What metal for men''s wedding band?

[lilylover]

My BF and I will be getting engaged soon and I am already starting to think about what wedding band I will purchase for him (I like to get a head start on things).

Here is everything that I know about his tastes:

-- He wants something simple and affordable (wants me to spend as much under 1k as possible)
-- He likes heavy material. So, something that has some weight to it and feels solid would be best.
-- He doesn''t like yellow gold
-- He wants something that is scratch resistant. He does a lot of work on motorcycles and cars and doesn''t want worry about banging it up.

Knowing all of this, what material would be best? I have seen everything from platinum, WG, ceramic, tungsten, titanium and stainless steel. WAY too much to choose from!

Thanks for any direction you guys can provide.

 

[DiamondGirlHH]

Hi there lilylover,

It''s kind of a tough selection you got there. If you want the weight you have to go with platinum but it does scratch specially working with hands on cars, bikes, etc. Price of platinum is not too bad right now so yo should be able to get a nice and simple band for less than 1K.

The other metals like Tungsten, Titanium, Ceramic, etc. tend to be lighter than Platinum. I never seen a Stainless Steel band so hopefully someone else here will be able to give you some suggestions.

Good luck!

Heather

 

[Todd Gray]

Titanium is pretty light and is pretty scratch resistant... One of the guys who used to work for me wore a titanium band while he wrenched on the weekends and I was amazed at how well it held up!

Tungsten is heavier and I really like the dark appearance, but I don''t think it will hold up to wrenching on a bike... The way to get a Tungsten ring off of somebody with a finger injury is generally to place it in a set of vice grips and apply pressure at which point it will break off in two even sections. This is probably fine for most people who might not be putting a lot of pressure on their hands, but I''m thinking that a Tungsten ring might break under the pressure of a wrench being really torqued on. I''ll never forget the look on a friends face when I pulled a Tungsten ring out of the case and then ran a key off my key chain back and forth across the surface - it didn''t leave a mark! But durable in terms of scratch resistant is not always durable in terms of pressure or impact.

 

[jet2ks]

Tungsten!!! Almost impossible to scratch, nice and heavy, and affordable. Just normal wrenching on bikes and cars will not break a tungsten ring, you have to apply enough pressure to deform the metal and then it cracks instead of bending, and it takes quite a bit of pressure, much more than a person can apply without the benefit of a hammer or compound leverage, like vice-grips. For the sake of safety, rings should be removed when working in areas where it could get hung up anyways. If you are worried about it breaking, several sites offer lifetime warranties on their tungsten rings--if it breaks, they will replace it.

 

[Todd Gray]

Date: 6/16/2009 6:54:18 PM
Author: jet2ks
If you are worried about it breaking, several sites offer lifetime warranties on their tungsten rings--if it breaks, they will replace it.

That''s true and I''m glad to have some insight into how Tungsten will hold up to things like working on a car, etc. because I''ve been hesitant about that. Thanks Jet2ks!

 

[jet2ks]

You''re welcome! There are several sites out there that sell tungsten rings that have videos showing how to remove them (read, break them) with vice-grips. The thing you will notice if you watch is that the vice-grips have to be set to where they are locking right as they crush the ring in order to get it to crack. That''s because that is the point where the leverage is the greatest and the slight camming action of the locking mechanism applies tremendous force far in excess of what normal pliers do at any point.

 

[Bosie]

Platinum all the way. Can''t mention the online site on this forum but if you search it, "mens wedding band", you will see some very affordable rings, good luck.

 

[Laura27]

Just thought I'd comment. I was thinking about this too seeing as how my man does pipeline work and is always not so careful. I think I'll be going with Tungsten as it's extremely durable. I also found a site that has some rings with the brushed and polished look. He was wanting something that had a bit of a satin finish in the middle with polished edges. In fact I just searched on site and they are having a sale. 199 bucks! I guess I can't name the site? It has the word World in it lol. Some have such a high polish that they look like white gold or platinum. Anyways, not only are they scratch resistant they're also fade and tarnish resistant as well. Hope that helps!


EDIT: Forgot to mention that you can also get Tungsten with inlaid sterling silver or platinum. Under 1,000 bucks and has a very nice look.

 

[atroop711]

I bought my husband a WG band. His original band was platinum and even though it had weight, it got scratched up too easily and we both hated the way it looked. He lost that one (

) so I replaced it with a WG band which was only $585 and gorgeous!

 

[Bosie]

Do a search on "wedding bands"

I have a plat, comfort fit, 4mm, regular weight, not heavy weight, and love it.

The plat does dull, but I think they all dull.

 

[DiamondFlame]

Platinum scratches too easily. I was thinking tungsten cuz it''s affordable and durable. But it certainly looks nicer with engravings or inlays (but these will cost more).

 

[vfrhokie]

I went with a tungsten carbide ring with a brushed gold inlay from www.titaniumstyle.com. Only had it about 3 months, but I''m a big fan.

 

[geckodani]

Another vote for tungsten!

www.boonerings.com has some nice ones.

So does ebay, surprisingly.

ETA: I have a mechanic friend that wears tungsten, with no problems.

 

[MustangGal]

My DH has a titanium ring, he hasn''t taken it off in 6 years and it''s pretty scratched. He also prefers light weight jewelry. I have a tungsten band I wear when camping, etc., and love it. Mine has a laser etched pattern to give it a little detail, and it has no stratches at all after some pretty hard wear. I got mine on ebay for around $35, so even if I loose it or need a new size, it''s really affordable to replace. I think that tungsten doesn''t conduct electricity, but you might want to double check that.

 

[jet2ks]

www.titaniumkay.com also has some nice and very affordable tungsten rings.

 

[radiantquest]

i got my husband a titanium band. aircraft grade. he is an electrician and hasnt had any problem.