Tungsten Carbide Rings? Opinions?

[DancinGirl]

Hey everyone!

My fiance picked out this ring for his wedding band. It is Tungsten Carbide and they said it is as strong as Titanium, but won''t scratch like it. How does it hold up? Anyone have one or know someone who does? I know it is a newer thing to be making rings with it. Any downsides to it? It is made my Artcarved. It looked really sleek and very nice. Price was reasonable too, especially in comparison to Platinum which he wanted first. I can''t wait til it comes in.

Thanks in Advance!

 

[openhelix]

I looked at a lot of the rings from Trew Tungsten (very similiar and the pioneer of tungsten) and they are very nice. They are harder than titanium or gold or platinum, but not by any means unscratchable. I watched one be scratched easier than I would have thought. And you can't ever polish out the scratches. Another downside is they can never be sized and must be cut/broken off with a tool should they ever become "stuck" (broken finger, etc). However, there's nothing that looks like them and they do seem to attract attention and comments!

 

[DancinGirl]

Can't be polished out huh? Why is that? Because it is so strong? Damn. Does it keep it's shine do you know? Hmmm... I am nervous now. I hope it works out. I know it is very strong, and that could be a downside - but if any other ring got stuck on a finger they'd have to cut it off too I am sure...no matter what it was made of.

Thanks for your post!

 

[member73]

Tungsten Carbide is the same material used for high end metal cutting tools in machine shops. So with a proper edge will cut titanium quite nicely and is much stronger than Ti. One of the things I admire about the material is that it is so hard, you can develop a great polish on it. The color is almost similar to hemotite but richer, if that helps. One of my coworkers (we are both engineers at a company that does a good amount of titanium machining) bought a Tungsten Carbide Movado watch, it is about as scratch proof as you can get and looks fantastic. Hint, hint for a wedding day present!

The only potential problem I can see with a TC band is to my knowledge it can not be resized. The material is very hard and not ductile, so bending it is impossible. Not to mention there are no suitable alloys with which to solder TC. I could be wrong, but I would be very surprised.

 

[openhelix]

Hey DancinGirl.

Don't worry. It IS hard to scratch, but when it does (and they all do eventually) it's there forever. That's what turned me off from them. Actually, pretty much all other rings can be gotten off in an emergency fairly simply without further damage to the skin. Even titanium will stretch 1/2 to a full size, gold is even easier. Just tell him not to have any accidents with his left hand

That said, most EMTs and all ER docs are fairly familiar with the process of cutting or breaking off hard metals. It's usually either broken with a vise or cut off with a very high speed cutter.

Think of it as unique. That's a good thing!

But everything good also has a downside.

 

[member73]

" I watched one be scratched easier than I would have thought. And you can't ever polish out the scratches."

I'm surprised by that statement. Can you tell me what/how it was scratched? We use WC cutting tools on a daily basis and it's often hard to determine if a particular end mill is new or used, and these are used for cutting stainless steel and Titanium! A much more harsh environment than any ring would experience I hope. And it can be polished, although it is a little difficult, at least more so than gold or platinum. We have made WC dies for metal stamping that were polished to a mirror finish.

Some of our tools for cutting particularly nasty alloys are actually WC coated with Diamond, now would make for an interesting band.

 

[openhelix]

'73, I don't remember the first two tools he used but for the third demo he just smacked it, pretty hard, against the corner of the jewelry safe. FWIW, this was a Trew Tungsten with the 24 Trew facets. IIRC, from the tutorial Boonerings gave on the subject that tungsten tools are harder than the rings.

 

[valeria101]

So... what jewelry material does not scratch? Does it matter? Actually, regardless of what metal you choose: it is as hard to scratch as it is to polish.

It took 25 years or wear for a 18k gold wedding band to get to half the original weight through scratching !

 

[Superidealist]

I have a Trew Tungsten wedding band that I have been wearing for two years. It appears from your picture that the ring you bought has a platinum inlay. Mine has a rose gold inlay, so my experience my apply to your case.

After two yaers of wear, the rose gold inlay on my ring has developed several scratches, but the tungsten carbide section looks brand new.

These rings are made from tungsten carbide, a hardmetal ceramic that is nearly impossible to scratch. Being naturally curious, I took a file to the inside of my wedding band. It didn't make a mark. In short, the material is about as scratch reisitant as you can get. I've heard that they do devlop micro scratches over time. If this bothers you, scratches can be removed (contrary to what has been said here) but even your jeweler won't be able to do it. The ring will probably have to be returned to the manufacturer for polishing.

