08-01-2005, 06:01 AM | #1 (permalink) | |
Devoted
Donor
Location: New England
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Synthetic diamonds
In the Ladies' Lounge, there's a current thread about engagement rings. In the middle of the thread, Sage has a post where she mentions
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08-01-2005, 06:09 AM | #2 (permalink) |
Getting it.
Super Moderator
Location: Lion City
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On a side note, there was a lengthy article in Wired a year ago or so that examined the two methods for producing syntetic diamonds. Here is the archived story: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.htm
My wife has always said, she doesn't care if the diamond is real or not... just that it is pretty. As for real diamonds, there is all the issues surrounding where they come from... many come from places that sell the diamonds to support war. If you can, ask for Canadian diamonds. They are just as nice and their proceeds don't go towards spilling more blood...
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08-01-2005, 07:52 AM | #3 (permalink) |
Tilted
Location: BloNiag
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i haven't read anything on the topic in quite some time, but aren't synthetic diamonds very yellow/orange in color?
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08-01-2005, 10:55 AM | #4 (permalink) |
Junkie
Moderator Emeritus
Location: Chicago
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I remember that Wired article....
I've seen some synthetic diamonds, they don't look bad, and unless you have a jewelers loop, you will not see a difference, they have the same color and clarity, and from everything I have read - PRICE as real diamonds. I personally, wouldn't pay a high price for something fake, if I could get the real thing for the same price. I personally prefer estate style jewelry, rather than new stuff... I have diamond studs that belonged to my great aunt and have no guilt or anything for wearing them.
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08-01-2005, 12:00 PM | #5 (permalink) |
Lover - Protector - Teacher
Location: Seattle, WA
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I remembered the Wired article AND had it bookmarked :
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html It's advanced a bit from that article.. they're definitely able to be made clear now, and much cheaper. I don't know how much the price difference is, but I'm pretty sure if I ever "tie the knot" I'll go with synthetic diamonds: so geeky, I like it!!
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08-01-2005, 06:28 PM | #6 (permalink) |
hoarding all the big girl panties since 2005
Location: North side
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Alrighty- I'm a jeweler's apprentice, and the jeweler I'm studying under has bought/showed me some synthetic diamonds. She's got a HUGE one that she paid about $6 for. That's right, $6. At least a carat. Anywho, apparently there's only two differences between "real" and "synthetic" diamonds- one is a little heavier than the other per carat weight (she didn't remember which one) and, if the diamond has a flat side on it and you put it down over words (like over the page of a book) you can see words through a synthetic diamond and you can't through a natural diamond. Otherwise, there's no way to tell. I'm particularly excited about this because I really like diamonds but don't like the price/ the DeBeers Cartel stuff.
If you guys have any more questions PM me or something, and I'll ask my master.
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08-02-2005, 06:59 AM | #8 (permalink) | |
Shackle Me Not
Location: Newcastle - England.
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..or, if anyone has a particularly large diamond lying around, could they post it to me so I can try it myself? |
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08-02-2005, 07:26 AM | #9 (permalink) |
Getting it.
Super Moderator
Location: Lion City
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The reason, if I remeber correctly, that the words can be read is because synthetic diamonds are perfect. Real diamonds, even the best, have flaws in their matrix.
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08-02-2005, 10:55 PM | #10 (permalink) |
is awesome!
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Wow after reading that Wired article I'm not sure why anyone would want a mined diamond. I can't wait for the synthetics to become widely available. With a little competitive market pressure they should become really cheap.
I liked how that the one jeweler could identify the synthetic diamond by the fact that it was too perfect. |
08-03-2005, 05:10 PM | #11 (permalink) |
hoarding all the big girl panties since 2005
Location: North side
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You know, that totally makes sense now..
anywho, my master (and I call her that because I don't really know what to call her... I'm an apprentince... so I guess she's the master...) makes stuff with the synthetic diamonds- she keeps calling them CZ (cubic zarconias) but they're not, because you can put them in the ultrasonic cleaner, which you can't do with CZ. I think it's just shorthand for her so she doesn't have to call them "synthetic diamonds" which takes a long time to say. "Now I am the master and you are the learner"
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Sage knows our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's She answers hard acrostics, has a pretty taste for paradox She quotes in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus In conics she can floor peculiarities parabolous -C'hi
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08-03-2005, 10:57 PM | #13 (permalink) |
Pickles
Location: Shirt and Pants (NJ)
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Then again with all those synthetics around the price for real diamonds may go up. We have been mining diamonds for a long time now, im suprised the market isnt flooded with them already to be honest. I mean its not like they decompose or are edible.
There's tons of industrial applications for diamonds. The more perfect the better. So cheap synthetics are a really good thing. I never really understood why anyone would pay so much for a shiny rock anyway. *shrugs*
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08-04-2005, 04:05 AM | #14 (permalink) | |
Mjollnir Incarnate
Location: Lost in thought
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And diamonds do slowly "decompose" back into the graphite form of carbon (we're talking millions of years, though). |
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08-04-2005, 05:47 AM | #15 (permalink) | |
Devoted
Donor
Location: New England
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I've noticed something similar with the semi-precious stones. Some of them are quite pretty as well; however, the settings for them usually look (and are) cheap. That's why I'm wondering if I can get high-quality jewelery settings with synthetic diamonds. I guess I'll just have to ask a local place directly.
