I never thought I'd post to the Shopping category, but: wedding ring material safety!
December 11, 2012 8:59 AM   Subscribe

Wedding rings - what materials can be cut in case of emergency?

I (guy) am shopping for my wedding band! My fiancee is okay with whatever style or cost (from $1 to $$$!) I want. I find that I like the appearance of titanium, tungsten, and cobalt rings more than gold, white gold, and platinum. But I've heard the rumors about alternate metals being difficult or impossible to remove in emergency situations, and it's making me hesitant to consider those options. A few Google searches (1, 2, 3) turn up conflicting results. The salesperson at our local store told me not to worry, most ERs now can cut off all kinds of rings in an emergency... but this person is in sales. Hardly an objective source.

So the question is: of the popular "alternative" wedding ring materials (I believe that's titanium, tungsten, and cobalt, but feel free to mention other popular ones), which ones (if any) can be cut off in 80%-90% of ERs in the US? Are there specialized tools required for some of these materials that not all ERs have?

Note that the question is not "should I be worried about this." I know the chance of needing a ring cut off in short order is small, and I do not care: I will not don a wedding ring that is difficult to cut off in an emergency, full stop. Discussing the chances of this happening constitutes a derail.
posted by Tehhund to Shopping (32 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm a fan of my tungsten wedding ring. Doesn't scratch, looks very cool, wasn't all that expensive, and I like that it's heavy.

That said it can't be cut or re-sized. However, if it does need to be taken off in a medical emergency I was told that a pair of strong pliers can shatter it and that any EMT will know of this.

If I was going to shop for a new ring I'd buy a tungsten one again without reservation.
posted by Quack at 9:03 AM on December 11, 2012 [1 favorite]


Wood? Horn or bone?
posted by elizardbits at 9:03 AM on December 11, 2012


I have a tunsten (actually tungsten carbide which I believe is what all "tungsten" rings are actually made of) wedding ring and did a bit of research beforehand. Here's what I can recall:
With gold/silver they can make one cut and then bend the ring open.
With titanium they can't bend the ring, so have to make two cuts (one each side) so they can take the two halves from your finger.
With tungsten carbide, they can't cut it (it's roughly as hard as saphire), but it is apparently significantly more brittle than titanium, enough that it can be put in a vice or similar to crack it either with gradual increase in pressure or a few whacks with a carefully aimed hammer.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:04 AM on December 11, 2012 [4 favorites]


All of the guys I know with jobs that include some hand risk wear silver rings. It's easy to cut off in an emergency and easy to replace if damaged or lost.
posted by mercredi at 9:06 AM on December 11, 2012


Here's a good article on "breaking tungsten rings", although I'm not sure if "it breaks when you hit it with a hammer" is necessarily a glaring error in a piece of jewelery.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:07 AM on December 11, 2012


video and forum thread showing/discussing using a pair of vice grips to break a tungsten ring.
posted by Quack at 9:07 AM on December 11, 2012


My husband did a lot of research into metals to wear for his wedding ring because he was a chemist and would work with magnetized research instruments. He also did some research into the cutting-rings-off-in-the-ER and found that while that was once true for titanium and the like that it was difficult to cut them off, it's not so true any more in part due to the popularity of the metals.

So he went with a titanium ring in the end.
posted by zizzle at 9:09 AM on December 11, 2012 [6 favorites]


Response by poster: Okay, so a tungsten ring can be broken using vice grips. Now the second half of the question: do ERs stock vice grips? Does EMS? (2 different questions)
posted by Tehhund at 9:11 AM on December 11, 2012


Every EMT and emergency room will have a hand-powered ring-cutter that works very well on gold, sort of works on silver and platinum, and is useless on titanium or tungsten-carbide. Some EMTs and ER's now have electric ring-cutters like this which works on titanium and platinum, and well stocked ambulances and hospitals will have a ring-cracker for the sole purpose of removing tungsten-carbide or stone rings.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:15 AM on December 11, 2012 [1 favorite]


OP, there is a nonzero chance that wherever you are, emergency responders will not have the tool needed to cut off your ring. Even if 80-90% of US ERs or EMTs can cut off your ring, you have 10-20% chance they can't.

