Weddings Rings & Metal Type

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Guy with a wedding band:

  • I'm a guy, I have a white gold wedding band, its taken a beating

    Votes: 5 14.7%

  • I'm a guy, I have a white gold wedding band, it's no different than yellow probably

    Votes: 20 58.8%

  • I'm a guy, I have a yellow gold wedding band

    Votes: 9 26.5%
  • Total voters
    34
Acoustic

Acoustic

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I've been shopping for wedding bands lately (guy here) and have heard every jeweler tell me that I should avoid white gold because with all the hand washing ahead of me it'll decay super fast. Have you found this accurate?

I think I like that color a bit more because the yellow gold is a bit Bob Kelso old-school, but also don't want something junky.

Thoughts?
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I've met several docs with titanium rings. Lightweight and super durable.
 
Acoustic said:
I've been shopping for wedding bands lately (guy here) and have heard every jeweler tell me that I should avoid white gold because with all the hand washing ahead of me it'll decay super fast. Have you found this accurate?

I think I like that color a bit more because the yellow gold is a bit Bob Kelso old-school, but also don't want something junky.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I have had a white gold wedding ring for about 20 years. I am on my second ring, not because of abuse, but because I have been a science teacher, and I taking apart an old mercury barometer and mercury got spilled all over my hand (and my ring). So I stopped wearing that ring and got a new one. My second ring has held up just fine for about 15 years.

The only thing that I have found that degrades the white gold is bromine gas. Whenever I work with bromine (showing how bromine water is used to detect the unsaturated alkene group in a molecule), the silver and the copper on the outer surface of the ring will dissolve (react with the bromine) and leave yellow gold. If the ring is polished, the outer yellow layer comes off and it is restored to the white color. After the first couple of times that that happened, I started taking off my rings whenever I work with bromine.

The only analogy that I can see is betadine that is used as an antiseptic and it contains iodine. That may become problematic. I have not tested it extensively.

BTW- nice reference to Scrubs. 🙂

dsoz
 
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I would suggest forging your own ring out of a Gibeon meteorite and nickel with a double helix twist using Japanese mokume techniques. It should prevent that pesky hand washing problem.


http://imgur.com/a/ZjCaW#0
 
DrBowtie said:
All fun and games until you get a crush injury.
Click to expand...

Not true. You can cut off a titanium ring. Titanium is actually softer than Chrome-Cobalt or stainless steel.

But, you may not want to go with titanium because it actually scratches pretty easily. Tungsten, on the other hand, does not, and stays well shiny.

Ultimately, I avoid the issue altogether by telling my wife that my ring is a hassle to take on and off all the time because "scrubbing" so I haven't worn it in well over a year
 
Acoustic said:
I've been shopping for wedding bands lately (guy here) and have heard every jeweler tell me that I should avoid white gold because with all the hand washing ahead of me it'll decay super fast. Have you found this accurate?

I think I like that color a bit more because the yellow gold is a bit Bob Kelso old-school, but also don't want something junky.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Why not go with platinum or palladium?
 
Jeff Smoker said:
Not true. You can cut off a titanium ring. Titanium is actually softer than Chrome-Cobalt or stainless steel.

But, you may not want to go with titanium because it actually scratches pretty easily. Tungsten, on the other hand, does not, and stays well shiny.

Ultimately, I avoid the issue altogether by telling my wife that my ring is a hassle to take on and off all the time because "scrubbing" so I haven't worn it in well over a year
Click to expand...
Hmm...I thought titanium was one metal type that required special shearing device from the fire dept around here. They can get it off, but it just takes considerably longer.
 
Rothbard said:
an anachronistic vestige of a sexist, paternalistic, racist religious tradition grown out of the myths of millenia old goatherders, now in recent times made popular corporatist fatcats taking advantage of slave labor in third world countries

whatever floats your boat i guess
Click to expand...

haha wtf are you talking about...
 
Jeff Smoker said:
Not true. You can cut off a titanium ring. Titanium is actually softer than Chrome-Cobalt or stainless steel.

But, you may not want to go with titanium because it actually scratches pretty easily. Tungsten, on the other hand, does not, and stays well shiny.

Ultimately, I avoid the issue altogether by telling my wife that my ring is a hassle to take on and off all the time because "scrubbing" so I haven't worn it in well over a year
Click to expand...

