which hinged-shank is the best?

[Odilia]

Anyone familiar with the different types of hinged- or other types of shanks to fit the ring part of the finger rather than the fat knuckle: What are the pros & cons of each? I''ve heard of the following:

superringfit
superfit.net
lockshank
fingerfit
fingermate

If you know of others, throw them in. Would be glad to hear from jewelry experts, as well as consumers who have experience with them. Which ones work the best? Look best with the rest of the ring/i.e. are least obvious? Do any of them risk coming undone inadvertently? Which are most secure? Most/least expensive? etc. etc.

 

[denverappraiser]

I'm not familiar with all of the choices you've listed but I rather like the ones from superringfit because they seem to hold up well under normal wear.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[headlight]

Hi,
I "almost" had a Superfit -- I say almost because it was a nightmare working with the company and they have a very long wait time, and they say that you are supposed to send your ring in annually for inspection which really turned me off considering that their wait time is min. 6 weeks. Also, you need this little instrument thingy to open it. Oh, the other thing that REALLY turned me off was that your ring has to be a certain width and thickness to accommodate the superfit shank. So, what happened was my jeweler made me the most beautiful ring ever, sends it off to get the superfit shank put on, and because the superfit piece is clearly not "dainty" or "delicate" like my new ring was, the jeweler had to remake the ring to accommodate the superfit shank, only this time the ring looked like a morphed out, ugly piece of jewelry on steroids! That is the best way I can describe it.

Fast forward to my finding Lockshank. Great guy to work with. Great product.

 

[Odilia]

Thanks to both for the feedback. headlight, do you mean that you got the Lockshank, and are pleased with it?

Any other feedback on any of these?

 

[jasper]

Dear Old-Fashioned Girl,

Depending on how much larger your knuckles are than the "ring part of your finger",
you might be better off with sizing beads than with any of these products.

My fiancée's ring has a comfort-fit shank with large sizing beads.
The beads can accommodate up to 2 ring-sizes worth of change in her finger size.
She says the ring is very comfortable.

Sizing beads are inherently more reliable, because:
* they do not have any moving parts
* they do not have metal wearing against metal
* they do not put anything brittle in tension

Sizing beads are also cheaper to buy and install.
Installing them does much less damage to the ring's structure and appearance.
When I wear my class ring, one sizing bead is completely hidden,
and the other sizing bead can only be seen from a particular angle.

Good luck with your search.

Sincerely yours,

Jasper Paulsen
----------------
http://www.folds.net/diamond

 

[SuzyQZ]

I have sizing beads inside my wedding ring. The jeweler flattened them to they wouldn''t stick into my finger and they work great and are so comfortable. My ring doesn''t spin at all. I''ve never tried the hinged-shanks you are talking about, so I can''t comment on which is better. All I know is that the sizing beads work great, they are comfortable and no maintanance is required. They were put on my ring shank at the same time my jeweler made my ring, so from day one there were there. He anticipted that my top heavy setting would be a problem with my thin fingers so he just put them on from the get-go.

Now if you have a thin shank, maybe the sizing beads would show too much and your only option would be a hinged shank type of ring. I don''t know what your ring looks like or how thick your shank is. But I thought I''d offer another option for you to consider.

 

[headlight]

Date: 5/20/2006 10:47:03 AM
Author: old-fashioned girl
Thanks to both for the feedback. headlight, do you mean that you got the Lockshank, and are pleased with it?

Any other feedback on any of these?

Yes, I did get the Lockshank. I am pleased with it, although I would ultimately prefer not to have to deal with any of this at all! I actually recently found out what the source of my enlarged knuckles was caused by, and I may ultimately be able to go back to a regular shank, or at the very least use a spring or beads. But, I can say that the Lockshank is way better than the Superfit IMO.

 

[Odilia]

headlight, thanks again for the feedback. No others have any feedback on these things????