To say nothing of travel--you won't find the prevalence of titanium, cobalt, etc. in the US elsewhere in the world.

Just get a gold ring if you're worried. There are a number of alternative finishes and platings you can get. Mine is regular yellow gold, but with a matte finish. It's nice.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 9:16 AM on December 11, 2012 [3 favorites]


Best answer: No ambulance that I've ever worked on has carried vice grips, at least not where they'd be easily accessible for patient care. You'd probably end up wearing it until you got to the ER unless it could be taken off with a regular ring cutter.

In my area that's only about 10 minutes, plus the time it took for the ambulance to get to you (average <5 mins.) so it probably wouldn't mean losing your finger unless you really dawdled around in calling in the first place.

However, in a more rural area with longer transport times ... things might get iffy. Hopefully they'd have a ring cracker, but I'm not sure I'd want to depend on that.

Ring cutters like the one linked above are the standard tool that everyone is going to have (at least in the US, and probably worldwide). They're cheap and very effective at cutting gold, platinum and silver rings. I've also heard they work on pure titanium rings, but not titanium alloy, which is what most "titanium" rings actually are.

Here is a poster intended for EMS about removing hard metal rings. Personally, I would stick with gold, silver, or platinum, as those are the ones that can be removed with a manual ring cutter in an emergency.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:28 AM on December 11, 2012 [2 favorites]


Maybe silver if you're looking for a non-gold-colored ring. Sure, silver is a little softer and gets a bit dinged over time, but I've worn a couple silver bands every day for about ten years (now, I wear them rarely--these were not wedding rings and my tastes have changed) and they held up just fine. If you go with a design, the dings are less noticeable. You can also get silver with finishes that are more like tungsten finishes. Here are a couple examples from a website I've never heard of--examples only, not a suggestion of where to buy.
posted by crush-onastick at 9:32 AM on December 11, 2012


Why not just get a gold ring plated with some other finish if you're that concerned about the ability of medical personnel to remove the ring in the event of an emergency?

Gold is soft and near-universal among wedding bands; therefore, medical personnel won't have trouble removing it.
posted by dfriedman at 9:35 AM on December 11, 2012


If you define "difficult" to mean "anything less than dead easy" then choose gold. Full stop. You can get gold off VERY easily and everything else is harder.
posted by SMPA at 9:36 AM on December 11, 2012 [2 favorites]


Maybe silver if you're looking for a non-gold-colored ring. Sure, silver is a little softer and gets a bit dinged over time, but I've worn a couple silver bands every day for about ten years (now, I wear them rarely--these were not wedding rings and my tastes have changed) and they held up just fine.

Tarnish may be an issue depending on one's body chemistry. I can't wear silver rings without spending hours each week polishing them.
posted by Jahaza at 9:57 AM on December 11, 2012


popular "alternative" wedding ring materials (I believe that's titanium, tungsten, and cobalt, but feel free to mention other popular ones

Ours (those actual ones!) are a palladium alloy, which IIRC can be cut w/ a ring cutter. Also they give us Iron Man powers, so that's fun.

Our original rings were meteoritic nickel-iron with a silver lining. These, but with the meteorite strip plated in gold instead of rhodium. It was neat to wear something probably older than Earth on your finger, and the Widmanstatten patterns were cool, but the plating wore off in a couple of years and (as you might guess from the price tag) the build quality was not great and the meteorite separated from the silver.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:58 AM on December 11, 2012


Gold rings can be easily cut off in an emergency, though it will damage the ring. For most people, this is going to happen only rarely and gold or another soft metal is just fine.