:laugh:

I had a Tungsten ring, that SOB was so heavy it made my finger ache, however, it did not ever scratch/fade/etc. Thank heavens my mother-in-law lost it. I got a $20 replacement from Walmart that is stainless steel and I don't even know it is there.

Go for the lightest and cheapest thing you can find.
 
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The only thing with white gold is that over time the coating will fade and the ring will start to look more yellow. Just be sure to get a good insurance/service plan with the jeweler and they will re-coat it whenever its needed.
 
My wedding set is white gold. No problems with discoloration but sometimes it irritates my skin. I think I have a mild nickel allergy. Eventually I would like to have it reset in platinum or palladium since it (as a jewlery metal) has much less nickel in it than gold jewelry.

My husband has a tungsten carbide ring (our rings aren't matchy matchy) that he likes a lot. I kinda want to get a similar woman's size band that I can wear sometimes instead of my set.
 
dsoz said:
I have had a white gold wedding ring for about 20 years. I am on my second ring, not because of abuse, but because I have been a science teacher, and I taking apart an old mercury barometer and mercury got spilled all over my hand (and my ring). So I stopped wearing that ring and got a new one. My second ring has held up just fine for about 15 years.

The only thing that I have found that degrades the white gold is bromine gas. Whenever I work with bromine (showing how bromine water is used to detect the unsaturated alkene group in a molecule), the silver and the copper on the outer surface of the ring will dissolve (react with the bromine) and leave yellow gold. If the ring is polished, the outer yellow layer comes off and it is restored to the white color. After the first couple of times that that happened, I started taking off my rings whenever I work with bromine.

The only analogy that I can see is betadine that is used as an antiseptic and it contains iodine. That may become problematic. I have not tested it extensively.

BTW- nice reference to Scrubs. 🙂

dsoz
Click to expand...

You work with bromine gas and you don't put on gloves?:eyebrow:
 
My tungsten ring is great. Stopped noticing it in less than a month. It's everything-proof and cheap.
 
I wear a tungsten ring as well...it's clean, simple and it looks badass as well.
 
kpcrew said:
You work with bromine gas and you don't put on gloves?:eyebrow:
Click to expand...

I don't know how much bromine exposure it would take to get noticeable discoloration, but bromine leaches through everything except like, teflon
 
Tungsten. Hard enough to be durable and not scratch but brittle enough that it shatters under compression and won't amputate your finger.
 
I prefer Kryptonite rings personally.
(got a ring of white, yellow, and rose gold. stood up to 2 years of hand washing and alcohol wiping so far.)
 
I had a yellow gold ring. Looked great, but was getting scratched and scuffed after just a few weeks. Plus, I found that it would slip off too easily while swimming.

So I went to Amazon.com and purchased a $20 Tungsten ring. High silver polish. This ring has been knocked around and roughed up and still doesn't have a scratch on it. Tungsten used to be all the rage, but the jewelry dealers are going to different, more expensive metals, so nice Tungsten rings are quite cheap, now. If I lose it, I can just buy another one.

Plus, when I spin it on a smooth surface, it will spin for over 1 minute.
 
No. 5 years on white gold here and it's an epic win.

Be careful getting rings that you can't cut off. There are multiple types that you will seriously regret wearing if you injure your finger and end up having an amputation or something b/c your ring can't be cut off.
 
Rothbard said:
an anachronistic vestige of a sexist, paternalistic, racist religious tradition grown out of the myths of millenia old goatherders, now in recent times made popular corporatist fatcats taking advantage of slave labor in third world countries

whatever floats your boat i guess
Click to expand...

I'm all for showcasing human achievement with synthetic diamonds and alloys.
 
I still prefer platinum to white gold. I like the shine better
 
sprawl2 said:
I still prefer platinum to white gold. I like the shine better
Click to expand...

Any tips for platinum shopping (i.e. make sure it has this quality rating etc.)? Am I correct in that it's one of the most durable and is easily serviceable (i.e. a jeweler can bring it back to its original quality relatively easily)? How has it stood up to all the hand washing and glove wearing etc.?
 
Acoustic said:
Any tips for platinum shopping (i.e. make sure it has this quality rating etc.)? Am I correct in that it's one of the most durable and is easily serviceable (i.e. a jeweler can bring it back to its original quality relatively easily)? How has it stood up to all the hand washing and glove wearing etc.?
Click to expand...

