How hard is it to burn a diamond?

[bling]

and would you notice it..obviously? i recently had prong work done and now my stone is not looking the same. im hoping its all in my head..but i would like to make sure. Thanks

 

[niceice]

By "burn" we assume that you are referring to what we would call "frosted" or "glazed" which would make your diamond look all frosty kind of like a windshield on a cold winter morning... Afraid we don't have a picture at our disposal to show you what we're referring to, but perhaps somebody else will post one. It takes "talent" to do that, it usually results from "quenching" the stone in really cold water when the head got too hot. It can be polished off usually without much loss of weight.

Let's hope that your diamond just looks different because it's really clean... and you maybe got used to it looking kind of dirty? We see that one a lot.

 

[bling]

i have to admit..that my ring is always clean..hehe..im a clean freak when it comes to my jewerly. would i be able to notice obviously while looking at it through a 10x loupe? when i do, its clear..no frost. it just looks frosty on the outer edges of the stone when i look at it on office lighting..about a foot away. am i seriously just making this up in my head? maybe im just paranoid to have anyone work on it? uuhg....i wish someone could just let me know. i also had it sonicated and pickled while at the jeweler. since the girdle is bruted..it needed some help to remove the black residue left behind on the girdle. could the sonicating or pickling have had a bad effect? thanks for the help

 

[bling]

would it turn yellow...or more dingy looking..

 

[zeytoun]

from what i've seen, yes. Like dingy yellowy-brown-clear soap scum.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Diamonds are pure carbon which when heated to red or white hot in the presence of oxygen turns into Carbon Dioxide (ie it burns).

Ususally the outside goes a frosty white color.
It happens in house fires.

It should not happen when a diamond prong is being retipped 'in situ' (in the setting), even though the diamond gets red or white hot because the jeweler will coat the stone in a mixture of boracic acid (white powder) that is applied in metho, which is burned off. the white powder then coats the diamond evenly and as heat is applied with an open very hot flame, the boracic acid melts into a glze that coats the stone and stops it being in contact with the air (oxygen).

If the Boracic is contaminated, or insufficient is applied, or it is rubbed off, the diamond can and will burn.

There are also other patent fluxes that perform the same job.

 

[bling]

wow..thanks for the info..well, i am a well known paranoid diamond person, but from what everyone has said here..it seems to be fine. Thank you all again for putting my mind at ease.

 

[StevL]

To add a little to Garry's post a water torch (which turns h2o into hydrogen) can be used. With this torch a much smaller flame can be used since the flame is much hotter than with natural gas, LP gas, or Acetylene. The heat can be kept more directed to the prong and the gold will flow much quicker (giving less time for the heat to spread and cause damage).

And the newest method is to use a laser welder. The heat is directed with pin point accuracy to the prong, the diamond remains cool to your touch. You can even tip prongs on colored stones without fear of damage, but this comes with a cost of about 25 to $30,000 for the welder. Many stores do not have these yet, but when the price falls some you will see more jewelers jumping on this technology.

Now, knowing we can turn water into hydrogen at a very small expense, why don't we have automobiles running on water?? I know, then water would be $2 a gallon

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

We saw a European "arc welder" that also does spot welding without heat transfer Wink - have you trialed it?
The dealer never cam back for us to trial it in our workshop.

We would love a laser welder - but as you say, we are waiting for the price to come down. Amazingly they are common in Indian jewellery factories.

 

[CaptAubrey]

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On 5/25/2004 5:31:57 PM StevL wrote:





Now, knowing we can turn water into hydrogen at a very small expense, why don't we have automobiles running on water?? I know, then water would be $2 a gallon

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this is why:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy4.htm