Wedding Bands & GRM-level abuse

I'm 90% certain there was a similar thread about this around before, but since the search is berked I haven't had any luck in finding it so will just start a new one.

While SWMBO's rings are either already designed and either done and on her finger or off being cast, mine still needs to be taken care of before we hopefully get hitched at the end of March. We've gone out and done a lot of looking around and I've got some ideas, but am really interested in hearing what others' experiences have been with different materials holding up to the kind of abuse we put them through when wrenching on our vehicles.

I had for a while been looking most seriously at a Tungsten Carbide ring for how well they're supposed to hold up to abuse and they're apparently THE hot material these days, but after some searching around now have some concerns about them shattering from impact. The current top contender is a custom-made Damascus steel stainless steel ring- should take a ridiculous amount of abuse without blinking, isn't something you see every day, looks sharp, and is very cool from a materials standpoint.

Take the ring off when doing any notable work. Primarily for your safety. The ring can get caught or snagged on stuff. Plus, why ruin it?

My ring is a mix of white and yellow gold. From weightlifting (which I don't take the ring off, but should), it's now more oblong shape than truly round.

We got fairly basic 18k platinum rings with some sort of gold treatment on the edges. 11 years, never take it off, looks fine.

I have platinum and it scratches easily, so I've managed to damage mine a bit, but the free cleaning and lifetime warranty help keep it from becoming too badly damaged.

Either way, when I'm working on something other than a keyboard/mouse I take it off. This is good advice for anyone wearing rings around tools and machinery. It can get caught and really screw up your hand, not too mention if you manage to short it on a battery connection, etc.

Also if your hand swells due to an injury, the hospital will either cut your ring off or if you have something extremely hard (like titanium) they may have to take your finger off, so be aware of some of those alternative materials.

So I'd say, it doesn't matter, get whatever you like best (looks, etc.) and get used to taking it off and putting it in your pocket when getting your GRM on.

I've been married less than a year and I'm on ring three. GRM car work abuse, gym abuse, etc.

Ring 1 - Titanium - Sizing is a bitch. If it doesn't fit right you have to get a new one they can't re-size it. It scratched incredibly easy despite having the "highest scratch resistance." Also can't be cut off finger... It went from being shiny polished black to scuffed and horrible looking in less than 2 months and that was with me taking it off at the gym. Ditched it for a...

Ring 2 - Tungsten Carbide - Very easily scuffed and scratched. Cool looking, could at least be polished, and lighter weight than the titanium. Wasn't comfortable in any way when working on projects, left it on at the gym too and always felt like it was in the way. Lost it while spearfishing oops.

Ring 3 - White gold. Light weight, barely tell its on, I've gone to the gym, done a ton of car projects, and still looks pretty new. You can polish it, it can be easily re-sized, and worth the extra $ in every way shape or form. Wish I would have gone with the classic styling in the first place instead of the new hip styling of these fancy metals.

I have a white/yellow gold comfort band. I remove it and keep it in my toolbox at work (auto tech), but usually leave it on while working at home. Has held up to the abuse with no problems (12 years). The only damage I have on it is from opening beer bottles with it

Being that it is just plain old gold means it can be repaired/replaced pretty easily too.

Wife has a platinum diamond ring and a plain platinum band. Both have not taken well to wear and every time you polish it back to new you lose precious materials. berkeley platinum.

I have a fairly heavy comfort fit band. nothing fancy, just a yellow gold circle. yes, being gold it gets dinged up, but I don't wear it as a fashion statement. this is nearly 13 years of wear:

Edit: I also open beer bottles with it.

Mine is white gold and aside from having to file off some welding slag that got attached to it one day, it's been very resilient to the abuse I've thrown at it. Looks great still and can be polished up if I so desire.

I have a tungsten carbide. It's been abused all to hell and back, still looks fine. I'd rock it.

I cut mine out of a piece of aluminum on my drill press. I have no concerns whatsoever regarding its fate, but it's held up well over the last 7.5 years. :D

Mine is titanium. No problems, very tough, not expensive.

Cone_Junkie wrote: Wife has a platinum diamond ring and a plain platinum band. Both have not taken well to wear and every time you polish it back to new you lose precious materials. berkeley platinum.

Hers are 'just' white Gold. It was expensive enough just getting the ring made with that, the extra cost of the Platinum (which she had no particular interest in anyway) would have made it even more ridiculous. Besides, I doubt she even really notices the metal that much with the diamonds the engagement ring has (and the band will have, though its are much smaller). She loves stopping by and having the shop that made it clean it for her.

When I was married before, I pretty much never took my ring (Ti with a Pt inlay) off. Granted I didn't really get into doing much of anything on cars until after that ring had been sitting in a box gathering dust for several years, but I'm guessing that on the whole I'll probably do similar with this one unless there's a specific concern of it getting caught. I'm less inclined to take it off very often because I'm very bad about setting things down and forgetting where I've put it which I'm sure would NOT amuse SWMBO...

I also have tungsten carbide. It is hard to damage.

I also take my ring off when I'm doing any sort of mechanical work. As it was pointed out earlier, this is for safety. My wife will even get mad at me if I leave it on when removing engines and such- her dad was a machinist so she gets it. I have no desire to be called Brett of the Nine Fingers.

Wasn't there a picture floating around teh Intewebs of a guy's finger, that had a healthy scar from arcing his wedding ring?

