Diamond ring setting: 4 or 6 prong?

Gort · Post by **Gort** » Thu May 05, 2011 12:49 pm

Friends,
If you were to purchase a 1 carat solitaire diamond ring, would you get a 4 or 6 prong setting? The 4 prong seems to show more of the stone but would a 6 prong setting be more secure?
Thanks,
Gort

skibbi9 · Post by **skibbi9** » Thu May 05, 2011 12:51 pm

good luck on it

i went with 4 prong on her engagement ring.

leod · Post by **leod** » Thu May 05, 2011 1:11 pm

i went for 4 prong as well

midareff · Post by **midareff** » Thu May 05, 2011 1:19 pm

Four on a 1 carat is usually enough.

frugalhen · Post by **frugalhen** » Thu May 05, 2011 1:25 pm

It is up to you. As a fairly recent ring buyer, I was informed it does not necessarily make a diamond more secure to be in a 6 prong setting. I believe the insurers do not view it differently from an underwriting perspective as well.

touchdowntodd · Post by **touchdowntodd** » Thu May 05, 2011 1:25 pm

my wife works in jewelry, and i can safely say that 60-70% of rings out there worn daily have damaged prongs... bent, dented, weakened somehow...

she sees them ALL the time that fail..

her center stone is a 1.25 carat emerald cut.. i started off with 4 prongs (before she started in the industry) ... and she almost went with 6 to keep it stronger, hers are bent to where they need repair every 6 months or so even though she is VERY carefull with the ring, this is normal... in the end we switched it to a 4 prong "basket" setting which basically has another set of bars between the base and the diamond that run parrelel to the diamond, strengthening the prongs greatly..

since dooing that she just had her prongs repaired for the first time in about a year..

i bought her ring from the jewelry store she ended up getting a job for , and they are GREAT.. she is fully covered for a free replacement center stone if she ever was to lose this one.. and our insurance would cover it as well

however, most women value the initial stone more than any others, being that it has the actual meaning to it, etc... i would talk to a goldsmith.. the amount of prongs needed varies widely on the cut of the stone as well as the actual setting.. go with waht they say, salesman rarely take time to learn these ins and outs..

better safe than sorry, and have the ring looked over every year or so by a goldsmith you trust.. those prongs twist holding these largely overvalued stones up in the air!

pochax · Post by **pochax** » Thu May 05, 2011 2:07 pm

or go with harry winston as they have a special "8" prong setting (which is really 4-prong but each "prong" is doubly reinforced). their settings are very nice.

masteraleph · Post by **masteraleph** » Thu May 05, 2011 3:21 pm

My wife has something like what touchdowntodd is describing, with the basket setting, though the basket part is fleur de lis shaped on the side.

Something else you may consider if you're doing white gold is having a platinum head, since the prongs will be less likely to break.

serbeer · Post by **serbeer** » Thu May 05, 2011 3:21 pm

I purchased 4 prong ring. A stone got loose a bit in what, 5 years since then, I had to take it to jeweler to re-tighten. but it would have to get much more loose to fall out. It just was not 100% immobile and my wife notice that.

jmbkb4 · Post by **jmbkb4** » Thu May 05, 2011 3:35 pm

Just go w/ the setting that you like the best.

The old wive's tale that the 6-prong setting is stronger/more stable has been proven false many times.

As far as a material, definitely want a platinum setting.

jones · Post by **jones** » Thu May 05, 2011 4:32 pm

My engagement ring was a 3-prong pear. After shopping at several stores I realized the diamond was gone from the setting. The jewler replaced the stone but changed to 5-prongs. If prongs are bending. it is better to fix the problem before the stone is falls out.

TxAg · Post by **TxAg** » Thu May 05, 2011 4:37 pm

4 Prong all the way

Easy Rhino · Post by **Easy Rhino** » Thu May 05, 2011 6:09 pm

Whatever it was my fiancee wanted.

staythecourse · Post by **staythecourse** » Thu May 05, 2011 6:23 pm

I would second the suggestion of getting a high quality prong made from platnium.

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the place I bought the band said they cover the stone if their prong loosens and is the reason for the lost stone. Not sure if anyone has experience trying to collect on this point.

Either way, don't fret. You are more likely to lose the ring or have it stolen then the stone just "falling" out.

Good luck.

touchdowntodd · Post by **touchdowntodd** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:40 pm

Easy Rhino wrote:Whatever it was my fiancee wanted.

i take the opposite approach .. my wife had nothing at all to do with the choosing of her ring... i know her very well, so i knew her tastes.. and long before she thought i was going to ask i was shopping.. i looked for 4-6 months before settling on a set i liked .. i was just going to go custom but something told me to walk into a local owned jewelry store and look, and i found something that was PERFECt..

i never asked her cut, style of band, nothing.. and she loves it even more for that.. she always gets compliments and is so proud to say i did it on my own and she would never change a thing.

i broke this down to a science by figuring out her ring size from other jewelry, then mapping out her finger 2x life size, measuring the band width and center stone size i thought would look best, converted it to carats and went looking for a ring set.. worked out GREAT.. LOTS and LOTS of time, and i know more about diamonds than i care to admit, but im very proud of myself and she is too for taking the time and knowing she is well worth the effort

touchdowntodd · Post by **touchdowntodd** » Thu May 05, 2011 8:45 pm

ps- paladium head not platinum.. platinum is just like gold, too maliable...

biasion · Post by **biasion** » Thu May 05, 2011 8:53 pm

Long term it doesn't matter. Once you have children, you won't be wearing many rings, trust me!

burgrat · Post by **burgrat** » Thu May 05, 2011 9:01 pm

jmbkb4 wrote:The old wive's tale that the 6-prong setting is stronger/more stable has been proven false many times.

I don't know about this. I do know that if you get a 4-pronged setting and you lose that diamond, you'll wish you had gone with the 6 prong. If you get the 6-pronged setting, at least you can say that you did all you could and it'll be your wife's fault it got lost! Think ahead young man!

Ziggy75 · Post by **Ziggy75** » Fri May 06, 2011 9:51 am

I chose the bezel setting for my wife. It's sturdy and the diamond will never fall out. At least I hope.

teacher · Post by **teacher** » Fri May 06, 2011 4:29 pm

DH designed my very unique engagement ring. It has 8 prongs which makes it look like a crown. He is from England so it is fitting his princess should have such a ring.

Word of caution:
We had the diamond appraised but not insured. I had the ring cleaned at various jewelry stores in a couple shopping malls over the years. Once, I needed a prong repaired and the jeweler did a quick appraisal which stated the value was a tiny fraction of the value of the ring documented in the full appraisal. When I questioned it, he showed me a flaw in the diamond which could been seen with the naked eye. The diamond had been switched. I decided to live with the faulty diamond due to other priorities. Our homeowners insurance covered a couple thousand which DH saved and added to over the years without my knowledge. On my 60th birthday, he presented me with a new spectacular crown jewel.

kingsnake · Post by **kingsnake** » Fri May 06, 2011 10:01 pm

Look at Pearlmans website...great reviews on rockytalky forum....I bought a Ritani bevel set halo for my wife from Jason there. It was much less expensive than the traditional brick and mortars...(although Pearlmans is a store in Grand Rapids Mich)...anyway...I bought the stone sight unseen except for pictures and Jasons recs for most stone for the money...bottom line is it is amazing....the same level of sonte (CCCC) in my local store was 3K alone just for the stone....plus hell ship it out of state and you may avoid sales taxes