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mbn

Shiny_Rock
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Sep 8, 2001
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A diamond is hard, but would it chip if it's dropped on a hard floor from a chair?
How rough can you treat a diamond when you wear it?
 

Garry H (Cut Nut)

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Glass is harder than steel - it scratches steel.
Hardness and toughness are different things.
Diamond has very good cleavage in 4 planes or directions.
Very thin girdles are prone to chipping.
But most 100 year old diamonds are in identical condition to the day they were cut.
Garry
 

scotch

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 15, 2002
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94
Garry,
maybe a stupid question, but anyway: I just got my diamond, and I'm so fascinated by it that I'd just love to do nothing else all day long but look at it from all directions, with a loupe, with the Idealscope etcetc. (at least for now). Now I've read somewhere (I think on diamondtalk) that diamonds regularly and quickly show wear and abrasion just from handling them with tweezers, culets are chipped or abraded the same way, especially during GIA training courses when lesser stones are being handled by beginners. Was somebody just pulling people's legs or should I worry?

Scotch
 

Richard Sherwood

Ideal_Rock
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4,924
-----------
Now I've read somewhere (I think on diamondtalk) that diamonds
regularly and quickly show wear and abrasion just from handling them
with tweezers, culets are chipped or abraded the same way, especially
during GIA training courses when lesser stones are being handled by
beginners. Was somebody just pulling people's legs or should I worry?
-----------

This is largely misinformation and exaggeration. The diamonds eat up the tweezers, not vica versa. Sometimes you'll see girdle of diamonds which are handled a lot by students darken up a bit from minute tweezer particles rubbing off on the diamond.

It's pretty darn hard to hurt a diamond. You're not going to do it in everyday wear and handling. Slam it in a file cabinet, drop it in a garbage disposal, then you might have a problem. A large, sharp blow in just the right cleavage direction is what will chip them.

The culets getting chipped and abraded usually occur while in diamond papers with multiple diamonds. One diamond will chip or abrade another.
 

DiamondOptics

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jun 27, 2002
Messages
380
I should also add, that if a diamond is struck on the right cleavage plane,
the girdle could chip regardless of its thickness, these are the foibles of owning your
diamond.

Naturally, if you have an extremely thin girdle it becomes more prone to chipping,
but I have seen diamonds with chips on sections were the girdle is slightly thick.

The moral of this story;

Do not attempt to prove to your friends, that you have a real diamond by trying to scratch a peice
of glass with it.


Kirk Konst
 

scotch

Rough_Rock
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Oct 15, 2002
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94
Rich, Kirk,
thanks for your reply, I feel reassured (slightly embarrassed smile).

Yours,
Scotch
 

pyramid

Ideal_Rock
Premium
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If there is a feather on the edge of the stone near or on the girdle this can also be susceptible to chipping.
 

PoopEater

Rough_Rock
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Oct 17, 2002
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What would happen if I took a round diamond and put it on the cement ground, table side down, and then struck it on the culet with a hammer?
 

DiamondOptics

Shiny_Rock
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"What would happen if I took a round diamond and put it on the cement ground, table side down, and then struck it on the culet with a hammer?"


If you did that, than you would have some top quality
diamond chunks and dust, which would be great for industrial use.


Kirk
 

niceice

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jan 29, 2003
Messages
1,792
A common misconception amongst the public is that a "diamond is the hardest thing on earth" when in fact it is the "hardest mineral". It may be scratched, chipped, cleaved and broken with a little effort. A few years ago we provided an insurance replacement for a lady who's diamond had been broken after "Little Johnny" tried to cut the sliding glass door in the living room after watching Saturday morning cartoons... He just happened to put intense pressure along an edge where there was a feather and that was that. Both the woman and the insurance company were in a state of disbelief as they too were under the impression that diamonds were the hardest substances on earth. Reasonable care should be taken when wearing and storing your jewelry; items should be stored in separate compartments of a jewelry box (preferably in a safe) so that they do not rub against each other; jewelry should not be worn during exercise / aerobics (replaced a diamond chipped during an aerobics class after it was struck against a counter); and should not be worn while gardening / digging around in the ground as they can be chipped against rocks and such... Jewelry is ornamental by design, not necessarily practical nor indestructive. The bottom line is wear it, enjoy it, and insure it against the possibilities of damage and loss.
 

Rhino

Ideal_Rock
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Is that "THE" Robin and Todd I think it is?

Welcome to pricescope!

1.gif


Rhino
 

Garry H (Cut Nut)

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Diamond is polished with diamond because there is no harder substance. The possible exception would be hexagonal diamond or Lonsdalite which has been known to occur in meteorites. The samples are too small to test.


The hardest substance known is diamond. Diamond is made up entirely of the element carbon. (Another thing that is made entirely of carbon is graphite, one of the softest substances.) Diamond's hardness is roughly 10.5-14.5 million psi.

The second hardest substance is a compound make from aluminum, magnesium, and boron. It was made for the first time in 1992 by scientists at Ames Laboratory in Iowa. Its hardness is 6.67 million psi (about half that of diamond). You can check out the press release here.

A diamond is 58 times harder than the next hardest mineral on earth, corundum, from which rubies and sapphires are formed. It was only during the 15th century that it was discovered that the only way to cut diamonds was with other diamonds. Yet, diamonds are brittle. If you hit one hard with a hammer, it will shatter.

Hardest substances
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahem, can anybody tell me the top hardest substances(natural or synthetic) known to man? I've been searching for a while and have mostly come up with diamond links. What about the others?

www.nature.com/nsu/010308/010308-8.html

"cBC2N comes out about midway between diamond and the current 'second hardest material known', cubic boron nitride."
 
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