makes sense, thanks Frekechild!

In my humble opinion though, for me personally, there's a greater risk of damaging my jewelry when I'm drunk, the last necklace I broke was because I ripped my shirt off so violently in an effort not to hurl on my clothes that I accidentally flushed my indicolite pendant down the loo without noticing, it was one of my nicer stones too

 

[queenshaboo]

I also feel the need to add that this was after only 3 drinks, I'm just not used to the generous pour they give you in America. In Australia they pretty much measure out the alcohol in drinks so stringently you don't get a drop more because it's so expensive and taxed to the max.