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08-04-2005, 06:24 AM | #16 (permalink) |
Getting it.
Super Moderator
Location: Lion City
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Redlemon... you can get what ever you want. Just get it done custom. It really isn't that expensive.
I designed a ring for my wife for our 10th wedding anniversary. When we were married I bought her an antique ring for about $100 dollars (a lot to me at the time - she later had it appraised and it turned out the diamond was very good and it was valued at $1100). To make a long story short. The band was weak and it broke. I took the ring to a jewler who melted it down, added some more white gold, a few more diamonds and viola! My design came to life. The cost of the creation was a few hundred dollars. The cost of the new diamonds was a little bit more.
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08-04-2005, 02:37 PM | #17 (permalink) | |
Cracking the Whip
Location: Sexymama's arms...
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Diamonds are neither expensive nor rare. But like Bill Gates beating down Apple, like VHS winning over Beta, DeBeers has managed to pretty much corner the diamond market, control the price AND make everyone think that they NEED a diamond. Now the big push for them is to make the synthetic stones somehow "fake" or somehow "lesser" than the natural ones. BS cubed. Dug out of the ground or made in a lab, it's the same damn mineral. I would by a lab made stone in a second.
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08-04-2005, 05:00 PM | #18 (permalink) |
pow!
Location: NorCal
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My wife loves her diamond because it adorned my grandfather, whom she loved dearly. Had he worn a fake diamond, a garnet, a ruby, or a chunk of quartz, I think my wife would have wanted it in her ring.
I think jewelry should be personal and meaningful. The world is full of empty-headed gits sporting big diamonds and Rolex watches. They have no comprehension of what is truly precious and what is tripe.
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08-04-2005, 08:16 PM | #19 (permalink) |
unstuck in time
Location: Nashville/D.C.
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pressure + heat + graphite= diamond mmmmm
the field of diamond-cell physics has really been helped by the cheap method of making the hardest material known to man if you put enough heat on a diamond you can get it to turn back to graphite... try it with your wife's wedding ring
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08-05-2005, 10:29 PM | #20 (permalink) |
Go Cardinals
Location: St. Louis/Cincinnati
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A diamond is a diamond is a diamond. If it was made in a lab, or naturally over a million years, the process is exactly the same. Heat + pressure + graphite (ie carbon) = diamond!!!
If you are cheap, buy her some graphite and tell her its the same mineral.
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08-06-2005, 07:12 AM | #21 (permalink) | |
Psycho
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08-06-2005, 01:14 PM | #22 (permalink) | |
Devoted
Donor
Location: New England
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Quote:
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08-10-2005, 12:14 AM | #23 (permalink) |
Twitterpated
Location: My own little world (also Canada)
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Haha oh man Redlemon. That's a balsy joke to play. Could leave you solo at the dance.
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08-15-2005, 07:36 PM | #24 (permalink) |
Beware the Mad Irish
Location: Wish I was on the N17...
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A Diamond as Big as the Ritz...
I always liked this verse to the James Buffet not so classic Ritz Big Diamond...
--------------------------------------- COAL UNDER PRESSURE SPARKLE OF TREASURE CRYSTALLINE MEASURE ORNAMENTAL PLEASURE IN THE CORNER OF YOUR EYE MAKE A GROWN MAN CRY ALL THE SEEDS YOU'VE SOWN GREED CAN CRUMBLE CASTLE WALLS GREED CAN PURCHASE YOU THRILLS POWER IS A DANGEROUS THING IT CAN MAIM IT CAN KILL IT WAS A DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ WHAT YOU GONNA DO WITH THIS, TELL ME WHO'S GONNA SAVE YOU WHEN YOU'RE A SLAVE TO THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ
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08-16-2005, 10:55 AM | #25 (permalink) |
Psycho
Location: maybe utah
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One of the best synthetic diamonds out there is Moissanite.
Cool article on Moissanite with pictures and graphics About the only way you can tell the difference is with a special measuring tool that they show on the third page of the article. It's almost like a diamond in that there are small internal flaws and the color is clear. You could get a one carat Moissanite that normally would cost 3-5,000$ if it were a diamond for around $500. There are websites specifically devoted to Moissanite gems and jewlers who specialize in it. I can get a platinum one carat tiffany copy ring made of Moissanite for around $1200. At Tiffany's it would be around $7000. Click here to see the copy ring I never bought a diamond engagement ring for my wife because I don't believe in them. (We have platinum wedding bands from Tiffany) I've thought of buying her a platinum Moissanite Tiffany copy, but I'm not sure how it would go over (no little blue box.)
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diamonds, synthetic |
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