As far as safety goes, the rings are very hard and nearly impossible to cut off but, as they are ceramic and not metal, they can be broken off without much trouble. No exotic tools are needed. A simple pair of vice grips could break the ring without further damaging the finger. For inlaid rings such as ours, you would need to break the ring in several places and remove the tungsten carbide pieces. The inlay would then need to be cut off. All hospital emergency rooms are supposed to have instructions for removal of hardmetal ceramic rings but it's probably wise to know how to do it yourself.

The rings can never be resized due to the hardness of the material but the manufacturer may have a policy to help with this. Trew Tungsten ring owners can exchange their ring for one of a different size free of charge (or possibly for a nominal charge) once during their lifetime. I don't know what Artcarved's policy is with regard to their tungsten carbide rings.

Keep in mind also that the rings cannot be inscribed by normal engraving methods and must be laser engraved (which looks great, by the way).

Enjoy your new ring.

 

[DancinGirl]

Super: ...do you have any pics of your ring? I'd love to see them!

I was wondering about the inscribing thing. Who is able to do the laser inscribing? I doubt the jeweler has those capabilities? (unless they are diamond cutters?)

My man doesn't work with his hands...and so far has never had any problems and he has worn 1 or 2 rings for years (not this material, but gold and silver) He is a 'white collar' worker I guess you'd call him.

Maybe I should call to ask them about the engraving of our bands...didn't even think of it when we got them..we were in a hurry sorta cause they were closing and we were just excited to finally find the "Ones"!

 

[Superidealist]

Here is a picture of my ring.

The laser engraving was done by the manufacturer. There may have been a charge but if so it was so little that I don't remember it.

 

[boonerings]

Nice ring DancinGirl. I made a tungsten ring with a Mokume inlay just today! It is very tough to polish. I've seen some companies out there that claim to have rings made of tungsten carbide, when in fact they are alloys of tungsten, iron, nickel, and molybdenum. Perhaps there are carbide particles in there, but it is not the same material. This is what I use also. I don't know for sure what ArtCarved uses. They have no description or info about it on the website. The tungsten carbide like Trew Tungsten uses can indeed be raked with a full hardened file without marking the surface. My cutting tools are made from it. All that happens is it wears a spot in the file. It could get scratched by harder things like minerals or super hardened steels, but most metals will not be as hard.

 

[openhelix]

Boone, I'd LOVE to see the tungsten mokume ring! Do you have any pictures? Also, I am VERY interested in one for my right hand. Any chance you could PM me with details?? I'm really excited. I didn't even think using this in mokume was possible! Great work!

 

[codex57]

I know this thread is old, but does anyone have more info on Artcarved''s tungsten carbide rings?

I''m considering it. Have a white gold band now, but I know it''s going to get scratched like no other. My future brother in law has an artcarved t-c ring and so far, he likes it (been several months now). Apparently, it has a lifetime warranty and if it gets damaged or needs ot be resized, Artcarved will do it for free.

 

[codex57]

Oh, and about how much do these things run? Both the Artcarved and the Trew ones? The simple ones without other precious metals. Thanks.

 

[DancinGirl]

My husband has had his now for over a year - WOW this IS an old post! And I haven''t been here in forever, but...

He has had NO scratches and he wears it ALL the time. Absolutely loves it.

I really wish I could remember what we paid for it. Maybe $300-$400? I can''t recall.

~ Martha

 

[codex57]

Awesome! I was thinking of getting that exact ring. My future bro-in-law got the bigger version for about $475 so the price seems in line with what he paid. Glad to hear that after a year, your husband hasn''t gotten any scratches on it. I don''t expect any either then since I have an office job and the most damage it''ll likely face is when I accidentally bang it against a desk or doorknob or car door.

Did you just get it at a local jewelery store? Online prices seem kinda pricy although they claim to have a big discount off the "MSRP".

 

[DancinGirl]

Yes, we got it at a local store. I live in NH, and we got it in Manchester where we also bought my wedding ring. I would look on the Artcarved site and see who their authorized retailers are in your area. I am assuming they have that feature on their site.

It is a really sharp looking ring and doesn''t get DULL looking ever. My platinum gets scratched and dull like, and his always looks great - makes me mad. HAHA!

 

[codex57]

Yeah, I''ve got this simple promise ring kind of band that''s white gold. Used to be shiny, now it''s all dull and scratched. I didn''t even wear it for all that long.

I like the Trew ones, but the authorized dealer near me for them is pricey. Great guy, but pricey. The Artcarved dealer is where I got teh engagement ring. He''s got pretty good prices and my FI loved her e-ring and the quality of his work so she wants to go back to him.