Titanium wedding rings

Miss_Naughty

My OH has picked a Titanium wedding ring. He said it was the niceest one he saw plus it's very hardwearing for his work.

I've chosen a White Gold ring.

Yellowbug

oh my goodness....have any of you looked at titanium rings on ebay? they are ridiculously cheap.....the one my other half likes is £7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought I was going crazy when I read it lol

phunkles

Milford_Cubicle wrote: »

We have bought purple titanium for our wedding later in the year. They ended up being £200 for the pair from Aus



(You can see the URL in the box)

I love these :T

bluezone

I was looking at titanium ones on ebay and if I had of thought aboutit sooner I woudl have ordered ours from there. I have ended up going with 9ct white gold from argos for about £40 each

jonthedog

Whilst titanium is fairly hard wearing, it is very light and feels a bit 'plasticy', like it is not really metal. A better option for my money (literally...have bought my ring for my wedding this august) is Tungsten. Tungsten (technically tungsten carbide) is ultra hard wearing and only diamond will scratch it...there are some amazing videos on youtube showing people attempting to damage it. As a result of this it can be polished to a mirror finish(and all the other combinations of brushed/shiny you get with titanium) that will never need cleaning or re-polishing. Tungsten is also one of the most dense metals, about 4 times that of titanium, and only slightly less that platinum so it really feels like you're wearing something substanial on your finger.
H Samuel stock a range for £50-£80, http://www.hsamuel.co.uk/
but the internet possibilities are endless. I personally got mine from COI Jewelry (hong kong based) http://www.coijewelry.com/
for around £80, but they get them from a wholesaler called http://www.fashionjewelrytrade.com where each ring is only $10!!! :beer:
There are minimum order quantities, though, but I reckon it'll still work out cheaper. Make sure you are 100% on your size before ordering on the net and get any inscription done at the time of ordering (as this can only be done by laser). A quick look at ebay show that it's pretty much the same situation as with titanium, i.e. v cheap, but don't know what your rights are if the ring doesn't fit, or it isn't to your likeing(had to return my original choice to Hong Kong without any bother at all)...at those prices I suppose it's not too much of a big deal to just buy another.
I am a metalurgist by training and tungsten really appeals to me as it is the hardest metal with the highest melting point...who needs expensive platinum?

svjenni

jonthedog wrote: »

Whilst titanium is fairly hard wearing, it is very light and feels a bit 'plasticy', like it is not really metal. A better option for my money (literally...have bought my ring for my wedding this august) is Tungsten. Tungsten (technically tungsten carbide) is ultra hard wearing and only diamond will scratch it...there are some amazing videos on youtube showing people attempting to damage it. As a result of this it can be polished to a mirror finish(and all the other combinations of brushed/shiny you get with titanium) that will never need cleaning or re-polishing. Tungsten is also one of the most dense metals, about 4 times that of titanium, and only slightly less that platinum so it really feels like you're wearing something substanial on your finger.
H Samuel stock a range for £50-£80, http://www.hsamuel.co.uk/
but the internet possibilities are endless. I personally got mine from COI Jewelry (hong kong based) http://www.coijewelry.com/
for around £80, but they get them from a wholesaler called http://www.fashionjewelrytrade.com where each ring is only $10!!! :beer:
There are minimum order quantities, though, but I reckon it'll still work out cheaper. Make sure you are 100% on your size before ordering on the net and get any inscription done at the time of ordering (as this can only be done by laser). A quick look at ebay show that it's pretty much the same situation as with titanium, i.e. v cheap, but don't know what your rights are if the ring doesn't fit, or it isn't to your likeing(had to return my original choice to Hong Kong without any bother at all)...at those prices I suppose it's not too much of a big deal to just buy another.
I am a metalurgist by training and tungsten really appeals to me as it is the hardest metal with the highest melting point...who needs expensive platinum?

you have really made me think about this one - can you get tungsten to look like white gold?

jonthedog

svjenni wrote: »

you have really made me think about this one - can you get tungsten to look like white gold?

It can be polished up to a bright silvery mirror finish, but it is a darker metal than white gold (which incidently is actually coated with a layer of rhodium as the gold alloy itself is brownish). It probably won't look the same if you were to wear it next to a white gold engagement ring and it would quickly wear the rhodium layer off the white gold as tungsten is much harder wearing. It would also look less white against platinum, but you wouldn't get the wearing problem as platinum is shiny all the way through and doesn't lose material when it wears (the platinum just gets displaced and can be polished back).
If the wearing next to a white gold engagement ring isn't a problem, and it is just the bright shiny silver look you are after, then nip into an H Samuel and take a look at them side by side. It's difficult to tell the difference from pictures on the internet, but you will see that although tungsten is as shiny, it is less 'white' than white gold. Tungsten, however, will have a mirror finish forever as it does not scratch, unlike WG which would have to be replated with rhodium and platinum which would have to re-polished.

Taadaa

I have to get a hooked shape band because of the setting of my engagement ring, a straight band looks odd. But the engagement ring is platinum - is titanium/tungsten a harder metal?

Milford_Cubicle

Tungsten is so hard it has to be shattered with a hammer rather than cut if the wearer needed to have it removed in an emergency.

jonthedog

Milford_Cubicle wrote: »

Tungsten is so hard it has to be shattered with a hammer rather than cut if the wearer needed to have it removed in an emergency.

I have heard this said, but apparently all paramedic crews are equiped with a jeweler's diamond toothed saw for just this eventuality.
In any event it is much easer to crack the ring off with a mole grip, which is considerably easier than attempting to saw a ring off someone's finger, so this is actually a positive thing in tungsten's favour! Take a look at this youtube video of someone cracking a ring off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poM423pewRE

As the tungsten doesn't deform at all, you won't feel a thing (apart from the excruciating pain of whatever accident has caused you to need the ring to be removed in the first place).
Quite a few retailers actually offer a 'lifetime warranty' and will replace the ring for you should you be unlucky enough for his to happen...you won't get that with gold!