Jewelry Blog

How can my diamond break?


Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man.  Hardness means the resistance to scratching not the resistance to breaking.  Diamonds are very resistant to breaking but if struck just right or hard enough the can and do break.  Normally we see breaking in the form of chips and rarely does a diamond break in half or shatter.  Chips normally occur around thin edge on the perimeter of the diamond.



What does karat mean?


Karat refers to the fineness of gold, or how pure it is.  Commonly we see 14 karat gold, this means 14 parts gold and 10 parts alloy for a total of 24 parts.  So 24 Karat gold is pure gold, 12 Karat gold is 50% gold.  The common gold karats, 22 Karat (92% gold), 20 karat (83% gold), 18 Karat (75% gold), 14 Karat (58% gold) and 10 Karat gold (42% gold).



What does carat mean?


Carat is a unit of weight used for weighing gemstones, originally based on the weight of a carob seed.  A one carat diamond weighs one carat, the carat is divided into 100 smaller units called points, so a 65 point diamond weighs .65 carats.  Because a carat is a unit of weight it does not always describe how large a diamond looks.  If a diamond is cut deep it will look small.  If a diamond is cut shallow it will look large.  There is a best relationship between the depth and diameter of a diamond (as well as other factors) that will result in the prettiest diamond, this is probably your best choice



Don’t waste your time pulling out the crown of your watch to save the battery


Consider that a battery lasts from 2-4 years in most watches and most batteries cost from $5-10 installed the battery cost is small.  And letting the watch sit idle may result in the oils thickening and the watch needing a cleaning, which costs a lot more than a battery.



What size is my finger?


We talk about finger size and that seems to make sense.  But really we mean (in most cases) knuckle size.  For most fingers your “ring size” is really your knuckle size.  The best fit ring is the smallest size you are comfortable getting over and back off your knuckle.  If you have large knuckles your rings may spin a little when on.  Solution is to put small balls inside the ring so the ring can be worked over the knuckle and the balls stabilize the ring once on.  A great solution (but costly) is to install an opening shank.  The bottom of the ring opens and then closes to fit your finger exactly.



Death to Your Jewelry


The single largest destroyer of gold is bleach.  Laundry bleach, bleach cleaners, hot tub water and to a lesser extent pool water.  Do not expose any type of gold to any type of bleach (chlorine and bromine included) period.  These compounds break down the alloys in gold resulting in stress corrosion.  A drop of bleach left on your ring overnight will make it fall apart.  Biggest fear compromised prongs and the loss of you precious gem.