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WHY YOUR PRONGS KEEP BREAKING

WEAK, BRITTLE, BROKEN JEWELRY PRONG PROBLEMS

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Why Do Your Ring Prongs Keep Breaking?

We had a customer come into the store complaining about a broken prong on her diamond engagement ring.

“It broke again!”

She had the ring for only 8 months and already had 3 of the prongs fixed.

For some reason, they kept breaking, bending and snapping off the mounting.

She wanted to know why it happened and how to stop them from breaking.

“Why are the prongs breaking?”

Some people are naturally hard on their jewelry. Some people never take their rings off and beat the crap out of them. So normally, I tend to believe it’s the customers fault at first, and that they hit them and didn’t realize it. Customers are always saying things like “It just broke by itself!” Yeah… Right!

Is it a bad mounting?

Granted, every now and then there will be a “lemon” mounting (just like cars).

That’s a mounting that just happened to get a bad casting. It can happen. Air pockets and bubbles get into the gold. Alloys don’t mix right. It’s rare, but could happen.

Sometimes it’s also the jewelers fault. Maybe they carved too much out of the prong while setting the stone? Those weak spots can cause a prong to snap off, sure.

Sometimes jewelers catch a prong on the polishing wheel while buffing it. That can cause small cracks in the prongs and make them break easier.

Maybe their torch wasn’t hot enough? Maybe the ring had stress marks? That can make it become brittle and weak. A good inspection of the ring and prongs with a microscope or a 10x jeweler’s loupe could normally spot these indications and warning signals.

Even dirt could erode prongs.

It could also be the fact that the customer didn’t clean their rings enough.

Dirty rings could actually erode and eat away at the metal prongs and gold. So keeping your rings clean could actually prolong their lifespan (Get yourself an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner).

We tell customers all of these things that could be making the prongs become weak and snap off…

“No!” She’s not buying it!

She says she regularly brings her rings in for cleaning and inspection all the time. She takes good care of them. She doesn’t hit them. “It’s happened 3 times already…

Finally we ask her what she does for a living…

She says that she works in a laundromat.
“A laundromat? Does that mean you work with bleach?

She smiles and says…

“Every single day!”

“BINGO!”

That’s why her prongs are breaking off! It’s bleach.

Bleach will absolutely kill your gold.

If it comes in contact with gold, it can weaken the mounting, pit your band, eat away at the prongs and virtually destroy a beautiful diamond ring.

So heed this warning: DO NOT MIX BLEACH AND GOLD!

Stay away from any contact with bleach and other harsh chemicals.

Remove your rings if you do laundry…

Once our customer started taking her rings off at work, she never had another broken prong problem again.

It was that easy.

So if you have prong problems, say NO to BLEACH!

Cheers! :)




Recommended Jewelry Supplies:

Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner Jewelry Steam Cleaner Complete Jewelry Cleaner Kit Diamond Dazzle Stick
Gold Silver Jewelry Polishing Cloths Jewelry Making Supplies Kit Gold Acid Test Kit Watch Tool Repair Kit
Ring Adjusters EMT Emergency Ring Cutter 10x Jewelers Loupe Jewelers Microscope

Recommended Jewelry Supplies:

Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner Jewelry Steam Cleaner
Complete Jewelry Cleaner Kit Diamond Dazzle Stick
Gold Silver Jewelry Polishing Cloths Jewelry Making Supplies Kit
Gold Acid Test Kit Watch Tool Repair Kit
Ring Adjusters EMT Emergency Ring Cutter
10x Jewelers Loupe Jewelers Microscope

2 Comments on WHY YOUR PRONGS KEEP BREAKING

  1. Judy Brothis // November 8, 2020 at 5:50 am // Reply

    Not a comment…but a question I hope you can help me with. I have had my ring for over 52 years and have checked it myself as well as regularly had it inspected for damage, having repairs made when necessary. I noticed that several of the tips were worn and took it to our longtime jeweler who suggested the new head. Just 2 months after the head was replaced, I was devastated when I saw that 3 of the 6 tips had broken off of the prongs and my engagement diamond was gone! We have a meeting with the jeweler on Monday and wonder if you could give me any reasons as to why this could have happened. I think I would have realized if I had hit it hard enough to make 3 tips just break off. I never had this happen before. Any previous problems were always worn tips or bent prongs. Thank you in advance for any insight you may have regarding what might have happened. Judy B

    • Gail Calluori // March 7, 2022 at 11:23 am // Reply

      Hi Judy – I just read your question from 2020 about your ring prongs – did you ever get a satisfactory answer from your jeweller? My ring is 30 years old and I’ve never had an issue until 2 years ago when a prong came up and my diamond came out..luckily I found the diamond 6 wks later on my driveway! However, in the last year and a half, a prong has come up 3x’s and it has been repaired a total of 4 times at the same jeweller (in 2 years). Could it be shoddy repair? Age and stress on the gold? Appreciate any insights you have learned.

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