Horrifying near miss!

[Rowan]

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson long ago when my daughter flushed my wedding band down the toilet, but...I set my ring on the bathroom counter today and knocked it into the sink! I came this close to losing it down the drain!

God, I would've been so ill...

 

[BonnieCWJ]

Yikes! But all's well that ends well. Years ago, my dad lost a nice diamond tie tack down the drain in a hotel, but I don't think he and my mom made that big a deal out of it. I would have had maintenance in there tearing apart the plumbing.

I'm glad your ring is safe.

 

[diamondlil]

I have often worried (obsessed actually) about doing the same thing myself. I already decided if it accidentally goes in the drain, just do not turn on the water. Then I can have my handy-hubby disassemble the trap and retrieve my jewels.

DiamondLil

 

[Rowan]

Bonnie thanks, and my hubby better be down that drain retrieving it!

 

[WinkHPD]

I once repaired a ring and had the diamond repolished after it went through the disposal. It went through the trap and came to rest about an inch from dropping into the main pipe down into the bowels of the house and the sewer, on more little inch and goodbye forever to Mom's heirloom diamond of over 2cts.

The plumber made a hook out of a coat hanger and VERY carefully extended it until he could hook the stone and drag it back from the edge of disaster. Luckily she only lost a few points to repair the damage from the disposal.

Congratulations on your near miss, it is sooooo much better than a heart break!

Wink

Funny aside, the tanzanite ring had less damage to it than the diamond, go figure... (They were in a cup next to the sink soaking and got dumped into the sink by the guy doing the dishes. See what happens when we guys try to be helpful!)

 

[Rowan]

Yikes! At least you were able to save day!

 

[WinkHPD]

Not me, the plumber! I just put it back together...

Wink

 

[Rowan]

A joint effort then.

 

[WinkHPD]

I always knew you were smarter than the average bear!

We had a real trap, water went into a 5 gallon tank and out the other side from the top of the tank. After about three years we cleaned out the sludge, found a few tiny diamonds and about $400 worth of gold dust that had settled out from all the times when we dumped the ultrasonic in the sink.

Wink

 

[Beth]

Rowan, what is the center stone in the ring in your avatar? That is a really pretty feminine ring.

 

[WinkHPD]

Yes, I was wondering that too! It is very attractive.

Wink

 

[Rowan]

HeeHee, it's actually a pink CZ, but I dream of having something like that in real diamonds someday when I strike it rich.

 

[valeria101]

----------------
On 8/8/2004 12:41:17 AM Wink wrote:



After about three years we cleaned out the sludge, found a few tiny diamonds and about $400 worth of gold dust that had settled out from all the times when we dumped the ultrasonic in the sink.

----------------

If you know what goes into the ultrasonic and about how often, these could be the definitive stats on what cleaners do to jewelry.

I bet there is no other record out there.

Thanks for the very funny post!

 

[WinkHPD]

Well we cleaned every thing in the ultrasonic, except things like tanzanite, opal and emerald of course. When making new jewelry you buff the ring with a corundum rough to bring it to a shine and then finish it off with a smaller grit rouge to bring it to a high shine. When you put a newly polished ring in clean ultrasonic solution you can see a cloud of black emanating from the ring, sort of like an octopus squirting ink.

There are tiny particles of gold in that ink. We cleaned out the ultrasonic at least twice a week and poured the water down the sink and through our trap. Occasionally you would loose a 1 or 2 point diamond and not be able to find it or know for sure whether it was in the ultrasonic or on the floor somewhere, it was cheaper to replace them than to continue looking if you had not found it in ten or fifteen minutes. Any thing larger than that and you kept looking, although we did loose one .10ct diamond that we never did find. When I say a few, we are talking about three or four over the three year period, and less than two ounces of gold, not a lot. I had visions of recovering thousands from my trap, but it was NOT to be.

Wink

 

[Jennifer5973]

Good grief! I would have had a stroke.

 

[WinkHPD]

over the .o1 to .02's or the .10? Take away that silly little . and I would still be there looking!

Wink

 

[Jennifer5973]

Oops, sorry, Wink--I was referring to any of my stuff falling down the drain. It might have killed me.

I had a .05 stone fall out of a ring and I could't find it...But my jeweler replaced it at no sharge so it wasn't too stressful!