Titanium Rings

A

Ang_Panday

Joined
Jan 10, 2006
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I was checking out some titanium rings on the web and I'm just curious on how the jewelers make this pieces :eek: Are they machined from a solid bar or cast :confused:

Anybody here ever tried making there own titanium ring :)
 
As a jeweler I'll give you my opinion of the new fad in hard metal rings.The trend toward rings made in titanium,tungsten,stainless steel,and a few other metals will be a passing fad.The rings are more of a machinist art than jewelery product.They are manufactured from tubular blanks that are turned on a lathe.Many people who do lathe work have made their own.(we have several who make and sell them right here on the BF) .They can't be sized as you get larger, and the novelty soon wears off. I have sold a fair number of titanium rings and have replaced many of them with gold rings in less than a year.
For a fun project,I'd say go ahead and make yourself one.For a wearable longterm piece of jewelery,I don't like them.
Stacy
 
bladsmth said:
....For a wearable longterm piece of jewelery,I don't like them.
Stacy
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I agree with Stacy (especially re. tungsten and SS), with one exception:
I think a Timascus ring, perhaps with some gold inlay, would be pretty nice.
 
Another issue that seems to escape many who want to wear a "tactical" ring like that is that in the event of any significant hand injury of broken bone in the hand or the finger and you might lose the finger. Even with only a broken finger, by the time you get to the ER, there's usually swelling. With gold or silver, they have the tools to just cut the ring of easily with a pair of side cutters, even around a swolen finger. With Titanium or tungsten, that's simply not an option. If you've ever machined or ground any ti, you can imagine the tools needed and heat generated. Because of the swelling, while they're trying to figure out how to cut through the Ti, your finger has no circulation. Not good.

I once thought about getting, or more likely making one, but the thought of a broken finger turning into a missing finger because of a jewelry choice is un appealing to me. My fingers are in enough danger from the mill and lathe when I'm in the shop, I'd like to keep them as safe as possible when I'm out of the shop :)
 
Thanks for the input as regards the potential loss of a finger.

Could not the band be thinned, or made less wide, at the botton to allow emergency removal?
 
I was absolutely shocked the first time I worked with .062 (1/16) Ti at how amazingly tough that stuff is. It's not so tough with a bandsaw or a mill, but trying to bend it or cut it with hand tools takes a lot of determination.
 
My titanium and platnium wedding band would only go out of style if I got divourced....
 
I had a whole house go out of style that way once.

Good point on the emergency ring removal. You just stopped me from buying one.
 
I've heard that hospitals can remove them successfully, it takes more effort, but it has been done, AFAIK.... (no first person experience, but reliable sources)
 
I did see some Ti rings once that the maker thought he would address the removal issue. He'd cut a thin slot through the ring in one spot and filled it with silver solder or something similar thinking that the ER docs could cut the ring in that spot, assuming you were concious and could tell tehm about the weak spot. I'm guessing he never actually tried to bend apart one of his beautiful creations :(

That same strength and memory that we love so much in clips and frame locks is not so good when it's time to pry it off your finger.
 
Walking Man said:
I've heard that hospitals can remove them successfully, it takes more effort, but it has been done, AFAIK.... (no first person experience, but reliable sources)
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I know some can work with Ti. The put a big piece and a few smaller pieces in me! But can tehy all do it, and can they do it fast enough?
 
It's an excellent point about medical removal. I had to have a ring cut off. got stung by a bee on my motorcycle and before I could get the ring off, it had swollen too much to remove.

I think the standard ring cutter could probably handle a reasonably thin Ti ring (though it might be pretty dull afterward), but tungstin is another story. You're not cutting that with a standard ring cutter. Maybe a edge-up whack with a hammer would pop it into pieces. But think about that. You're swollen, broken finger throbbing in pain and the doc comes in with a hammer. Not a comfy thought.
 
Hey JCaswell, I'd send you a PM, but they're not enabled in your profile. It looks like we're nearly neighbors! Looks like you make some nice knives. We ought to get together some time.
 
J. MacDonald said:
Hey JCaswell, I'd send you a PM, but they're not enabled in your profile. It looks like we're nearly neighbors! Looks like you make some nice knives. We ought to get together some time.
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That would be great. I'll send you a PM with some info.
 
Ang, the rings are machined from solid bar stock. I make them for a living. I don't share Bladsmth's outlook for them. They are selling very well and seem to be increasing steadily over the years. I did 35 of them the other day, which is a big day for me. They are a better suited material for a ring than gold or silver because they stand up better and are hypoallergenic and are priced well. The material also works well in tension set engagement rings.

Ti rings can be cut by a hacksaw, normal ring cutters, bolt cutters, or Dremel Tools. I've actually had a customer that had to get one cut off. She said they had no problem and she ordered another one. They also can actually be increased in size. Most of them can be stretched with a jeweler's ring stretcher about a quarter to a half size if they don't have inlays or cuts that produce stress risers. Those rings could have material ground out of the ID to increase the size a quarter size or so. Tungsten carbide rings cannot be cut, but they can be cracked off with Vise Grips, a vise, or a hammer. They are relatively brittle because they are formed from powder. You could crush a very thin one in your fingers, so most of them are pretty beefy. As JCaswell pointed out, probably not a comfy thought if you have a broken finger and the doctor has a hammer.
 
I dont think anyone was talking about tungsten carbide, please correct me if i'm wrong but i think they were just talking about these
Centerline_FlattopWeb.jpg

and i can see how that would be kind of hard to get off!
 
Those ones look to be tungsten carbide by Trew Tungsten. Trent West came up with the process for making them and has a couple patents to cover it. The high polish is done by CNC grinders, which are EXTREMELY expensive machines. They are literally too hard to machine by conventional means. I use an alloy of tungsten, which is machineable, and can actually be cut as well as crushed.
 
Ang,

Get yourself a piece of Ti tubing or solid round bar stock. 6al/4v titanium will anodize better than CP. Machine the ring to suit. Some makers make the shank oversize inside and press a gold or silver liner inside.

The gold or silver liner also works well when using damascus steel for a ring.

I've been looking for a short piece of 1 1/8" or 1 1/4" tubing or bar for about two years. The salvage resellers don't have any that big, or the bar they have is too long and expensive and they won't cut it:o .
 
Hi Don, I have different size bars that I use; 7/8", 15/16, 1", and 1 1/4". The 1" can go to around a size 11 (depending on ring thickness), and the 1 1/4" can take it up to around a size 18 or so. I get them from titanium suppliers such as Supra, SR Sales, or others. You run into minimum quantity issues for smaller batches. I have a bucket full of drops around 1 1/4" long or so.

For anodizing, it is easy to get good colors from 6Al4V, but because the oxide layer is so thin, it nets out being only about as hard as glass. It easily gets scratched by contact with other metals, so the anodizing is normally only done down in grooves for that reason.
 
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