Ronald wrote:
Hello all,

Here's another crazy question. I just talked to a jeweler who tells me
a solid 14k gold ring has some rhodium plating at the diamond area to
improve upon the setting strength. In other words, he says the rhodium
helps keep the diamonds secure.

This is a mens channel set diamond ring.

I've never heard of rhodium being used to strengthen a setting. Because
rhodium wears away in time, wouldn't the setting be compromised?

Am I a naive rookie and is this common or is someone telling me
something funny?


The jeweller in principle, may not be overstating the case, it will
depend on the thickness of the plating.
there is a parrallel here to the use of bright/hard nickel plating on
softer metals like copper , brass and the like.
This metal when plated is extremely hard and strong, in some
applications doubling the strength of the under lying metal.
As Ive mentioned before im not a stone person, but in this example ie
channel setting its unlikely to add any strength unless the setting is
very thin.
In a prong setting it might just increase the strength of the prongs
quite considerably.