bending platinum rings?!

[slg47]

i've read a few posts from users who have bent their PT rings...is this a common problem? Is there a good way to avoid this? (someone posted his wife's Tacori recently and it was bent like CRAZY)

just...wondering if this is common or a more rare occurrence

 

[septsparkle]

I saw that Tacori, I don't know how in the world she did that. It's a decently sized ring width wise, so to do damage like that, I'd think you'd be in some pain. LOL.

My rings have been platinum. First sitting was a tiffany style solitaire, then the 3 stone. I have not had any problem with them getting bent. These days I try to remove my rings during work, but I work on engravers and sewing machines, etc. so I use my hands all day, smack them around quite a bit, knock them into metal hardware and machines all day and have never bent mine...I also am midway through renovations on a 100 year old house. I've used wrenches, drills, screwdrivers, saws and sanders just to name a few...while wearing my e-ring and I've never had an issue. Now, scratches...that's another story, but bending? Nope.

 

[WinkHPD]

I have not seen the ring in question. Since the search feature is not fully functional yet can you give us a link?

Wink

 

[Daisi2112]

I would imagine it's quite tough to bend a platinum ring as platinum is a tough metal. Mine has been banged around a little but it has only scratched (which you can fix by getting it repolished - the metal in platinum just displaces itself, you don't actually lose any metal if you scratch it).

 

[stone-cold11]

I have not seen the ring in question. Since the search feature is not fully functional yet can you give us a link?

Wink

Wink, this link. https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-wife-bent-her-tacori-help.146166/

 

[slg47]

oh thanks stone, just found it and was going to post. isn't that scary?!??!?!

 

[stone-cold11]

Everything bends or breaks if you hit it hard enough, personally I prefer bending to breaking.

EDT:
If it breaks, you will have a hell of a time trying to find the stone. Anyway, that is where insurance comes in.

 

[clgwli]

I'm one who has posted my shank and up towards the stones were bent and it was a platinum ring. In order to fix the ring I would have needed it reshanked as well as work done on the side stone prongs (though the side stones were not big). The cost to do this was significantly more than what I paid for with the ring and given a stone was cracked (gemstone) I scrapped the ring.

I had issues with that shank bending and I had it fixed more than once. It was not a wide shank at the bottom as it was very tapered but honestly I will not buy platinum again partially because of that. I have vintage white gold with slim shanks and none have ever been that deformed. I did have to reshank one ring since there was a small crack in it and it couldn't be resized with out fixing. The crack was not a complete through the shank, but enough with the location that it needed to be repaired and reshanking was the easiest fix. Given that ring was from 1925 and worn daily by my relatives to the point that filigree was in need of repair too, I can't say that was bad.

I don't expect others to have this problem if they have more substantial pieces, but when I combine the issues I had with my dislike of the weight of platinum, I'm not a fan.

ETA: I now wish I had taken pictures of my ring before I scrapped it, but it never occured to me to do so.

 

[slg47]

do you remember the dimensions of your band?

 

[clgwli]

The center stone was 5x7mm with some floral scroll work going down the shank a little. The widest part of that was about 3mm before it went to the "head" and it tapered to just under 1.5mm. I don't know how thick that was though.

 

[Michael_E]

is this a common problem? Is there a good way to avoid this?

It is a common problem for platinum rings which are thin in any direction, (this includes longish prongs as well). Platinum is tough and strong but it is not nearly as stiff as white gold alloys. To keep it from bending requires that the design of a ring be a bit thicker and possibly be heat treated as some platinum alloys can be made stiffer through heat treatments. Mostly though it just requires good design in areas where bending occurs most often. This particularly important in the prongs of a ring. Most people hear that platinum is the best metal to hold a stone securely, but if it's held in prongs and they are long and the same size as prongs made of white gold, then the wearer can run a greater risk of losing a stone by having a prong bend, (platinum rarely breaks).

Remember that the way you use the piece is what really determines what sort of stress it receives and what kind of life expectancy it will have. Those old, lacy, vintage platinum pieces stayed in nice condition mostly because they were only worn on special occasions and were put away when their owners were being active. If you're going rock climbing, remove your rings.