Alternatives to viewing with tweezers (since I minorly chipped a stone)

[toomuchB]

While carefully admiring a stone with tweezers it flew across the room and got a tiny chip by the culet. Luckily its minimal and not visible face up - best to leave it as it and forget about the chip (pic of it through x10 attached below).

As for alternatives to tweezers, I've seen these ring-like holders but I've read on here they can put too much pressure and chip stones.
I've also seen these 4 prong holders, do they have a similar problem?




Happy to get advice, what you guys prefer, or learn of alternative options.
I realize admiring unset stones from a gem box is most secure but sometimes I want to play with them a bit more!

The chip:

https://imgur.com/mB2q6Tx

 

[Avondale]

The claw thingie, as I call it, all the way.

I saw and used one at a jeweller years ago. I currently have one on the way from aliexpress. Should've bought it ages ago but instead decided to struggle with tweezers for the longest time. Tried regular, self locking, rubberised, the full deal. Don't be stupid like me. Get yourself a claw thingie.

edit: just realised both of these can be considered claw thingies. The one on the right.

 

[toomuchB]

The claw thingie, as I call it, all the way.

I saw and used one at a jeweller years ago. I currently have one on the way from aliexpress. Should've bought it ages ago but instead decided to struggle with tweezers for the longest time. Tried regular, self locking, rubberised, the full deal. Don't be stupid like me. Get yourself a claw thingie.

edit: just realised both of these can be considered claw thingies. The one on the right.

Thank you. I could not find complaints about this tool yet. I've also looked at the Aliexpress options as I am certainly done with tweezers after chipping my poor stone.

I would like to know if it handles various shapes well, and varying sizes well - not just more typically sized rounds or cushions (6-8mm?), which is what the stock images usually show them handling.

 

[Avondale]

Well, it's all about how much the claw-prong-thingies open when they come out. It will be able to grab anything that would otherwise be possible to set in a 4-prong setting, I saw it used with various stones. Obviously, it won't work for anything too small or too big. But the mechanism is pretty versatile in its simplicity. There's a spring inside that keeps the prongs retracted. You push the button, thus exerting pressure on the spring, and the prongs come out - just like a push button pen. You grab a stone and it essentially prevents the prongs from retracting back into the main body. So it's limited by how much the prongs can open and how big the opening for them is. If the stone is too big, the prongs will be too small to grab it, if it's too small, it won't prevent them retracting and will just pass through the opening and into the body of the tool.

 

[toomuchB]

Well, it's all about how much the claw-prong-thingies open when they come out. It will be able to grab anything that would otherwise be possible to set in a 4-prong setting, I saw it used with various stones. Obviously, it won't work for anything too small or too big. But the mechanism is pretty versatile in its simplicity. There's a spring inside that keeps the prongs retracted. You push the button, thus exerting pressure on the spring, and the prongs come out - just like a push button pen. You grab a stone and it essentially prevents the prongs from retracting back into the main body. So it's limited by how much the prongs can open and how big the opening for them is. If the stone is too big, the prongs will be too small to grab it, if it's too small, it won't prevent them retracting and will just pass through the opening and into the body of the tool.

Appreciate all the details. I will order one! Maybe a 3 pronged one too which might suit trillion cuts more for example

 

[Bron357]

I have the claw thingy and it works well. Easier than keeping pressure on tweezers. I don’t recommend those gem holder rings. The claws aren’t well made and there’s considerable pressure exerted to hold the gem. So while diamonds and gems with a good girdle would be fine, I wouldn’t be using a gem holder ring on emerald, zircon or tanzanite.

 

[LilAlex]

I always use those super-skinny, black-lacquered reusable restaurant chopsticks. Never had a problem.

I also got one of these but it might be overkill

 

[kenny]

Oh @LilAlex
- Ella said we're not allowed post about our secks toys here.

Seriously ... about those claw thingie holders ...
I've seen them with both 3 and 4 claws.
It seems reasonable to me that each claw of the 4 claws one would exert less force on the stone than each claw of the 3 claw one.

Also, Amazon carries a wide variety of metal tweezers with rubber-coated tips.
Here's a pic from just one of many listings.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=tweezers+rubber+tip&adgrpid=1337006704529942&hvadid=83563158052452&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=78820&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=b&hvtargid=kwd-83563266774934%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=1615_13458127&tag=mh0b-20&ref=pd_sl_3z5bitfkm6_b

 

[toomuchB]

Seriously ... about those claw thingie holders ...
I've seen them with both 3 and 4 claws.
It seems reasonable to me that each claw of the 4 claws one would exert less force on the stone than each claw of the 3 claw one.

That is a very good point, it appears logical that 4 pronged is the safer way to go for this reason.
I was using rubber tipped tweezers when the stone got flung. I am just a klutz. I was even careful that if the stone dropped it would be on a towel a few inches below, but physics was not on my side.

 

[kenny]

Ah yes, holding the gem at four points around the girdle is more secure than only three points.

