he is correct it does give 5-6 warnings before going to 0 dur, now once it hits 0 dura it will give a warning at top left it will say the max durability of item has decreased.
now if u leave it at 0 too long it will break in full and be lost
the easiest way ive found to do this without loosing gear is make sure everything but what your lowering dur on is at full dur, go to a secluded spot or a spot where people wont pk u cuz they think your afk and your gears gonna break etc. get a good group of 6-10 of whatever mob hitting you at once (my preferance is mag based mobs you can get more of them hitting you at 1 time) now just let them hit you heal when necessary but heres the fun part
be in a place you can scroll from
pull up your stat window and watch your dur when it gets down to 5 watch it closer when down to 1 keep an eye on it as soon as it hits 0 and the msg posts hit your scroll hotkey. i dont know how long after it hits 0 that you have but so far doing it that way i havent lost anything. if your unsure about it dont do it

of course use at your own risk, and if your unsure but wanna test take a **** item you pick up item hunting like boots for say where them and let them hit 0 dur then watch and see how long before they dissapear

enjoy