Mildly horrified at what I heard today at the jewelry store

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

So I was at my jewelers picking up a couple things, and I saw a really pretty setting in the display. It was a pave four prong ring, very similar to the WF Legato Micropave (except without the scalloped basket). I tried it on, loved it, tried on the matching wedding band, but then I made a comment about how even though I love it, when I get a ring I''ll most likely get a non-pave ring because I''d want to be able to just pop it into the ultra-sonic whenever I want. The woman working there (who is either new or really doesn''t know that much about colored gems and diamonds - not the one I usually work with) said, "oh it''s no problem. You can put them in the ultra-sonic as often as you want!"

And then she went on to tell me that one of the other women working there has a pave e-ring and w-band, and she cleans them in her ultra-sonic a couple times a week.

At this point, I''m mentally thinking, WTH? I thought it was VERY dangerous to put pave or micropave rings into a US because the stones can easily get loose and fall out - am I wrong?

 

[neatfreak]

IMO good quality pave can go in an ultrasonic. I do it all the time with my all pave wedding band. Is it a risk? Maybe. But my opinion is that the shaking an US does seems so mild that I don't think it would shake loose anything that wasn't about to fall out anyway. I'd rather it fall out in the US and me be able to recover it personally. I've had my wedding band a year and not one stone has fallen out yet.

But others are certainly more cautious.

 

[lyra]

Well, the store may not care if customers have to come back and *pay* for missing stones of course. No problem there usually.

I agree it depends on the pave work, and the amount of pave and all sorts of other issues. I do use the u/s and steam cleaner on mine. Probably only once every 2 weeks one or the other, and the rest of the time is just dip and brush. That''s probably way more than the average person who might just use the dip method once in a long time--lots of dirty rings out there I want to take home and clean for people!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Thanks Neatfreak and Lyra! That makes me feel a bit better - I was thinking about what they were doing to my colored stone rings I leave there for setting!

Lyra, funny enough, but the woman DID make a point of saying "well you can always bring it back here and we''ll replace missing stones...as long as it''s not normal wear and tear" etc.

 

[lyra]

Ooh, if you''re leaving coloured stone rings to be set, I would specifically ask them not to use the steamer or u/s on those unless they are willing to replace cracked stones. I know there is someone here who insists the store she uses *not* clean her rings before she gets them back for that reason. You can be as picky as you want to be about these issues, it''s your jewellery!

 

[elle_chris]

I agree with neatfreak. My hubby though gave me a long speech on how an ultrasonic works (i played dumb and let him ramble on), and said it was impossible that the stones wouldn''t become loose- sooner rather than later.