 

[toomuchB]

Ah yes, holding the gem at four points around the girdle is more secure than only three points.

I was thinking less of security (since I concluded that both versions are already relatively secure) and more about feasibility and comfort of holding less usual shapes, like trillions, when I wrote that. But point taken.

 

[toomuchB]

Thank you to everyone above who weighed in.


I bought the claw thingie around the time people started recommending it on this thread and it already arrived from Aliexpress.

Very happy so far. Pressure comes off as gentle enough yet firm enough. Its nice to not have to worry about accidentally dropping a stone as much as with tweezers. Now if the tips were coated with rubber they'd be perfect. Still, recommended

 

[Avondale]

Damn, and I'm still waiting for mine! Arrived in the country on Friday, still has to clear customs, and of course no one is working during the weekend.

 

[toomuchB]

Damn, and I'm still waiting for mine! Arrived in the country on Friday, still has to clear customs, and of course no one is working during the weekend.

Hoping customs will hurry it up. It'll be worth the wait!

The thinnest it could seem to hold was a 8x3.5mm stone, but I don't have smaller than that (meaning, mm size on one side - I do have stones that face-up smaller) other than melee. It can easily hold very large stones, but it fell short by a few mm on a 23x18 approx oval cab. I squeamishly used it to hold a 5mm red beryl with some surface inclusions successfully for just a few seconds. No negative effects but I am not confident enough that it should be used for something like that.

The contraction of the claws is not super smooth - at least in my model. So you need some care in slowly contracting the prongs around the stone so they do not suddenly close more than expected.

Here's a 'chrome' zoisite/tanzanite, unheated, about 9x6, 0.8ct (which I haven't admired in a while) in the claw thing. I had better photos but yeesh men have ugly hands. Indoors and outdoors.

https://imgur.com/a/0QlYblH

 

[toomuchB]

By the way... This is one of these claw things holding the Argyle Alpha, the largest vivid pink Argyle diamond ever at 3.14ct. I came across the image a few days ago when looking for more footage of this stone. What are the chances mine and @Avondale's came from the same place/manufacturer/etc?

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

For those without IG:

https://imgur.com/a/J8tyELG

 

[Autumn in New England]

While carefully admiring a stone with tweezers it flew across the room and got a tiny chip by the culet. Luckily its minimal and not visible face up - best to leave it as it and forget about the chip (pic of it through x10 attached below).

As for alternatives to tweezers, I've seen these ring-like holders but I've read on here they can put too much pressure and chip stones.
I've also seen these 4 prong holders, do they have a similar problem?




Happy to get advice, what you guys prefer, or learn of alternative options.
I realize admiring unset stones from a gem box is most secure but sometimes I want to play with them a bit more!

The chip:

https://imgur.com/mB2q6Tx

I have both your typical tweezers (coated and not coated) and @Avondale's claw thingie.

I prefer the look of stones in the non-coated, traditional tweezers, because the rubber coating can obscure things I want to see. My non-coated tweezers have a textured surface and also lock, which helps with security (so you don't squeeze too tightly or not enough). However, the coated tweezers may offer added security, so they're certainly a great option as well. The claw thingie is by far the most secure. I dance around the house all la-di-da holding that fella. There's just a bit more obstruction and it's difficult to examine the pavilion. But I'll take that over a mishap any day!

P.S. So sorry about the chip... it happens to the best of us. I dropped a big, beautiful apatite right out of the box once (and I didn't even have it in tweezers... just fumbled it).

Straight into the trash it went after having just paid. I never bought apatite again, BTW. lol I'm not cut out for fragile gems.

 

[toomuchB]

P.S. So sorry about the chip... it happens to the best of us. I dropped a big, beautiful apatite right out of the box once (and I didn't even have it in tweezers... just fumbled it).

Straight into the trash it went after having just paid. I never bought apatite again, BTW. lol I'm not cut out for fragile gems.

I would go through all the stages of grief if that happened to me. Sorry that happened!

On the topic of fragile gems. I was SO tempted to get this 1+ct Vanadinite which has since sold. Clean faceted vanadinite is almost unheard of, and that color is insane. To boot, the cut makes it look like a fancy colored diamond imo.

1.10 ct. Namibian Vanadinite - The Gem Trader Rare Gems — The Gem Trader

www.thegemtrader.com

With a hardness of 3-4 and brittle tenacity, I could not justify it. I would not dare hold it in my claw thingie.

 

[Avondale]

What are the chances mine and @Avondale's came from the same place/manufacturer/etc?

To be honest, "somewhere in China" is probably a safe assumption.

I love how this tool is now dubbed "claw thingie" regardless of the fact it has a proper name (prong gem holder, and yes, I specifically searched for it).

 

[Autumn in New England]

To be honest, "somewhere in China" is probably a safe assumption.

I love how this tool is now dubbed "claw thingie" regardless of the fact it has a proper name (prong gem holder, and yes, I specifically searched for it).

From this day henceforth, so shall he be known as claw thingie.