The prong setting is the most popular and commonly used setting for diamond rings. This setting is exceptionally good at enhancing the brilliance and shine of diamonds. You can choose it if you want to showcase your diamonds in a stunning way without interrupting their visibility.
What Is Prong Setting?
In a prong-set ring, the stone is held using small claw-like structures (called prongs) made of metal. As these prongs are small, they do not reduce the visibility of your gemstones. Additionally, as this setting showcases the stone in a brilliant way, more light can enter the diamond thereby maximizing its brilliance and shine.
The prong setting is commonly preferred by people who want an enhanced sparkle for their ring. However, there can be some problems associated with this particular ring setting too. As the stones are held only using small claws in this setting, the chance for them to become loose in the settings can be high. Therefore, there can be a greater risk of losing your costly natural or lab grown diamonds if you do not maintain your prong-set ring carefully. So it is important for you to inspect your ring to find out any loose or broken prongs. This can help to avoid losing your precious gemstones.
Benefits Of Prong Setting
The prong setting can offer several impressive advantages when compared to other ring settings. Some of them are mentioned below:
- The prong setting uses less metal when compared to other ring settings. Hence, it can be less costly.
- As this setting does not hinder the visibility of diamonds, it creates a perfect option to show off your costly gemstones.
- This setting allows maximum light to flood into the stone thereby creating exceptional sparkle and brilliance.
- As this setting is highly versatile, it is possible for you to create customized ring designs with it.
- Prong-set rings are easy to clean and maintain.
Drawbacks Of Prong Setting
- The protection offered by this setting to the gemstones can be low in comparison with many other ring settings.
- It can easily snag on clothing and other everyday things.
- As a major portion of the diamonds is exposed with this setting, they can be more vulnerable to chipping and fractures, as the force can be directly delivered to the stone if you hit or bump your ring somewhere.
In short, choose the prong setting if you want a ring setting that can showcase your stone and offer better brilliance and sparkle. But if you give more priority to the protection of your stones, then it is better to go for some other settings like bezel and channel.