Tungsten carbide rings

[MillCreek]

Huh.  And for all these years, I just thought of tungsten carbide as lining the inside of my Lee dies.  I saw an article today on the Net, and it turns out that tungsten carbide wedding rings are very popular now.  They are apparently impervious to just about anything short of a nuclear blast or electric arc furnace.  I also did not know there were such things as titanium wedding rings.  Owning a number of titanium firearms and a lovely titanium road bike, that sounds very interesting.  If Ms. MillCreek ever trades me in on a younger model or something, I will have to edumacate myself as to the current options! 

[Marnoot]

I just got married in February and considered tungsten carbide. We ended up going with a brushed titanium with black carbon fiber inlay because I liked the black weave pattern. To stave off any "they'll have to cut off your finger!!" comments, most ERs (including the pediatric ER my wife is a nurse at) are equipped with equipment to cut off titanium, etc., rings.

[Balog]

I traded my gold band in for ti after enlisting; didn't want to scratch it up during training. I should note they can (or could at the time anyway) be found dirt cheap on ebay and similar places. I think my band cost ~$30 with shipping.

[Gewehr98]

I couldn't wear a wedding ring during my flying career.

My wife got me one after I retired.

It's titanium, with a hammered finish, so I can beat the snot out of it without hurting the appearance. 

Pretty neat, actually.   

[GigaBuist]

I traded my gold band in for ti after enlisting; didn't want to scratch it up during training. I should note they can (or could at the time anyway) be found dirt cheap on ebay and similar places. I think my band cost ~$30 with shipping.

You can scratch a Ti wedding band pretty easy.  I've got a ton on mine from lifting weights with it on, and I've only been married 2 months.  I'm sure they'd buff right out though.

I found out this weekend that I wear the exact same (Ti) wedding band as one of my brother-in-laws.  He married one of my wife's older sisters about 6 years ago.  Kinda funny, I thought.

[BrokenPaw]

I considered Titanium and Tungsten Carbide, since I'm allergic to all flavors of gold.  But BrokenMa and I wanted our bands to match, and her engagement ring was white gold.  So mine's platinum.

The Ti rings are nice, but they lack a decent "heft", which is aesthetically displeasing to me (they feel like plastic toys out of a quarter-machine at the grocery store).  The TC ones are nice and heavy and look a lot like hematite, which I think is really cool.

One thing to keep in mind with either of these newfangled ring materials is this:  They can't be resized, ever.  So if you gain or lose a significant amount of weight, the ring would have to be replaced instead of adjusted.

Ti can't because there's no way to resize it without leaving a visible seam, and TC because it's not really a metal as much as it is a sintered ceramic, so it can't bend at all without fracturing.  At least that's my understanding.

-BP

[Nick1911]

I have a tungsten carbide ring.  I like that it will simply fracture instead of deforming.

I wonder it if came out of the same Chinese factories that all my carbide tooling came from? 

[BrokenPaw]

I have a tungsten carbide ring.  I like that it will simply fracture instead of deforming.

Bet you a dollar that any force that would cause a Tungsten Carbide ring to fracture would then keep on coming and cause a certain amount of deformation in your finger...   

-BP

[FTA84]

The general obsession with hard metal rings is based on an incorrect thought process.  People wanted Titanium because it was harder and would scratch less.  Thing is, Titanium does scratch.  So out came Tungsten carbide.  However, it also scratches.  The sad fact is the following:

Every metal scratches: Softer metals scratch easier but show the scratches less.  Hard metals scratch less but show the scratches more.

I have a Titanium band because I have a severe allergy to nickel.  Titanium contains the strongest nickel bonds of typical jewelry alloys. Thus, making it the ideal choice for my condition.

[Balog]

You can scratch a Ti wedding band pretty easy.

Yeah, I found that out. However, better to scratch the ~$30 ring than the gold one. :)

[Nick1911]

Bet you a dollar that any force that would cause a Tungsten Carbide ring to fracture would then keep on coming and cause a certain amount of deformation in your finger...   

-BP

Truism.  But, at least the ring wouldn't pinch down and cut off circulation.

It's a fairly moot point for me though, as I have a strict "no jewelry" rule when working in the machine shop.

[GigaBuist]

Yeah, I found that out. However, better to scratch the ~$30 ring than the gold one. :)

Exactly, although mine cost $88, not $30.  Where are you guys finding $30 Ti bands?

[K Frame]

Last I knew where it was, my wedding ring was at the bottom of the Potomac River.

[Balog]

Exactly, although mine cost $88, not $30.  Where are you guys finding $30 Ti bands?

Technically i bought mine from my brother. But afaik he originally purchased it from ebay. It has been a few years tho, an increase in price is hardly out of the question.

[MillCreek]

Bet you a dollar that any force that would cause a Tungsten Carbide ring to fracture would then keep on coming and cause a certain amount of deformation in your finger...   

-BP

Actually, I happen to know about this since I read an article on how to do it in an emergency medical services journal.  You can also use the same technique for rings made of a stone, such as jade. 