But if you work in a job where even gold rings are not allowed due to the nature of the work, but you still want to wear a ring, there are cheap silicon rings available. Obviously, these don't look as nice - considering the price, I would probably only use them as a "work ring" and have a gold one for good. But my firefighter brother-in-law liked the idea (since he can never wear his ring at work) - and they are certainly cheap to replace.
posted by jb at 9:58 AM on December 11, 2012 [1 favorite]


My wedding ring is made of palladium. Looks pretty much like platinum, i.e. silvery white and lustrous, but is softer and cheaper. It has a few small, fine scratches. These look like crap when there are one or two, but then as more build up they even out and it looks fine now after two years or so.

I went with this metal because it's hypoallergenic and because I didn't want any kind of gold alloy. Given that is it fairly soft and therefore more likely to be cut off easily, it is an alternative you could consider if you like the silvery white of platinum as opposed to the grey sheen of titanium and tungsten (each of which looks quite different on the skin by the way, so factor that into consideration when you make your choice).
posted by shelleycat at 10:02 AM on December 11, 2012


If it's possible to go with an aluminum ring but aluminum's present character as an inexpensive, disposable metal bothers you it might be of interest to know that in past centuries before the chemical process for refining bauxite to make it was discovered, aluminum was a precious metal more valuable than gold because pure metallic deposits of it are so rare.
posted by XMLicious at 10:19 AM on December 11, 2012


When my cousin smashed his finger flat (long story but he was helping a lady change her tire and something went wrong with the jack), it was smashed flat like a Warner Bros cartoon. The fire department had a cutting tool and his platinum band came off easily and he was relieved because he was in so much pain. So, think about whether you want someone messing around with vice grips or whatever when your potentially mangled and painful finger is attached to it.
posted by dottiechang at 10:31 AM on December 11, 2012


Operating Rooms have bolt cutters for rings people cannot remove. It would not be unusual if the ER did not have one to "borrow" from the ER.
posted by 6:1 at 11:15 AM on December 11, 2012


Best answer: Okay. Holy layman advice, Batman.

(I am not your paramedic. This is not medical advice, since I'm not qualified to provide that when I'm sitting on my stoop.)

ERs and EMS are really good at making things happen. I have worked in emergency departments and on ambulances and fire trucks in six states now. Coming up on the eight-year mark pretty soon. If emergency personnel don't have a tool that they need, they will find someone else who does, and they will find them in a timely manner.

Good training programs teach EMTs and paramedics about how to remove rings made of different kinds of metal. EndsofInvention is right on the money with that.

In contrast to Kadin2048's post, I have never once worked on an ambulance that did not have a ring cutter. I have never once worked on an ambulance that didn't have enough of a toolbox to have channel-locks or strong side-cutting pliers that open far enough to crush a tungsten ring if I absolutely had to. I have cut off two rings. One of these was due to stupidity: seriously, whatever kind of ring you have, don't wear your ring while you mess around with power tools that can crush your hand. One of them was due to swelling from an allergic reaction. The first was gold. The second was titanium.

Some of the states I have worked in have required an ambulance to carry a ring cutter. Some did not. Either way, all the ambulances I have worked on have had one. It looks like Ohio is a state that does not require ring cutters on ambulances or MICUs. From your profile data, it looks like you live in a major metropolitan area with several quite reputable trauma centers within reach. They will certainly, without a doubt, have access to the tools to get your ring off, whatever metals you choose.

I am generally a pretty safety-conscious person. I would have no problems wearing a titanium or tungsten carbide wedding ring. Then again, it's not my finger.
posted by skyl1n3 at 11:40 AM on December 11, 2012 [3 favorites]


If you're concerned about accidents, it might be best practice to get in the habit of taking the ring off before you do, say, woodshop or whatever your hobby is. My husband has a platinum wedding band. He takes it off regularly at work; I am trying to remember what he told me the regulations were- something like it has to come off when handling lines on the ship, in the engine room, that sort of thing. I suppose this wouldn't cover things like allergic swelling, though.

