{"id":5758,"date":"2013-12-20T12:27:05","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T17:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/?p=5758"},"modified":"2015-06-04T12:35:41","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T16:35:41","slug":"this-is-how-jewelers-chip-diamonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/this-is-how-jewelers-chip-diamonds\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS IS HOW JEWELERS CHIP DIAMONDS"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"blog-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/This-Is-How-Jewelers-Chip-Diamonds.gif\" alt=\"This Is How Jewelers Chip Diamonds\" title=\"This Is How Jewelers Chip Diamonds\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5763\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Some of the most talented Jewelers in the world can <strong>accidentally Chip a stone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>They can Chip it, Crack it, or even Fracture it in half. <\/p>\n<p>This is just a fact of life, <strong>it happens to the best of us<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>\nThere are three main ways that Jewelers (meaning <strong>Bench Jewelers<\/strong>) can Chip a Stone, they are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>By Crushing the Culet<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>By Setting them too Close to other Diamonds<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>By Tightening the Prongs<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\nSo let&#8217;s take a closer look&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><h2>1) By Crushing the Culet<\/h2>\n<p>\nThe Culet, is the point or very tip of the bottom of the Diamond. This tip is <strong>very vulnerable to damage and pretty easy to Chip<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>Jewelers can accidentally Chip or Crush this Culet if they <strong>push the Diamond too far into the mounting<\/strong> and the Culet bumps into the metal. This is a rare circumstance, but sadly it does happen and <strong>it can happen to you<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>And when it happen, most Jewelers are <strong>totally unaware<\/strong> that they even damaged the stone. Only upon closer inspection afterwards  (generally with a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0002OVC9W\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;creativeASIN=B0002OVC9W&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;tag=jewelry-secrets-20\">10x Loupe<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=jewelry-secrets-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=B0002OVC9W\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/> or under a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B008KPBD26\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;creativeASIN=B008KPBD26&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;tag=jewelry-secrets-20\">Microscope<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=jewelry-secrets-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=B008KPBD26\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/>) will they notice that the Culet is no longer perfect in shape, but it now has <strong>a jagged appearance<\/strong>. Like so&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Chipped-Broken-Crushed-Culet.jpg\" height=\"450\" width=\"640\" alt=\"Chipped and Jagged Diamond Culet!\" title=\"Chipped and Jagged Diamond Culet!\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<p>\nAnd if you pick your ring up from setting or repair, you may not even know it happened at all&#8230; Unless <strong>you microscope it yourself<\/strong>. That&#8217;s why I always advise, <strong>ALWAYS<\/strong>, to microscope your Diamond at the time when you pick it up (<strong>NOT After, Later, or the Next Day<\/strong>)&#8230; <strong>NOW! <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\nLook at your Diamond under the microscope, make sure that it has no Chips or Cracks or Fractures (at least any new ones). <\/p>\n<p>Granted, <strong>this should also be done when you drop your Diamond off<\/strong> as well so you can see the Before and After yourself. Check the Culet, make sure it looks fine. Because a Crushed Culet can be a visible dead center eye-sore for the rest of your life. <\/p>\n<p><h2>2) Setting too Close to other Diamonds<\/h2>\n<p>\nWhen Jewelers are setting Diamonds close together, <strong>side-by-side<\/strong>, as in a channel, often the Diamonds will push or rub up against each other and <strong>crush themselves<\/strong>. Like so&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Chipped-Diamonds-In-Mounting.jpg\" height=\"450\" width=\"640\" alt=\"Channel Set Diamonds Crushed in Mounting!\" title=\"Channel Set Diamonds Crushed in Mounting!\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<p>\nThis can happen because Diamonds are the most hardest natural substance on the face of the earth, so when one Diamond accidentally pushes up against another Diamond,<strong> it can crack it or break it in half!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\nMany mountings are designed to have Diamonds Side-by-Side, Touching, Flush together, or even Tension Set, Invisible Set, or Bezel Set, <strong>like in the examples below<\/strong>&#8230;. <\/p>\n<p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Diamonds-Set-Side-By-Side-And-Tension-Set.jpg\" height=\"450\" width=\"640\" alt=\"Side by Side Diamonds in Mounting!\" title=\"Side by Side Diamonds in Mounting!\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<p>\nA good Jeweler usually catches a Crack or Break, I mean, <strong>they are looking at the Diamond when it happens<\/strong>. But sometimes if the Chip is faint or small<strong> it can get missed<\/strong>. Which is why, again, you should microscope your ring when you pick it up from the Jeweler.<\/p>\n<p>\nLook at all the Diamonds. <strong>Check the edges well<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>If you see anything that you don&#8217;t understand, ask the Salesperson, or <strong>speak to the Manager<\/strong>. It&#8217;s your Diamond, <strong>you have a right to inspect it, and question it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>And this is something that needs to be done <strong>BEFORE you leave the store!