MAKE YOUR RINGS LAST LONGER

Last longer?

WHAT?

It’s true. You could be shortening the life of your rings, and don’t even know it.

Until NOW!

You may have never thought about how long your rings or jewelry will Last, but I assure you, with these tips, you could probably make them last a lifetime.

So let’s take a closer look at 12 steps that will give your rings some needed backbone and support.

1) Get a more Durable Metal

If you like rich gold, like 18kt (which is very popular in other countries), then don’t expect your jewelry to stick around forever.

Anything higher than 14kt is pretty soft and malleable. It’ll bend easily and show scratches quickly.

It’s better to stick to a more durable metal like 14kt, or even 10kt gold.

Or, just skip gold all together and opt for platinum, stainless steel, tungsten, or titanium (all much more durable metals).

Those are metals that will last a lifetime.

And if you’re thinking about sterling silver…

FORGET IT!

Not only does silver bend too easily, but it’s way too soft to hold any diamonds in an engagement ring.

Plus, silver will tarnish and turn your skin black.

Not cool.

2) Buy the Real Deal

If you buy costume jewelry, it won’t stick around for long. Costume jewelry is plated, fragile, often glued together, and adorned with cheap stones (like CZ’s) that will dull up fast and break.

If you want it to last, buy the real stuff, and stick with diamonds. Nothing’s harder than a diamond (nothing natural that is).

3) Width and Thickness Matters

The more heavier, wider, or thicker your mounting is, the more life you’ll get out of them.

Skinny, dainty bands tend to bend up and snap.

Keep the mountings solid, thick, and heavy, and you’ll never have to worry about them crushing when you pick up a 6-pack.

4) Keep a Low Profile

Low profile mountings tend to take less beating. If you set your stones down into basket head mountings, tension set them, or put them into bezel settings, then they’ll be protected, and much harder to whack.

P.S. You can also request lower heads as well. Have the jeweler set the stones lower and you won’t be banging them.

5) You’re Wearing them WHERE?

If you wear your rings on your inner fingers (not your pinky finger, index, or thumb), then you won’t be smacking them around as much. Plus, they won’t get so scuffed up and scratched. Any finger towards the outside of your body takes the most abuse. :)

6) Get is Sized Correctly

If your ring is too big, or if it spins around, you’ll bend it and break it more often. A ring that fits better doesn’t get squished, dinged, broken or dented.

7) Solder your Rings Together

If your bridal rings aren’t soldered together, then they’ll constantly be rubbing against each other and wearing each other down.

Soldering them as one makes them more durable and solid.

If you never wear them apart, then solder them, and not only will they look better (never gaping or rotating), give you less aggravation (never having to adjust them), but they’ll feel better as well (no separating or pinching your skin).

This is also true for different rings on different fingers as well…

If you wear a ring on one finger, wearing a ring directly next to it on another finger will make them rub up against each other and wear each other down (especially if one of the rings is platinum and the other gold).

Move your ring to a different finger to keep the friction down.

8) Prongs Prongs Prongs

There’s a lot to be said about prongs…

The more prongs you have, the more you’ll have to maintain them: straightening, cracking, bending, breaking, lifting, snagging (which means, the more prongs you have, the more it will cost you in the future).

So not only should you check your prongs often to make sure they’re heavy, solid, and secure (buy yourself a 10x jeweler’s loupe so you can see them in detail), but you should get the tips of the prongs rebuilt every 7 years or so (more or less depending on how rough you are on your jewelry, if the prongs look flat, get them retipped!)

After all, you wouldn’t want to lose your precious little jewel, now would you?

P.P.S. If you buy a 6 prong head, it’ll be more durable than a 4 prong head (and you’ll be less likely to lose a stone).

Safety counts.

9) Take Them Off

If you’re hard on your jewelry, maybe it’s time to remove your jewelry before you lift weights. Eh?

Active people, or people with physically demanding jobs can really do a lot of harm to their rings. Remove these rings if you want to keep them. Because filing cabinets are death to engagement rings.

And I won’t even talk about mechanics, construction workers, or furniture movers… (they should buy themselves a Silicone Wedding Ring instead).

10) Who you calling a Bleach?

That little bleach…

…Will certainly hurt your gold.

Bleach is a Gold Killer!

Seriously! It breaks down the structure and integrity of your ring and pits your gold and prongs. Your ring will become brittle, weak, and crumble. OUCH!

People who work around bleach or laundry should remove their rings FIRST, or their beautiful diamonds will fall right out of the mounting. Bye, Bye, VS2, E Diamond (my favorite quality of diamond).

11) Clean Your Rings

Clean the dirt, debris, crud, hand lotions, hair sprays, perfumes, and whatever goo you dunk your hands into, because it’s ruining your rings.

It dulls them up, scratches them, and makes your rings deteriorate faster.

Cleaning them on a regular basis, like once a week (set a reminder in your smart phone), and they’ll look better, sparkle more (fancy that), and yes, last longer.

12) Buff Them Less Often

There are some people that bring their rings in every couple of weeks to have them professionally buffed and polished.

I can’t blame them either, who doesn’t like their jewelry to look brand new again?

But…

It’s eating off layers of gold!

Yep, every time you buff them up, the layers come down.

So keep the buffing and polishing down to a minimum (like twice a year).

It’s fine to clean them, like in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner, but limit the time on the polishing wheel and they’ll stay thick, durable, and on your finger.

Now you know.

Cheers! :)