Are pave settings bad?

[xandra]

Hello everyone. I am new to this but I have been reading the forum for a few weeks now. very helpful!

I have just begun my search for an engagement ring. I love the pave setting but some sources tell me that they are not of good quality. That they could pop out or the diamonds are poor. Is this true?

Also, are they practical? Any ladies out there who already have a ring with pave setting? how do you like it? Are they comfortable?

Thanks in advance!

 

[diamondlil]

Hello Xandra and welcome. I have a 8 mm wide pave wedding band which I have owned for about 7 years and have never had any problems with it. It's smooth to the touch, never gets caught on things, and the beads on magnification are very small. I do know that good-quality pave workmanship is not easy to find. I would suspect that a poorly crafted pave ring would be more likely to lose stones or catch on things frequently.




DiamondLil

 

[JennyN]

I have a pave eternity ring, and I love it! I get lots of compliments on it, and it sparkles like crazy. I would suggest making sure the pave is set in platinum. It's much harder & minimizes any concern with stones falling out.

I've had mine about 3 to 4 months now, and plan to take it in every 6 months or so just to have it checked out as an extra precaution.

 

[reena]

if pave settings are bad, then i don't wanna be good.

 

[chialea]

So, like any other jewelery, pave settings can be of bad quality, or set with bad quality diamonds. You simply want to be extra-careful with buying these settings (or at least I would), to be sure they are smooth, comfortable against your other fingers and hand, and secure.

 

[xandra]

Thanks for the reply!

I went to the jewelry store today & noticed that there are different types of paves. There are the ones that look like diamond chips that are sitting on top of the metal. And the paves that are large stones in a channel (which are absolutely gorgeous!)

Do I have to be as cautious with the large stone paves?

Thanks everyone!!

 

[xandra]

JennyN & DiamondLil,

I'm sure your rings are absolutely gorgeous! They accent the setting like no other.

 

[jenwill]

Aah- I think you might be confusing melee stones with pave. Pave is the setting that you saw with the little stones set 'onto' the metal- there are little beads holding them to the metal, but like diamondlil said- you only really notice them on magnification. Think of a paved road and the diamonds are pushed into the pavement.

The slightly larger stones set in the channel...thoses are probably melee stones that are channel set. Melee is a term for very small stones from 1 point (0.01) and up- at least I believe that is where the size starts. They are very commonly used in either a channel setting or in a prong/sharedprong setting- often in eternity bands.

When I first came to this site I was also thinking that everything that was small and covered the side of a ring was pave, but slowly but surely I am building up my knowledge!