<\/strong> Otherwise, it&#8217;s your word against theirs, and this is a situation that you never want to be in. <\/p>\n<p>So check it before, that way you have peace of mind and <strong>an undamaged Diamond<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p><h2>3) By Tightening the Prongs<\/h2>\n<p>\nProngs, are the little metal fingers that come up on the sides of your Diamond, fold over the top, and <strong>securely hold your Diamond down<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>\nProngs will not only wear down over time and <strong>need re-tipping<\/strong>, but they&#8217;ll also get Bumped, Bent, Caught, and Loosened. When that happens, your Diamond is more vulnerable to Chipping and Breaking, so a repair is absolutely needed. After all, <strong>it is the Prongs that are protecting the stone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\nSo when a Jeweler is fixing or repairing your ring, they often <strong>take pliers and squeeze the Prongs together<\/strong> (A Diamond should be tight, secure, and not spin or rock in the mounting).  But, they have to be very careful doing this, because, if they squeeze too hard, <strong>it can snap the stone<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>\nAnd you can tell this, by looking at your Diamond around the prongs <strong>that it&#8217;s been crushed<\/strong>. And these can be with regular Prongs, or V-tipped Prongs (which go around pointed Diamonds, like the Princess Cut or the Marquise Cut Diamond), it doesn&#8217;t matter. <strong>They all can Crush the edges<\/strong>. As seen here&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Prong-Too-Tight-Chips-Diamond.jpg\" height=\"450\" width=\"640\" alt=\"Prongs can Crush a Diamond!\" title=\"Prongs can Crush a Diamond!\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<p>\nSo check around your Prongs just to make sure they aren&#8217;t <strong>over-tight and Crushing your beautiful stone<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>For once a Diamond is Crushed, Chipped or Broken, <strong>you CANNOT fix the stone<\/strong>, you  have to recut the stone and <strong>make it smaller<\/strong> just to get rid of the damaged area. And re-cutting a Diamond can get pretty expensive&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Check out my post on<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/cutting-polishing-damaged-diamonds\/\">Re-Cutting Diamonds<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><h2>But, not all Broken Diamonds are done by Accident&#8230; <\/h2>\n<p>\n<strong>Some are Chipped on PURPOSE!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>It&#8217;s true!<\/strong> Just like any business in the world, you will run into <strong>a few unscrupulous individuals<\/strong> who go out of their way to be mean and spiteful. <\/p>\n<p>\nIt could be a disgruntled employee, someone who just had a fight with his boss or girlfriend. It could be a Jeweler who had a few beers during lunch, or a Jeweler who gets mad at the customer because they keep saying &#8220;<strong>It&#8217;s not Perfect enough<\/strong>&#8220;. <\/p>\n<p>There are many reasons why a Jeweler would want to chip your diamond&#8230; <strong>Maybe you bought your Diamond at a competitor<\/strong> and it pissed them off. You never know. The Jeweler could be cleaning your diamond, grab some pliers, and crack it (<strong>called Torquing<\/strong>) at the same time (which is why you should always go back to the <strong>same<\/strong> Jeweler that you bought the diamond from).<\/p>\n<p>This is scary and <strong>REAL<\/strong>, because you would take your perfectly clean diamond, put it on your finger, leave the store, and be extremely happy and none the wiser&#8230; Until a month down the road when you&#8217;re looking closer at your Diamond and <strong>you see that it&#8217;s chipped<\/strong>. Of course, the first thing you will think is &#8220;<strong>HEY, my Jeweler sold me a Chipped Diamond!!!<\/strong>&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p>\nAnd then guess what you would do&#8230; <strong>You would never shop at the Jewelry Store again<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>Instead, you would probably think of the last Jeweler that cleaned your rings so well (and was so nice to you) and <strong>take your business there<\/strong>. See how that works? It&#8217;s a shady way of <strong>stealing customers<\/strong>, and if you&#8217;re not careful enough, <strong>it could happen to you! <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\nSo always get in the habit of inspecting your Diamond under a microscope <strong>BEFORE<\/strong> and <strong>AFTER<\/strong> you pick it up from the Jewelry Store (<strong>and do try to stick to one Jeweler only!<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p>It only takes an extra minute or two to inspect your ring, but it could <strong>save your Diamond<\/strong>, and your <strong>Pocketbook<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>Get the point? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/This-Is-How-Jewelers-Chip-Diamonds.jpg\" height=\"800\" width=\"640\" alt=\"This is How Jewelers Chip Diamonds!\" title=\"This is How Jewelers Chip Diamonds!\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<p><strong>CHEERS! :)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Some of the most talented Jewelers in the world can accidentally Chip a stone. They can Chip it, Crack it, or even Fracture it in half. This is just a fact of life, it happens <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/this-is-how-jewelers-chip-diamonds\/\" title=\"THIS IS HOW JEWELERS CHIP DIAMONDS\">[Read More&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,29,3,16,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clarity","category-diamond-guide","category-diamonds","category-guides","category-jewelry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}