Removing rings/fatter fingers

Jake'sGran · 22 October 2007 at 6:00PM

I hope no one thinks I am mad for posting this but I think it is interesting and money saving. I used to remove my rings every evening but it got gradually more difficult until I just left them on and forgot about it until I realised that it was impossible to remove them. As I hate waste I did not want to have them cremated with me so I phoned my regular jeweller. His equipment was out of action (ring saw I mean:o ) and he told me the best place to have them removed was..... the fire station. Who'd have thought it? The rings are off now and ready to be made bigger. On top of the free service you get to be surrounded by lovely firemen. One with a bowl of warm water, another with the squeezy and another with the implement for cutting..oh, and another to hold your hand in the air as this might make the finger slimmer (didn't work). So, ladies, if any of you has a similar problem you know where to go.

Errata · 23 October 2007 at 5:39PM

Another solution, pardon the pun, if the rings are tight and won't shift but not embedded is to slip some strong thread between ring and finger, hold both ends then slide it round and round the ring - it kind of 'screws' the ring off. Try it at a time of day when fingers are least swollen and use KY jelly for lubrication. Anyone who wants to try this but can't figure out my instructions - ask a practice nurse to show you how to do it, it's an old nurse's trick and particularly useful with eternity rings which could be irrevocably damaged by being cut.

Edinburghlass_2 · 23 October 2007 at 8:53PM

I had to have 2 rings cut off in the hospital when I broke my wrist, sadly I didn't think to remove them as soon as I realised I better go and get it checked out.

It was more painful than the broken wrist and the nurse went through two "blades" or whatever they are

steveeeee · 24 October 2007 at 9:34AM

Errata wrote: »

Another solution, pardon the pun, if the rings are tight and won't shift but not embedded is to slip some strong thread between ring and finger, hold both ends then slide it round and round the ring - it kind of 'screws' the ring off. Try it at a time of day when fingers are least swollen and use KY jelly for lubrication. Anyone who wants to try this but can't figure out my instructions - ask a practice nurse to show you how to do it, it's an old nurse's trick and particularly useful with eternity rings which could be irrevocably damaged by being cut.

Just wanted to vouch for this technique. After finding the instructions online, I used this on my wife to get her engagement ring off (with dental floss) when she was pregnant and had swollen fingers. We combined it with other tricks: running the hand under the cold tap for a couple of minutes, holding her hand up in the air to reduce bloodflow, using cooking oil for lubrication. Apparently it was very painful as the ring came over the knuckle but it worked a treat.

myrnahaz · 24 October 2007 at 9:51AM

I love the fireman tip! I can also vouch for the 'thread' method - I used embroidery thread when my eternity ring shrunk (!).

Jake's Gran, take care to get a good job done when you have your rings repaired. I took mine back to Clive Ranger to have it made bigger but it kept splitting at the joint - when I took it back for the third time in 3 months, they told me that they couldn't do another free repair because it was caused by wear and tear (it was THEIR repair that was splitting - the ring was only a few years old) and that I now needed a replacement shank at a cost of £150. I wasn't happy, but had no option - but the job they did was so bad that I burst into tears in the shop - they had made my lovely eternity ring look like a man's chunky wedding ring, and the manager had the cheek to tell me how lucky I was that I now had so much more gold in the ring. I had to take him outside and point to an identical ring to mine before he admitted that the repairer had got it wrong. They DID eventually get it looking close to how it was meant to be, but I'll never buy anything else there.

Rikki · 24 October 2007 at 9:56AM

I have a question..........

How can I get a very small gold ring on my finger so I can ask the nice firemen to remove it?

A friend of mine was involved in a car crash and the firemen removed her wedding ring, I always wondered why?

.

Toothsmith · 24 October 2007 at 1:19PM

Rikki wrote: »

A friend of mine was involved in a car crash and the firemen removed her wedding ring, I always wondered why?

.

Pay for the drinks at the Xmas party?

:beer:

jap200 · 24 October 2007 at 4:41PM

I got stung by a wasp on my wedding ring finger last Sunday afternoon. I should have removed my wedding ring straight away, but didn't think about it - I was more concerned about how much it hurt than anything else.

However, despite taking an antihistamine straight away, my finger got so swollen in a couple of hours that my ring was digging in and incredibly painful. I called NHS Direct who told me that as the nail bed was going blue I needed to have the ring cut of ASAP. They too advised me to try the fire station if all else failed. As it happens there is a minor injuries unit nearby and there was no one else waiting for treatment, so the ring was cut off straight away for me. About an hour later the swelling had almost totally subsided - so I may have panicked unnecessarily.

Anyway, I have just got back from picking it up at the jewellers - I used a local old-fashioned place that only charged me £16.95. They have done a lovely job and it looks shiney and new.

Shame that I missed out on all the attention from the Firemen though!

Stompa · 24 October 2007 at 5:51PM

Jake'sGran wrote: »

As I hate waste I did not want to have them cremated with me so I phoned my regular jeweller.

I expect the undertaker would have found a way.....

Francophile · 25 October 2007 at 10:15AM

Stompa wrote: »

I expect the undertaker would have found a way.....

That's very comforting to know

Jake'sGran · 30 October 2007 at 7:36PM

I was so pleased to see all these replies. I had checked a couple of days after I posted and there was nothing so assumed you all thought I was crazy. Seem to remember someone did mention going to the hospital but I thought I would have to sit for ages in A & E. Two of the rings were quite deep but plain and it took ages for the fireman to cut them. The engagements ring was not too bad but I did feel exhausted (got a bad heart) when they had finished. Apparently it is classed as an incident and has to be logged and I'm sure he said that because of this one fire engine is considered unavailable but I can't really see that.

To Errata, thank you but I am convinced the thread method would not have worked. I have rheumaticky knuckles. The fingers are slim at the bottom but very enlarged at the knuckle. It did cross my mind that with hands like these, rings won't enhance them;) . Toothsmith, I told the fireman that I had worked out why they offered this service. suppose it's obvious really. He gave me a funny look though.

Finally, my jeweller - the one who has done good job in the past on a precious gold bracelet, charged £30 each for the thick rings and £20 for the smaller one. He must be old fashioned as he doesn't take credit or debit cards and we couldn't rustle up quite enough cash between us so I have to go back.

Removing rings/fatter fingers

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