So, dumb question on that topic- I do have some allergies that have caused hives and facial swelling, and I don't remember severe finger swelling with those episodes but it was before I wore any rings. So anyway, I have more than a passing interest in this, I suppose. I currently wear two platinum bands, but both are very narrow (about 2mm each). According to the poster that Kadin2048 linked above, it takes 4 minutes to cut a platinum band. Would they do both of my rings in 1 go, or would I be looking at > 8 minutes to get them cut off? (Notes to self that maybe the rings should come off right away at first sign of allergic reactions.)
posted by lyra4 at 12:04 PM on December 11, 2012


I realize this doesn't announce "wedding ring" but - if it's a concern, maybe a ring worn on a necklace?
posted by JoanArkham at 12:47 PM on December 11, 2012


Depending on your style, perhaps a wedding ring tattoo would suit you.
posted by tr0ubley at 1:33 PM on December 11, 2012


I broke my gold wedding ring when I accidentally wore it while deadlifting - it broke clean in half! Granted, my band is thin and delicate, and yours might be more thick and substantial like my husband's, but still, I'm amazed that it happened all.*



Not terribly proud of the fact that I showed up the jewelry place where we bought the ring and produced the broken band. The jeweler was SO apologetic and immediately jumped to fix it for free. Meanwhile I was like, "I HAVE NO CLUE HOW IT HAPPENED."
posted by zoomorphic at 1:40 PM on December 11, 2012


Not all tungsten alloys or titanium alloys are the same. Some are softer, some are harder. "Pure" Ti, i.e. base grade, unalloyed, low-oxygen Ti has a relatively low tensile/yield strength. Popular alloys like Ti-5Al/2.5Sn, Ti-6Al/4V and Ti-3Al/2.5V are very strong (hence their aerospace applications), but are therefore difficult to shape or machine (hence their high final cost).

The truth is that only the softer alloys will be used for jewelry such as wedding rings, because the harder alloys are just too difficult to work with in a cost-effective manner. The bad news is that you're buying into a lie about having a "stronger" or "more durable" ring, the good news is that paramedics won't have significantly more trouble cutting it off when they need to.
posted by wutangclan at 2:52 PM on December 11, 2012


PS...don't know why some people are mentioning platinum in their answers. Pt is one of the softest metals, similar to gold. Quite the opposite of tungsten and titanium.
posted by wutangclan at 2:55 PM on December 11, 2012


In contrast to Kadin2048's post, I have never once worked on an ambulance that did not have a ring cutter.

Nowhere in my post did I say anything about ambulances not having ring cutters. I said that no ambulance that I've ever worked on has had vice grip pliers in the patient care area (i.e. not in the bottom of a toolbox stored down next to the road flares and wheel chocks). Probably the majority of BLS units I've ridden on have had bolt cutters somewhere (typically big ones, 24") that I suppose could be used in a pinch, but there's no protocol for it. They're more kept on the unit for opening gate locks and similar. If we can't get a ring off with the ring cutter, it's O2 and diesel.

Manually-operated ring cutters are basically part of every BLS bag, hence my recommendation to stick to metals that can be cut with them: gold, silver, platinum, and perhaps pure unalloyed Ti.

If you really want to scare yourself into taking your ring off when you do DIY projects, check out circumferential electrical burns due to rings. I've actually seen one of those in person and it was pretty unpleasant.
posted by Kadin2048 at 3:54 PM on December 11, 2012


lyra4 writes "My husband has a platinum wedding band. He takes it off regularly at work; I am trying to remember what he told me the regulations were- something like it has to come off when handling lines on the ship, in the engine room, that sort of thing. "

Really one shouldn't be wearing a ring when doing any sort of physical labour. Your ring can get caught on something and with a relatively minor tug strip the flesh from your finger bone. Google for degloving for grizzly descriptions and pictures. I leave mine at home on work days.
posted by Mitheral at 7:53 PM on December 11, 2012


Operating Rooms have bolt cutters for rings people cannot remove. It would not be unusual if the ER did not have one to "borrow" from the ER.
Sorry, meant the O.R.
posted by 6:1 at 10:46 PM on December 11, 2012


Response by poster: Lots of great answers. Thanks everyone! The poster is what won me over - nothing but soft metal for me. I found a great white gold ring last weekend, so I'm all set!
posted by Tehhund at 12:27 PM on January 3, 2013


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