Mine's yellow gold, 14k I think. It's my second ring in 16 years. The first was a thin 10k yellow gold walmart special ( hey, we were young) that just broke. i wore it all the time and one day when I looked down it looked like someone cut it with a pair of snips. The new one is thicker and has held up well. I try to remember to take it off when wrenching or other stuff, but I often clip it to my keyring carabiner when I do. It's covered in small scratches that would probably buff out if I had it done.

My father nearly lost a finger in the air force by jumping down off a scaffold and catching his class ring on it. I would never consider a ring that paramedics can't cut off if needed. If I get injured I want them to know I'm married if I'm unconscious but I damn sure want to keep my finger!

I have a plain titanium band. A few little scratches after well over a decade of use. I've never had to size it and it was reasonably cheap. I take it off for any decent wrenching - otherwise almost never.

My wife had a platinum/gold ring that she became allergic to after child #3. Replaced with a gold one for her.

10k gold - way stronger than 14k or 18k.

Mine was made almost 20 years ago and I frequently forget to take it off when working on the cars.

Mine was custom-made by a local jeweler (its over a size 20! - my Iron Ring is a 17.5 and its on my pinky finger!!!) but its thick and can take the abuse.

Take it off when working. As mentioned above you don't want to find out what happens when you short out an electrical circuit. Also, when titanium and tungsten rings do get crushed, they're a lot harder for the EMTs to cut off.

I have a Ti ring off eBay. I never wear it. If the ring doesn't shatter, it's an awesome way to slice your finger off. Now that I gave up the hardcore mechanicing, I still don't wear it because I don't need to bring MRSA, VRE, or some other bug home from work.

DirtyBird222 wrote: Ring 2 - Tungsten Carbide - Very easily scuffed and scratched. Cool looking, could at least be polished, and lighter weight than the titanium. Wasn't comfortable in any way when working on projects, left it on at the gym too and always felt like it was in the way. Lost it while spearfishing oops.

Opposite of my experience. My tungsten band survived 8 years of daily millwrighting and still looked brand new the day I took it off.

They can be broken off with channel locks. .

Ditchdigger wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote: Ring 2 - Tungsten Carbide - Very easily scuffed and scratched. Cool looking, could at least be polished, and lighter weight than the titanium. Wasn't comfortable in any way when working on projects, left it on at the gym too and always felt like it was in the way. Lost it while spearfishing oops.

Opposite of my experience. My tungsten band survived 8 years of daily millwrighting and still looked brand new the day I took it off. They can be broken off with channel locks. .

+1 to the tungsten, I beat the everloving hell out of mine, and the only scratches/tarnish are on the resin covering the carbon fiber. I wanted Ti, but at the time, local hospitals didn't have the tools to cut it off. Reports are, most major hospitals do nowadays.

I've got a simple Ti band that I had cut by a machinist back in 1998 or so. I'm not sure exactly what alloy, but it could very well be different from a jewelery store ring. At the time, I'd never heard of anyone else with a Ti ring. Now it's pretty common.

It's withstood countless hours of wrenching. It has a satin finish to it now due to many, many fine scratches. I've never really done any maintenance or cleaning and I never take it off. I'll bet I could polish it and it would look brand new.

When I got married, I got a Ti comfort ring. I didn't like the greater bulk, so it went in the drawer and I pulled out my old one. To get the machinist to make the right ring, I bought a cheap silver ring and had it sized the way I wanted it. After I was sure, I sent him the silver one and said "like this".

I have hit it with a piece of welding slag. I cannot recommend that at all - it didn't damage the ring, but it was very uncomfortable. That was the last time I welded (even quickly) without gloves on both hands. I wear gloves when I'm working around rotating tools as well, not because of the ring but because I don't like grinding my flesh.

mndsm wrote:

Ditchdigger wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote: Ring 2 - Tungsten Carbide - Very easily scuffed and scratched. Cool looking, could at least be polished, and lighter weight than the titanium. Wasn't comfortable in any way when working on projects, left it on at the gym too and always felt like it was in the way. Lost it while spearfishing oops.

Opposite of my experience. My tungsten band survived 8 years of daily millwrighting and still looked brand new the day I took it off. They can be broken off with channel locks. .

+1 to the tungsten, I beat the everloving hell out of mine, and the only scratches/tarnish are on the resin covering the carbon fiber. I wanted Ti, but at the time, local hospitals didn't have the tools to cut it off. Reports are, most major hospitals do nowadays.

I'm kind of surprised at the comment that the Tungsten Carbide ring was lighter than a Ti ring- it's been my experience in looking around (and what I know about Tungsten in general) that the Tungsten rings have been significantly heavier than anything else, especially the light-as-air Ti rings.

I have a Ti ring. It was satin inner and polished outer edges. I wear it all of the time unless making fondant or meatballs. Now it all has the 'hammered' look, the polished and satin are gone. It was cheap.

Mine stays in a drawer 100% of the time. I hate wearing jewelry-- I don't even wear a watch. Besides being irritated by jewelry, I hate trying to keep track of what I'm doing and whether I should wear a ring during it. I just know I'd only remember I was wearing a ring AFTER my drill press removed my finger or I welded myself to a battery. I'm kinda absent-minded and don't need any more details to keep up with.

I certainly respect those that want to wear a ring, but I'd make sure you and your wife are committed to you wearing it and under what circumstances before you decide how much to spend or what type to buy. Some women think you should never take it off under any circumstances, while others might not like you wearing it when you could potentially damage it. My wife is OK with me not wearing mine, but not every woman would be.