Advice on metals for Men''s Wedding Band

[tberube]

My fiance wants a simple, beveled edge wedding band, 6-7mm, in a brushed finish. We tried on a few different metals at the local B&M, but he is pretty convinced to buy his ring online, because of the lower prices.

The choices of metals that have been circling around our brains for this are white gold, titanium, palladium and tungsten. But I don''t know much about these metals, except the white gold. He doesn''t want to spend a great deal of money on his band, which is why he is shying away from platinum (and in some cases, white gold too). And as a side note, the salesperson at the store sort of scared FI away from titanium, citing that it cannot be removed if it gets stuck on his finger (i.e. he gains weight or breaks a digit) and he could potentially "lose a finger" due to choosing this metal. Anybody heard that before, or is it hogwash?

So what''s the breakdown on these metals, in your opinions? If I want to make sure he gets a decent quality ring that won''t have a lot of upkeep and won''t have to be replaced again and again, which should I steer him toward?

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Hey, T!

It''s such a tough decision, huh? I didn''t even realize many of these metals could be used for rings until DH started looking at wedding bands.

As for the titanium ring, I do think they are dangerous to wear. I know they are popular, but when my sister (who lives in Kansas City) was considering Titanium for her husband''s ring, she called many local hospitals to ask if they had a device that could cut through the metal if anything were to happen and they said that they didn''t, which really surprised me. I know that I have a surgical steel ring I use when I climb, but it is darker than platinum.

My sister ended up getting my BIL a Tungsten ring (with WG inlay, I think?) and he loves it. I''d probably consider WG, Palladium or Tungsten, though if he wants Titanium, you could call some local hospitals to see if it would be an issue?

 

[goobear78]

My husband''s WB is 14 K white gold. I was very disappointed in the quality. It''s scratched easily and turned yellow even after getting it fixed a year in. I know they do tend to turn yellow, but it turned a very ugly color. I''m planning on buying him a platinum band for our anniversary.

 

[girlie-girl]

I bought a 6mm tungsten carbide band for my guy. He wants to wear it always and can be a bit hard on things, especially while at work, so a ring that doesn''t bend or scratch is ideal for him. Not to mention he thought it was cool having a ring made of a material typically used for cutting tools, mining machinery, and rocket engine nozzles. lol His is comfort fit with a brushed center and high polished rounded edges.

I agree that you''ll save loads buying his ring online. The local B&M quoted us $700 for this ring, $550 if we bought the bridal set with it (plus tax of course). We found it online for about $100 with a lifetime guarantee.

I took the extra money I had set aside for his ring and bought him a new Ping G10 driver as an early wedding gift (he''s a golf fanatic) and STILL came in a couple hundred dollars lower than if I had bought the ring from the local store.

 

[mercoledi]

Date: 6/23/2008 12:52:39 PM
Author: goobear78
My husband's WB is 14 K white gold. I was very disappointed in the quality. It's scratched easily and turned yellow even after getting it fixed a year in. I know they do tend to turn yellow, but it turned a very ugly color. I'm planning on buying him a platinum band for our anniversary.

My husband's band (and mine) are 14k white gold. His is a 7mm knife-edge band with engraving. Our rings did get a little yellower when the rhodium wore off, but they're still decidedly white, just not blindingly white. There are different alloy mixes for white gold that give a variety of hues. It's coming up on two years and his has held up well. Some minor scratches, but that happens.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Mine is an electrician, so we had to be very careful about what metal we chose for his band. Technically, he's really not supposed to wear any jewelry at work, but he never takes his wedding band off. (I have to fight with him just to get him to let me clean it! LOL!) Platinum was out of the question because it is very conductive . . . even more so than gold. He wound up getting a two-tone 14k gold ring from eWeddingbands.com. It's like a yellow gold ring with a white gold inlay. Here's the link: http://www.e-weddingbands.com/store/product129.html

It has held up pretty well, and we've been married for almost three years! It's pretty scratched up and the white gold portion probably needs to be rhodium plated (it's now almost the same color as the yellow gold portion), but otherwise it's been fine. Good luck!

ETA: Sorry, forgot to mention ~ you can get that band in many different metals, and they can apply several different types of finishes (including brushed) to the inlay part of the band.

 

[tberube]

Thank you, everyone, for your help! It looks like I''ll be leaning toward Tungsten or palladium, to recommend to him. If anyone has any more info to offer, I''ll be happy to hear it.

 

[septembergirl]

My husband also wears a Tungsten ring and I have to say that it is gorgeous. It''s a simple, domed comfort-fit band, but what makes this an eye-catcher is that it has a really neat graphite color to it. The jeweler we purchased from said that it''s the natural color (I honestly don''t know for certain if that is true) but the shade is a neat bluish, charcoal-ish metal color (and the blue is faint, almost a grey-blue and looks darker). He loves it! He will take it and scrape it along cement to show his friends that it does not scratch and retains its shine.

 

[kcgunesq]

My wedding band is a 5mm comfort fit plat band. My wife''s e-ring and band are both pt. If I couldn''t have plat, I''d go with pd, although it wasn''t an option that I recall when we married.

For more information on pd, see this Modern Jeweler article.

If I remember it well enough, the summary is "Pd has all of the advantages of Pt, and none of the disadvantages of wg".

You might also consider a sterling alloy with pt. I haven''t seen it yet, but I''m going to consider it as an option for a chain I''m about to purchase for a pendant I''m designing for my wife (although I''m leaning towards pd).

 

[tberube]

thanks, septembergirl! Sounds like tungsten is a good metal afterall.

 

[kboggs315]

My husbands WB is black ceramic. It''s scratch resistant, won''t fade or discolor, and is hypoallergenic! It''s as hard as tungsten carbide, but better. The best part...they can be purchased for around a hundred dollars. We got ours of off ebay..it cost $50!

 

[diamondringlover]

My hubby has 14k yellow gold and it does scratch easily, I just bought him a titanum ring for his birthday, its 4mm and it dome comfort fit band, he will not wear it to work, he is a machinist and he never wears a ring to work, but I bought it for him to wear around the house, he works on stuff like cars, lawn mowers, ect and I was tired of yelling at him to take off his reg ring, so hopefully the titanum ring will hold up.