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Has Anyone Made an Artificial Diamond Ring?
DiamondRingThing asks: "I know that diamond engagement rings are a recent fabrication, and the two months salary required to obtain one is ridiculous. Diamonds are pretty however, and evil never keeps a good hacker down. I'd like to be able to give a diamond to my girlfriend that I know was forged just for her, without any blood on it, and without giving any money to DeBeers. That's why I won't buy an artificial diamond from a jeweler, as I suspect the cartel is involved at that level. Does anybody know anyone that has made their own diamond to set in a ring? How's the cost, and the quality? Thanks in advance."
If your conscience is bothered as much as mine is by the horror stories of the diamond-mining industry, there are always the Canadian alternatives.
I have found there are just two ways to go.
It all comes down to livin' fast or dyin' slow. -REK, Jr.
Moissanite.
My wife likes the sparkle, especially under standard indoor lighting. It really is more colourful and brighter than a diamond, but only costs a fraction of the price. Maybe one third the price, around here.
Of course, if your gal is one of those "but it's not a DIAAAAAMOND!" girls, you're SOL.
Not really - Please cite your source.
Although their fingers are in there a little, their participation is minimal. If you're looking for "clean diamonds", Canada is the way to to go:
Canada's current production comes from two mines: the Ekati Mine, owned by BHP-Billiton (80%), Chuck Fipke (10%) and Stewart Blusson (10%), has over 100 kimberlite pipes on its property, of which eight are considered economically viable and will likely be mined. The projected mine life for Ekati is 21 years (including the past five years of production,) and is expected to produce a gross value of approximately $9.5 billion (C).
During its initial three years of operation, BHP Diamonds Inc. (now BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc.) sold 35% of its production to the De Beers Diamond Trading Company (DTC). That contract ended in 2002 and BHP-Billiton markets most of its all Canadian production on the open market.
source: http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ps/nap/diamin/dianarr_e .html
It' POSSIBLE to do it. You need some expensive equipment and a three phase hook up but you COULD do it.
Were I going to attempt it I'd do something like the following (now there is a HOWTO on the net...):
*Buy very small perfect diamond
*Buy LPCVD machine
*Buy various carbon based gasses
*Use DOE to tweak the tuning (my bet is that you need some combination of CH4 and CCl4 and a really high temp setting with the pressure at 1/1000000 ATM; even then it's probably going to be really slow)
*Grow small diamond into larger diamond
*Buy cutting tools
*Separate the larger diamond into smaller ones
*Repeate grow + separate until CVD machine is full
*Harvest diamonds
Est Cost: $85,000
The policy of the United States is worse than bad---it is insane. -- Ludwig von Mises, Economic Policy(1959)