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Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

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Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#121

Post by godelski »

avhon1 wrote: post #109
notfed wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> diamond files on Amazon for under $10 Link? I'm skeptical. It seems more likely someone is abusing the term "diamond", no?

Sets like this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092D4CV56 are also sold in U.S. hardware stores https://www.harborfreight.com/needle-file-set-10-piece-69876... https://www.menards.com/main/tools/hand-tools/files/tool-sho... They are very cheaply made, but as far as I can tell are actually diamond. They're good for shaping glass and ceramics. For metal, you're better off using hardened steel files, but these ones will w…

I actually have that exact set. Yeah, they aren't high quality, but as far as I can tell they are diamond. They have that hardness and the filing is omnidirectional as one would expect.

Of course you can get much better sets that will last longer and are much more expensive. But I remember as a kid that trying to buy a diamond bit was quite expensive but most Dremel kits come with one and a wheel now

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#122

Post by SamBam »

kaashif wrote: post #84
gwbas1c wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's based on supply and demand. In 2012, when I was shopping for an engagement ring, a natural 2ct diamond cost $250,000. (I bought a 2ct moissanite for much, much less, and my wife is very happy with it.) When I looked in fall 2023, a natural 2ct diamond cost $20,000. That's a loss of over 90% of value, not counting inflation! (Now the supply of diamonds is much higher, and the demand for natural diamonds is much l…

> BTW, there is no such thing as an artificial diamond. A manufactured diamond is 100% diamond What do you believe the distinction between artificial and manufactured is? As far as I'm aware, they're almost synonyms. Dictionaries literally list "man made" as one of the definitions of artificial.

Indeed, "artificial diamond" is one of the top examples of the first definition of "artificial" at Merriam-Webster, which is "man-made." [1]

Etymologically it means "made by skill."

But I understand the hesitation to use the word, as it gives an impression of "fake."

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artificial

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#123

Post by godelski »

jdietrich wrote: post #120
notfed wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> diamond files on Amazon for under $10 Link? I'm skeptical. It seems more likely someone is abusing the term "diamond", no?

Diamonds are just dirt cheap. You can buy a set of ten diamond needle files for $8 on Amazon, or less than $2 in wholesale quantities. I have hundreds of grams of diamond in my workshop in the form of lapping compound; if you're so inclined, you could buy half a kilo of loose diamonds for a couple of hundred bucks. A wide range of very ordinary cutting tools are now tipped with big chunks of polycrystalline diamond -…

Same. I even have that set from Amazon and am happy with it. It's not the best, but there's always uses for cheap files.

Also this is the first time I've tried to go to ali from my phone and holy hell are they aggressive in trying to get you to use the app. And express links require login? WTF. It crashed my browser

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#124

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

Animats wrote: post #105

That's a good article. The whole history is there. The commercial side has made huge progress, too. Look up "diamond making machine" on Alibaba. You can buy a high-pressure, high temperature six sided press for about US$200,000. A chemical vapor deposition machine is about the same price. De Beers, the diamond cartel, has an R&D operation, Element Six. They sell synthetic diamonds for lasers and other exotic applicat…

This is certainly good news for lasers. Many people don't realize how good diamonds are for this. Transparent with a 65% higher refractive index than glass, and 8x the thermal conductivity of copper. And completely scratch-proof!

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#125

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

hintymad wrote: post #64
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #11

Over the past 10 years, there has been an explosion in cheap lab diamond and moissanite producers in China and India. 10 years ago, it was hard to find quality lab diamonds at a reasonable price, and moissanite was still reasonably expensive at $400-600/ct. Today, given cutthroat competition and "race to the bottom" pricing strategies, lab diamonds are ubiquitous, extremely high quality, and cheap. Less than $200/ct…

And I'd be very happy to see the demise of De Beers. It's amazing that De Beers can thrive for more than 100 years, but still, using clever marketing and tight control of supply to artificially jack up the price of diamond is counter-productive.

I have heard that they are the ones that made diamonds the engagement stone, and that was relatively recently.

My mother and grandmother had sapphire engagement rings.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#126

Post by [deleted] »

slm_HN wrote: post #62

"Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and vastly cheaper than mined diamonds. Beating nature took decades of hard graft and millions of pounds of pressure." What does graft mean in this context? Is there a process where you graft diamonds, like plants? Does it refer to the diamond seed crystals mentioned in the article?

[deleted]

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#127

Post by hammock »

Animats wrote: post #105

That's a good article. The whole history is there. The commercial side has made huge progress, too. Look up "diamond making machine" on Alibaba. You can buy a high-pressure, high temperature six sided press for about US$200,000. A chemical vapor deposition machine is about the same price. De Beers, the diamond cartel, has an R&D operation, Element Six. They sell synthetic diamonds for lasers and other exotic applicat…

Incredible, great info. We are now living in the Diamond Age.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#128

Post by hammock »

rowanG077 wrote: post #78
xhevahir wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think lavish spending on weddings and engagements is an "American phenomenon," you're badly mistaken. Read up on weddings in India, Armenia, Cambodia, Afghanistan...

There is a difference in going all out for an event vs spending all that money on essentially a useless rock.

When diamonds held their value they were a useful vehicle for dowry (and showing off your dowry). Now that they don't...an Instagram account with 100K followers might be a suitable modern replacement

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#129

Post by BeetleB »

xhevahir wrote: post #70
lo_zamoyski wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be an American phenomenon. Americans--women in demanding it, and men in acquiescing to it--are keeping this commercially confected "tradition" alive through a vanity bred and reinforced by corporate greed and consumerism. It's not that a diamond ring is bad per se. It's the artificial and frankly socially destructive stipulations around them. It's almost as if the marriage and future spouse were an afte…

If you think lavish spending on weddings and engagements is an "American phenomenon," you're badly mistaken. Read up on weddings in India, Armenia, Cambodia, Afghanistan...

While I agree with your point, I also agree with GP's point. The difference between you and him is what you consider "lavish".

For many, spending $20K on a wedding is "lavish".

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#130

Post by dboreham »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #125
hintymad wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I'd be very happy to see the demise of De Beers. It's amazing that De Beers can thrive for more than 100 years, but still, using clever marketing and tight control of supply to artificially jack up the price of diamond is counter-productive.

I have heard that they are the ones that made diamonds the engagement stone, and that was relatively recently. My mother and grandmother had sapphire engagement rings.

So did Princess Diana. Some of this is regional -- the US is the epicenter of marketing diamonds while other places don't value them so much.
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