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>Buying diamonds for jewelry is honestly really dumb at this point. Indeed, my fiance was completely happy with sterling silver and a white sapphire. It's a ha

>Buying diamonds for jewelry is honestly really dumb at this point. Indeed, my fiance was completely happy with sterling silver and a white sapphire. It's a hand-carved design (lost wax) and it cost me less than our recent trip to the zoo and in her own words "I don't have to worry about being nervous about losing some dumb expensive ring, this one is perfect". Sure, over time the sapphire will scratch a lot easier and get cloudy but we're talking about a few dollar stone. It can easily be replaced.

thaumasiotes 7y ago
> Sure, over time the sapphire will scratch a lot easier Huh? The sapphire will scratch easier... if you spend a lot of time rubbing your hand against diamonds. Sapphire is one of the hardest stones there is. It's the 9th point on the (ordinal) 10-point Mohs scale, with 10 being diamond.
- chopin 7y ago
  You don't know her friends though. They might wear all rings covered with diamonds.
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    I think at the point where everybody's wearing rings with set stones, they mostly stop fist bumping.
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  Chemical exposure in normal household settings (chlorine bleach, lemon juice, ammonia), diamond on sapphire, sapphire on sapphire etc. Just chlorine exposure over time (swimming, doing household cleaning) can actually weaken sapphire to the point of disintegrating. Remember, precious and semi-precious stones are just fancy chemical compounds.
- mnw21cam 7y ago
  I have a tungsten carbide wedding ring, which also rates 9 on the Mohs scale. It's totally scratched up around the outside, and shiny around the inside, after ten years. And I'm careful to take the ring off before I use abrasive materials such as sandpaper and diamond sharpening tools.
JoeAltmaier 7y ago
That one is a keeper. Here's a similar story: https://hackaday.com/2013/05/20/adding-leds-to-an-engagement-ring/ https://hackaday.com/2013/05/20/adding-leds-to-an-engagement...

thaumasiotes 7y ago

> Sure, over time the sapphire will scratch a lot easier Huh? The sapphire will scratch easier... if you spend a lot of time rubbing your hand against diamonds. Sapphire is one of the hardest stones there is. It's the 9th point on the (ordinal) 10-point Mohs scale, with 10 being diamond.

chopin 7y ago
You don't know her friends though. They might wear all rings covered with diamonds.
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  I think at the point where everybody's wearing rings with set stones, they mostly stop fist bumping.
ryanmercer 7y ago
Chemical exposure in normal household settings (chlorine bleach, lemon juice, ammonia), diamond on sapphire, sapphire on sapphire etc. Just chlorine exposure over time (swimming, doing household cleaning) can actually weaken sapphire to the point of disintegrating. Remember, precious and semi-precious stones are just fancy chemical compounds.
mnw21cam 7y ago
I have a tungsten carbide wedding ring, which also rates 9 on the Mohs scale. It's totally scratched up around the outside, and shiny around the inside, after ten years. And I'm careful to take the ring off before I use abrasive materials such as sandpaper and diamond sharpening tools.

JoeAltmaier 7y ago

That one is a keeper. Here's a similar story: https://hackaday.com/2013/05/20/adding-leds-to-an-engagement-ring/ https://hackaday.com/2013/05/20/adding-leds-to-an-engagement...