You take an 8 or 10 inch pair of curved jaw vice grips, open them and apply the jaws lightly to the side of the ring.  Slowly tighten the adjusting screw until you hear a crack.  The ring should now be in two or more fragments. If you tighten the screw slowly enough, you crack the ring without injuring the underlying finger.  For titanium rings, we can use the standard ring cutters.

[BrokenPaw]

You take an 8 or 10 inch pair of curved jaw vice grips, open them and apply the jaws lightly to the side of the ring.  Slowly tighten the adjusting screw until you hear a crack.  The ring should now be in two or more fragments. If you tighten the screw slowly enough, you crack the ring without injuring the underlying finger. 

Well, ok, yeah.  But that's a controlled environment with a carefully-applied tool.  I was sorta referring to a real-world sudden and unexpected application of force sufficient to crack such a ring.

-BP

[charby]

Last I knew where it was, my wedding ring was at the bottom of the Potomac River.

I remember one Saturday years ago with a metal detector in one hand and a beer in the other trying to locate a buddy's wedding ring who tossed it when he was royally fuming pissed at his wife and he moved out in the same stroke. Two weeks later they were back together with me looking for the ring and he is still married least last time I talked to him. We did find the ring by the way.

[Bigjake]

I've got a Tungsten ring, and I like it much.  good heft to it too..

[Nightfall]

I like the way my platinum band is looking as it gets used and scuffed.  Sure, it's pretty when it's shiny and new, but I like the cloudy worn look it develops, too.   

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

My wedding band is tungsten carbide.  It's a nice ring.  It has a mirror polish, but it's a darker, less bright and blingy color than most jewelry.  I don't much like flashy and blingy jewelry.  I've only been wearing the ring for a couple of months now, but it doesn't have a single teeny tiny scratch on it anywhere.  Still looks perfectly shiny-new.

My watch is titanium.  Again, I like it for the darker, less bright and shiny appearance.  I also like the fact that it doesn't weigh anything.  It has some scratches, but so far it's held up much better than any of my previous watches.  Titanium isn't scratch proof, but it's a helluva lot more scratch resistant than gold, silver, or platinum.

[Marvin Dao]

Well, ok, yeah.  But that's a controlled environment with a carefully-applied tool.  I was sorta referring to a real-world sudden and unexpected application of force sufficient to crack such a ring.

Tungsten carbide actually cracks quite easily. Something as minor as drop from table level to a hard floor can do it. Same thing for sapphire watch faces. Their hardness makes them very scratch resistant but also reduces shock resistance to the point where they're much more likely to crack under sharp impacts than quartz/acrylic.

[Balog]

My wedding band is tungsten carbide.  It's a nice ring.  It has a mirror polish, but it's a darker, less bright and blingy color than most jewelry.  I don't much like flashy and blingy jewelry.  I've only been wearing the ring for a couple of months now, but it doesn't have a single teeny tiny scratch on it anywhere.  Still looks perfectly shiny-new.

My watch is titanium.  Again, I like it for the darker, less bright and shiny appearance.  I also like the fact that it doesn't weigh anything.  It has some scratches, but so far it's held up much better than any of my previous watches.  Titanium isn't scratch proof, but it's a helluva lot more scratch resistant than gold, silver, or platinum.

What kind of watch is that? I'm terribly hard on my watches, and I want to find a very durable one before I waste any more money.

[Physics]

My ring is the one ring.  I don't wear it because it gives me a rash on my finger.  I think it's because it's engraved on both sides, and dirt gets trapped between the backside engraving and my finger.  I like to tell people I don't wear it because it's too powerful, such things are better not worn.  I mean, who would pay the bills if I were a wraith?   

[AmbulanceDriver]

Tungsten carbide actually cracks quite easily. Something as minor as drop from table level to a hard floor can do it. Same thing for sapphire watch faces. Their hardness makes them very scratch resistant but also reduces shock resistance to the point where they're much more likely to crack under sharp impacts than quartz/acrylic.

when my wife and I were shopping for a replacement wedding band for me (long story.  lets just say that we will NEVER be dealing with Zale's Jeweler's again!) we were really eying the tungsten carbide rings.  I really loved the heft and feel and look of TC.  But the above advice is exactly why we decided NOT to get TC.  I'm hard on my ring.  I have this bad habit of hitting my hand on things as I walk by (not on purpose, by the way).  I'd have been lucky to have a TC ring last a week.

[Balog]

Ok, so embarassing story time.....

In School of Infantry, during Land Nav class they had a huge overhead projector, with a Sgt drawing on the transparencies to illustrate his points. His wedding ring had (what I later learned were) several small diamonds inset. To my poor eyes it kinda looked like writing.


Well, they had us fill out these evaluation cards at the end of the class, and they said we needed to fill up all the lines for comments. I ran out of useful things to say, and I still had a couple lines to go. So I put that it was kind of distracting that the instructor's ring looked like the One Ring from LotR.

Apparently, those reports go directly to the CO's office (either company or battalion, can't remember which) and they actually read em..... The Sgt was not pleased the next day, and when he asked who'd wrote that I rather foolishly admitted I had.....