What causes the tiny pits in my ring?
“We purchased our wedding set from Brian Gavin a little more than two years ago. I continue to get compliments on the diamond all the time. I just love my Brian Gavin Signature diamond! But I’m actually writing you to ask your advice about a ring that I inherited from my grandmother, there seem to be all these little pits in the surface of the ring. Would you happen to know what causes the tiny pits in my ring? Is there anything I can do to keep it from progressing? On a side note, do you have any recommendations for how I can clean my jewelry at home?”
Dings, Dents, Pits, Porosity and Your Ring:
This is one of those instances where a good photograph of the pits in your ring would be helpful in making a clear diagnosis, but it sounds like you’re seeing some porosity in the cast. Porosity is caused by tiny gas bubbles escaping the mold during the casting process.
Tiny pits in the surface of jewelry, is usually a matter of porosity. This is not something that you can prevent, since it occurred during the casting process. On a positive note, it’s not something which expands, so you don’t need to worry about it progressing. Severe cases of porosity can weaken the structure of your ring, but frankly that’s not something we see very often.
There are several factors that contribute to the presence of porosity during the casting process. Those include impurities in the alloy, a poor mixture of alloys, using old gold that has not been properly re-alloyed, improper temperature (too high, too low). Thankfully all of these factors are easily addressed by using alloys which have been properly refined, keeping casting equipment in clean working condition, and using state-of-the-art casting equipment, as we do at Brian Gavin Diamonds.
Tap, Tap, Tappity, Tap, Tap:
Another factor that can damage the finish of your ring and create dings, dents, and pits is tapping your ring on hard surfaces. Even tapping your ring against the steering wheel of your car, keeping tune with the song on your radio, might cause more damage than you imagine possible.
I’m reminded of something that happened a few years ago, a friend of mine was always complaining about the little diamonds in her wedding band falling out. From her perspective, there had to be something wrong with the design of the ring, because she never wore it while doing anything extremely physical. She took it off to clean house, exercise, and thankfully while she went rock climbing!
We were walking down the stairs one day, when I noticed that she was tapping her left hand, open palm down, along the metal stair rail. “Tap, Tap, Tappity, Tap, Tap” went her ring against the metal stair rail as we walked down the stairs… Suddenly it dawned on me, what she was doing to her ring! I stopped her and said “I think I know what is happening to your ring…” That did the trick actually! She hasn’t lost another diamond out of the ring since.
How to clean rings and jewelry at home:
You can follow the instructions provided in this blog post on how to clean your engagement ring to clean rings and other fine jewelry items. Be sure to have your jewelry inspected by a qualified master jeweler once a year, to ensure the structural integrity of your pieces. The jeweler can professionally clean and polish your jewelry at that time.
