shared prong eternity stronger than channel set?

[justjulia]

Forgive my amateur ignorance, but I was wondering... I read recently about Sundial''s stones falling out of an eternity band (and honestly can''t remember if it was shared prong or channel) and looked down at my shared prong eternity with a little trepidation...

anyway, I thought about the Roman arches, bridges and how the arch and brick work actually reinforced the arch to stay together. My ring is shared prong and I am thinking that this design by nature is keeping the whole thing intact better than say a channel set ring would. Can any experts here comment on this idea? Okay, there isn''t outside pressure going in, which is the whole premise of the Roman idea I guess, but still, perhaps the shared prongs are shifting altogether instead of independently and this helps?

I''m pretty harsh on my eternity; wear it every day for everything. Never lost a stone. Knock on wood.

 

[stone-cold11]

Shared prongs are weaker in the sense that it will loose stones easier if the band is deformed. The prongs cannot still be applying the same holding pressure to stones on both sides so most likely one or both stones held down by the shared prong will be loose.

 

[stone-cold11]

Date: 2/18/2009 7:23:01 AM
Author:justjulia
anyway, I thought about the Roman arches, bridges and how the arch and brick work actually reinforced the arch to stay together. My ring is shared prong and I am thinking that this design by nature is keeping the whole thing intact better than say a channel set ring would. Can any experts here comment on this idea? Okay, there isn''t outside pressure going in, which is the whole premise of the Roman idea I guess, but still, perhaps the shared prongs are shifting altogether instead of independently and this helps?

The arch idea is the same as an egg shell, apply a force uniformly on the shell from the outside, it is difficult to break, but not from the inside as you can easily imagine how a weak newly hatched chick can break out of the egg.

 

[strmrdr]

it is actually a reverse arch(upside down) which is a weak design.
channel is much stronger.

 

[strmrdr]

Here is the force diagram for an arch vs a reverse arch holding a diamond.
That should say blue is force applied and where it is vectored.

 

[justjulia]

Thanks Stonecold and Strmdr.

 

[Todd Gray]

Date: 2/18/2009 7:23:01 AM
Author:justjulia
I''m pretty harsh on my eternity; wear it every day for everything.

My stomach just flipped

Jewelry is designed to be delicate looking, which means that it actually is delicate and should be treated as such. I know that people like to wear their jewelry "all the time" and think that they should be able to, but in reality jewelry is not designed to hold up to all the abuse people subject it to.

Did you know that clapping your hands together (applause) is actually quite destructive to your jewelry? It seems like such a simple, harmless activity. But every clap of your hands is like a tiny percussion grenade upon your jewelry, it''s one of the best ways to loosen diamonds that I know - definitely equivalent to a nice long bath in an ultrasonic - especially if you happen to be wearing rings on opposing fingers and the bands are clanking together.

I love the graphics provided by Strmrdr, let''s think of some ways to pop the stones out of your eternity ring... All you have to do is apply a little pressure to the arch and change the arc of the "suspension bridge" so to speak, it doesn''t take a lot of pressure - maybe the kind of pressure that would be applied against the surface of the ring while working out? All the weight being pulled or pushed during a workout is not just applied to your body, it is applied directly to the surface of your ring!

What about people who like to "tap to the music" while driving? Or grip the steering wheel a little too tightly? Or slam there hand down upon the steering wheel in frustration at the traffic? Or hold the handle of a ski rope while water skiing or wake boarding? Yep, you guessed it... All the tiny diamonds go POP - POP - POP!

And then people walk into the store with their ring all upset because the diamonds fell out and tell the clerk across the counter "I don''t know what happened, I never did anything to the ring!"

Don''t stress over whether a prong set or channel set eternity ring is better, wear whatever style appeals to you and your lifestyle. Just be a little nicer to your jewelry and don''t wear it for everything, remove your jewelry when working out, gardening, cleaning house, packing moving boxes, doing the dishes (oh yea, porcelain is a GOOD ONE!).

Who can guess which profession is one of the hardest on jewelry? I''m going to answer because I might not get back to this thread... Education - because teachers slide their jewelry across paper grading papers all day and the structure of the paper is a lot like sand paper. Who would have thought?

 

[bsts]

justjulia,

i found you here through a search on google when looking for info about closing pierced ears. i was wondering if you ever got this done? i know you posted about it nearly three years ago but i wanted to hear about your experience if you had it done.

sorry about writing this here but i couldn''t find a way to message you directly.

thanks,
beth

 

[Sundial]

Julia it so nice to "see you" again. I missed you when I was away from pricescope! My eternity ring is the Tiffany Swing three row and it has both round bezels and marquise shapes with the little round diamonds held in by tiny prongs. It is actually the bezel set stones that have fallen out. Like Todd mentioned my local bench jeweler cautioned me about wearing an eternity ring on a daily basis because of the abuse it takes. He also felt that because the ring is platinum it is more prone to bending and allowing a stone to pop out.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 2/18/2009 12:31:37 PM
Author: Todd Gray

Date: 2/18/2009 7:23:01 AM
Author:justjulia
I''m pretty harsh on my eternity; wear it every day for everything.

My stomach just flipped

Jewelry is designed to be delicate looking, which means that it actually is delicate and should be treated as such. I know that people like to wear their jewelry ''all the time'' and think that they should be able to, but in reality jewelry is not designed to hold up to all the abuse people subject it to.

Did you know that clapping your hands together (applause) is actually quite destructive to your jewelry? It seems like such a simple, harmless activity. But every clap of your hands is like a tiny percussion grenade upon your jewelry, it''s one of the best ways to loosen diamonds that I know - definitely equivalent to a nice long bath in an ultrasonic - especially if you happen to be wearing rings on opposing fingers and the bands are clanking together.

I love the graphics provided by Strmrdr, let''s think of some ways to pop the stones out of your eternity ring... All you have to do is apply a little pressure to the arch and change the arc of the ''suspension bridge'' so to speak, it doesn''t take a lot of pressure - maybe the kind of pressure that would be applied against the surface of the ring while working out? All the weight being pulled or pushed during a workout is not just applied to your body, it is applied directly to the surface of your ring!

What about people who like to ''tap to the music'' while driving? Or grip the steering wheel a little too tightly? Or slam there hand down upon the steering wheel in frustration at the traffic? Or hold the handle of a ski rope while water skiing or wake boarding? Yep, you guessed it... All the tiny diamonds go POP - POP - POP!

And then people walk into the store with their ring all upset because the diamonds fell out and tell the clerk across the counter ''I don''t know what happened, I never did anything to the ring!''

Don''t stress over whether a prong set or channel set eternity ring is better, wear whatever style appeals to you and your lifestyle. Just be a little nicer to your jewelry and don''t wear it for everything, remove your jewelry when working out, gardening, cleaning house, packing moving boxes, doing the dishes (oh yea, porcelain is a GOOD ONE!).

Who can guess which profession is one of the hardest on jewelry? I''m going to answer because I might not get back to this thread... Education - because teachers slide their jewelry across paper grading papers all day and the structure of the paper is a lot like sand paper. Who would have thought?

Very nice post, Todd! I am extremely aware of my rings and try my best to keep my rings from coming into contact with anything! I try not to grab anything with my left hand. I am a teacher but thankfully have no papers to grade!