I've had platinum in service in the OR for more than a decade. It's great and holds up to the rough environment very well. Once in a while I hit it with a cape cod cloth and it shines like new. It's more expensive, but it will last forever and be more durable and better looking than gold.
 
3 years with white gold band and it's wonderful. Very lightweight. My wife's (much nicer) ring, which also has a white gold band, is on a lifetime service plan (comes included with every ring from "Jared") which includes free inspection/polishing/buffing/etc every 6 months. I have them throw mine in the polisher with hers twice a year and it keeps both of ours looking very nice. Mine would be even better if I didn't take such awful care of it... I shower, swim, work, do dishes, with it on.
 
I'm gonna get a tungsten carbide ring from Amazon for $34 shipped and replace it as needed. Gotta be careful though, it's so tough that you can't saw through them.
 
Rothbard said:
an anachronistic vestige of a sexist, paternalistic, racist religious tradition grown out of the myths of millenia old goatherders, now in recent times made popular corporatist fatcats taking advantage of slave labor in third world countries

whatever floats your boat i guess
Click to expand...
Any post with this many buzzwords in it is bound to be wrong. Or a joke.

If you were talking about "diamonds are forever," I'd be more inclined to agree with you.
 
Rothbard said:
an anachronistic vestige of a sexist, paternalistic, racist religious tradition grown out of the myths of millenia old goatherders, now in recent times made popular corporatist fatcats taking advantage of slave labor in third world countries

whatever floats your boat i guess
Click to expand...


You must be horrible to talk to at parties.
 
White gold. Been married for a couple weeks. Scuffs will come (bought a care plan to get it re-rhodium plated, etc), but it is lightweight and I can't really tell it is there. I didn't want a huge bolt sized ring like some of those tungsten rings out there. I'm able to adduct all my fingers, and the ring does not get in the way. That would be annoying having a huge ring.
 
D P356 said:
White gold. Been married for a couple weeks. Scuffs will come (bought a care plan to get it re-rhodium plated, etc), but it is lightweight and I can't really tell it is there. I didn't want a huge bolt sized ring like some of those tungsten rings out there. I'm able to adduct all my fingers, and the ring does not get in the way. That would be annoying having a huge ring.
Click to expand...

You do know that gold is super soft and therefore requires thicker "huge bolt rings" compared to the stronger, lightweight, scuff-resistant metals like tungsten and titanium, right?
 
ManBroDude said:
You do know that gold is super soft and therefore requires thicker "huge bolt rings" compared to the stronger, lightweight, scuff-resistant metals like tungsten and titanium, right?
Click to expand...

He was referring to the fact that, on average, the tungsten and titanium rings are very large, much larger than gold rings. I'm sure you could get small, but they're sold as very large and squared. I know that I personally was avoiding them because they looked like "bolts" to me too. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just that it isn't a look I'd like.
 
Yes, gold is softer. No it is not a super sized bolt. A few of my married classmates have big bolt like tungsten/titanium rings. You can't have these re-sized. Gold can be re-sized for what ever reason.

ManBroDude, with all due respect, you will see all of this stuff when you look for a wedding ring. Traditionally gold rings, while softer, can be smaller/thinner than those lug nut tungsten rings. They can also be larger. It is all about preference.
 
I'm an ortho resident and I just leave my ring at home. I don't want it to come up missing when I'm scrubbing and I don't need it to remember that I'm married.

(It is a mix of white and yellow gold and still looks fine after 12 years.)
 
Rothbard said:
an anachronistic vestige of a sexist, paternalistic, racist religious tradition grown out of the myths of millenia old goatherders, now in recent times made popular corporatist fatcats taking advantage of slave labor in third world countries

whatever floats your boat i guess
Click to expand...

I looked it up and you're right.
Best comment!
 
DrBowtie said:
All fun and games until you get a crush injury.
Click to expand...

Had this same concern when I chose tungsten carbide. Search youtube and you will find examples of guys shattering them with vice grips. I would prefer something that can be shattered over gold which can deform.
 
Rothbard said:
an anachronistic vestige of a sexist, paternalistic, racist religious tradition grown out of the myths of millenia old goatherders, now in recent times made popular corporatist fatcats taking advantage of slave labor in third world countries

whatever floats your boat i guess
Click to expand...

"i'm on a mission to civilize." 👍
 
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