Beware the titanium ring?

March 9, 2005 8:21 AM

I am looking at wedding bands and want a titanium band. However, various jewelers are quick with the "it is very difficult to cut titanium and in the event of a bad happening you could lose your finger OMG!" But then, some unaffiliated individuals tell me that this is just their ploy to get me to buy the more expensive bling like the platinum and that titanium can rather easily be cut. Any tips? Information? Stories? Tales of the amputated finger and woe?
posted by xmutex to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (20 answers total)

Best answer: I have a titanium wedding band. The FAQ from the place I got mine from says they're not hard to cut off; about as hard as steel. I've also heard in other online discussions that a titanium ring can be cut off even with a hand-operated rotary ring cutter. The only real problem with titanium is that it's not easily resized. The place I got mine from said they can stretch them out about a quarter to half size but that's about it.
posted by zsazsa at 8:31 AM on March 9, 2005

I used to have a titanium band, lost it surfing long story, and I've heard you can't get them sized (which is why I bought mine slightly large and then lost it). But, I've never heard that you can't cut them off.
posted by trbrts at 9:07 AM on March 9, 2005

that it's not easily resized.
Titanium has a high strength and low modulus.

I often offer my ring to be squeezed, mine won't bend. I'll even allow my friends to hit my titanium ring with a hammer, while off my finger of course, showing its ability to hold it's form. The only way we were able to snap one was in a table vice.
posted by thomcatspike at 9:11 AM on March 9, 2005 [1 favorite]

hold its form
posted by thomcatspike at 9:12 AM on March 9, 2005

Banjo and I have titanium bands and were surprised about how scratched they've become. They're really, really light, though, which is nice for folks not used to jewelry.

Because they're hard to resize, try and get ones with a curved inside. This makes taking the ring off easier if your finger gets bigger for some reason (bee sting? Free Twinkie Month?).
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:14 AM on March 9, 2005

What everyone else said. My husband's engagement ring is titanium, all my quizzing suggests they're pretty easily cut with the tools that EMTs generally have on them, and the only pitfall is the resizing.

They're really cool, though, and he digs his. It's always fun to drop it into people's hands and see them expecting something far heavier than it is.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:32 AM on March 9, 2005

The rings I've fallen in love with are the tungsten ones. Very hard, nice and dark, and weighty.

* pardon the piggy-back *

Anyone know about its ability to be cut-off in an emergency?
posted by silusGROK at 9:47 AM on March 9, 2005

I'll second the curved inside/comfort fit suggestion. Much more comfortable than the standard ones.
posted by Icky at 9:53 AM on March 9, 2005

I have a Ti Wedding ring and I love the lightness but the resizing is an issue. I just lost 50 lbs (and have 20 more to go) and the ring is starting to get uncomfortablly loose...espacially in colder weather where my hand shrinks. Fortunately the Ti rings are pretty cheap relatively speaking so when the the time comes, I won't feel too bad about getting a new ring.
posted by mmascolino at 10:21 AM on March 9, 2005

mmascolino, in that direction you should be able to just use one of those ring-inserts, neh?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:33 AM on March 9, 2005

Best answer: Completely, 100% untrue. This is becoming an urban legend. Some jewelers lack the tools that allow them to work on titanium. A hospital will have something that can cut the ring off, if necessary, and you can find a jeweler with the right tools. True, it cannot be resized, but since the metal is relatively inexpensive, who cares? Buy a new one.

My SO and I did some research after a trip to purchase his wedding band. The salesperson told us titanium was bad because it scratches easily (false) and also that it was more expensive than platinum (way false). I found this link helpful:
http://www.e-weddingbands.com/store/titanium_wedding_bands.html
(Scroll down a bit and you will find a good rundown of facts on titanium.)
posted by suchatreat at 10:39 AM on March 9, 2005

I also went through the whole 'impossible to cut off ' deal and found it to be false.

Tintanium is much cheaper and has a cool factor. It's also much more plentiful than platinum.

If you're going for future value, or something to hand down to your children, platinum is the way to go. If you don't care, go titanium.
posted by justgary at 11:17 AM on March 9, 2005

My titanium ring is scratching way more than my tri colour gold ring.

A speciality machine shop can turn the inside of a titanium ring to make it bigger but cost wise it might be cheaper to buy a new one.

Titanium is way harder than glass. The outside edges on my ring come to pretty sharp 90 degree angle and I've scratched a few windows including a car windshield with it.

You'll undoubtly find some one who lost a finger to their titanium ring if you look long enough because rings regardless of material are a lot tougher than flesh. Do a search for "degloving" if you don't feel like eating dinner. Almost all the cases you find that are jewlery related will be because of silver or gold rings. Never wear any kind of ring while doing manual labour.
posted by Mitheral at 12:51 PM on March 9, 2005

Plus, some titanium rings are made from old Russian submarines, which is just plain cool.
posted by jb at 3:06 PM on March 9, 2005

My best friend's wedding band is titanium; it was made by her husband, who is a machinist (among other things) from a piece of a 747 (or the skin of some other big plane). She loves it, it's impossibly light, and she hasn't noticed it scratching excessively, whereas gold most certainly does.
posted by jokeefe at 4:30 PM on March 9, 2005

Of course, you could always go in the other direction, and get a ring made of wood.
posted by Alt F4 at 6:20 PM on March 9, 2005

Titanium varies in hardness over the same range as glass.

Hey, those wood rings are intriguing.
posted by NortonDC at 6:37 PM on March 9, 2005

Ring cutters are made for this. I expect a Dremel tool would work as well.
posted by SPrintF at 6:48 PM on March 9, 2005

I'd like to thank everyone on here for your suggestions; both titanium and tungsten are not options I'd entertained before, and the information on the website suchatreat posted is very helpful!
posted by Eideteker at 7:21 PM on March 9, 2005

We bought ours from this web site. Tres inexpensive, very fast service. We love our rings, both the way they feel and the way they look.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:28 PM on March 9, 2005