QuestionMy name is Joe, and i was wondering if you knew the durability of granite, more specifically making a ring out of it. im entertaining the thought of proposing to my girlfriend using a ring made from granite. i know granite can have differing levels of hardness, but would the ring wear though and crack or break? is it too brittle? would i eventually have to get a new one? basically, would it last for our whole lives.
what im thinking, and i dont know if this is even possible, but if it is i would like to know. i would like the ring itself to be a white granite, then have a winding groove put into it so there could be a yellow gold strip put in there. like spiraling around the ring like a screw. then having a setting for a diamond.
i hope that makes sense. would that be possible at all?
AnswerHi Joe,
While granite rings do exist, I can imagine these would not be as durable as rings made out of metal. The hardness of granite lies around 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs Scale, with diamond at 10. While that can be hard enough to make a ring, anything made out of granite can be prone to chipping. Gold and silver are relatively softer and more malleable, scratches and dings will eventually show overtime, but the possibility of chipping is almost nonexistent. You can also have metal rings cleaned and re-shined, but one granite is chipped there's nothing you can do about it.
Your design is certainly possible, but if it is a ring that your girlfriend will be wearing on more than a few occasions, and at the price of having it customized, you might just want to go with an all metal ring.
- Jonathon
http://www.brilliance.com
