setting question

[PreCiouSJeWeL920]

Does anybody know that if it is ok to have the diamond set so low that the culet touches the bottom? The jeweler who is setting mine told me that it would not hurt the culet. If that is true I am going to let it pass. Otherwise he would have to extract the diamond and reset it. I guess that I made the wrong choice in using him. Everytime he corrected some problem then another came along. I am just so tired of it. Thank you in advance for your advice.

 

[caratgirl]

Oh, tough situation. If he does change the prongs for the diamond to sit higher up, he would have to retip the prongs, and they may not look very good. Are you positive that the culet is touching, not just very close? Does the setting have a hole at the bottom, directly under the culet?

When I was having my stone set at the designer's shop, I asked them to set it kind of low, but not too low. I was worried that if I ever gave it a really hard knock from the top, that the culet might be forced into the solid metal bottom and get chipped. All three setters laughed very loudly, then one said 'platinum is a very soft metal, the metal would not damage the diamond. You would end up with a hole in the metal instead.' I have a hard time with knowing whether or not to believe that, so maybe an expert or two could weigh in with their opinions.

 

[LadyJ]

Platinum being a very soft metal?? That contradicts everything I thought I knew based on my small amount of research in all of these matters. If that was true then why go with plat over wg?? I was convinced that I wanted plat for the durability. I would love to see what others have to say.

 

[finchuck]

I'm guessing it's a soft metal in comparison to the very hard diamond.

 

[Griffin]

>Platinum being a very soft metal?? That contradicts everything I thought I knew based on my small amount of research in all of >these matters. If that was true then why go with plat over wg?? I was convinced that I wanted plat for the durability. I would >love to see what others have to say.

That is a long running argument with proponents on both sides, LadyJ.

Some think platinum is popular all of a sudden because it is supposed to be a superior jewelry metal, while others think it is currently so popular because of a conglomerate of platinum producers doing little things like a $4 billion plus ad campaign directed at consumers to force demand from the industry regardless of whether it has problems as a jewelry metal.

In either case, plat is the in thing right now. Even if it took convincing the public that WG jewelry dissolves in water, melts in direct sunlight, and explodes on contact with polyester....

 

[valeria101]

I am sorry it had to be a headache... The stone is safe, as long as your finger is! Given the position of the stone in setting, the culet will never bump into the surface the ring is on, so it is safe - but you do not want it INTO your finger.

All in all, I have no idea wether you just found a perfectionist for a jeweler - which is great - or a troblesome setting - which is not all that great. The only thing I would definitely not like is having one setting readjusted several times for one reason or anther: it is almost never a good idea to alter the shape of a cast setting too much or too many times; it's integrity and shape will probably be altered. At some point, the whole thing just has to be redone. I have no way to tell whether this is the case with your ring. Details such as uneven or thin prongs, off-round ring band, solder marks near the prongs or on the band (due to repeated resizing) would be reasons for me to ask for having the seting recasted rather than tinkered with. Again, this is theory. I hope your ring is not in this situation...

 

[valeria101]

----------------
On 2/28/2004 8:27:13 AM Griffin wrote:

>

In either case, plat is the in thing right now. Even if it took convincing the public that WG jewelry dissolves in water, melts in direct sunlight, and explodes on contact with polyester....----------------

These are jokes, right

There is some note on GIA's site that white gold is harmed by household cleaning substances (no mention on concentrations, reaction conditions and other unimportant details like these

)... but I thought it was seeing things....

 

[PreCiouSJeWeL920]

Thank you all very much for your help. I think I am just going to leave it alone. He did say he has to retip the prongs. I will see how it looks when I get it. Thanks again!