 

[Capitol Bill]

I have a superfit wedding band that I occasionally wear in winter when my finger size shrinks a bit and my slight knuckle problem is exacerbated. I''ve had no problems with it whatsoever and I like the way the mechanism virtually disappears when it snaps closed. I''ve been pretty hard on it and regularly open it by pulling on the ring (you have to pull real hard in just the right place) rather than by pressing on the dot with a pen. That said, the mechanism is still as precise as it was when new. I can''t vouch for any of the others mentioned here because I haven''t tried them or encountered them in a ring. Like anything else, it''s up to personal preference. Just find the one you feel best about wearing.

Best of luck!

Bill Scherlag

 

[diamondlil]

Have you evern tried a ring with sizing beads, OFG? It takes a day or two to get used to it, but after that, they are quite comfortable. I have a ring with the beads, and I''m quite comfortable in it. Also, as Jasper said, no cutting of the ring, and they are easily removed later if need be.

 

[Odilia]

Date: 5/22/2006 2:05:49 PM
Author: DiamondLil
Have you evern tried a ring with sizing beads, OFG? It takes a day or two to get used to it, but after that, they are quite comfortable. I have a ring with the beads, and I''m quite comfortable in it. Also, as Jasper said, no cutting of the ring, and they are easily removed later if need be.

I have a feeling that won''t quite work for me, but when I go to Quest I will ask him (Pete?) about it. It is definitely worth looking into. I want to be able to wear the ring on both hands, and both fingers will fit a size 5 (possibly even smaller on my Left), but with my knuckles it needs to be at least 5.25 on the L, and 6.25 on the right. It feels SO MUCH better to have the ring actually fit down there. I''ve tried on the hinged shank sizers, and it''s so nice to actually have a size 5 ring on, which would fit both hands so well. The size 6+ even looks weird on my right hand, because really it''s way too big, but needs to be to fit over the huge knuckle, plus it''s uncomfortable.

Capitol Bill, thanks for the feedback.

 

[diamondlil]

Gotcha. I did not realize there was such a size difference between your 2 hands. It makes sense to have the hinged type I think.

 

[Odilia]

Wow, I guess these hinged-shanks are really rare. So little feedback, even from the jewelers... ??? oh well....

 

[lizmurphy]

just came upon this post...i have had great experience with a superfit. i was dubious about altering my ring but my jeweler is a good friend and he said he loves them. originally needed one because i am a long distance runner and work out a lot so it works great because my hands swell with the heat. it''s really pretty invisible and super comfortable. now that i have it it helps to keep my engagement ring from rolling around...I never realized how annoying that was unitl it didn''t happen anymore! it''s definitely a conversation piece...my friends always get a kick out of it when i show them.

hope this helps! here''s their site: www.superfitinc.com

 

[Sundial]

Just be careful if you go with a hinged type ring. One of my friends had a hinged shank put on a very expensive ring because her knuckles are large and her ring would spin too much. After wearing it for a couple of years she caught it on something without noticing and the ring came off and was lost. I would want to be sure to get something with high quality and to make sure that the ring was insured.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

OFG, it sounds like if you would stick to wearing the ring on one finger, you could avoid the hinged shank and just use sizing beads. I really don''t have a need to wear the same ring on both hands, though. My e- and w-rings are one size and my RHR''s are another size. Are you sure you would really be changing the ring from hand to hand enough to make this worth it?

 

[nycgirl]

I also have sizing beads and they are extremely comfortable and even the first day I had them they were totally comfortable (and I usually am sensative to thing like this)!

 

[Odilia]

Date: 5/20/2006 8:00:07 PM
Author: headlight

Yes, I did get the Lockshank. I am pleased with it, although I would ultimately prefer not to have to deal with any of this at all! I actually recently found out what the source of my enlarged knuckles was caused by, and I may ultimately be able to go back to a regular shank, or at the very least use a spring or beads. But, I can say that the Lockshank is way better than the Superfit IMO.

headlight, I am curious, if you don''t mind saying on here, what was the source of your englarged knuckles, and how were / would you be able to fix it?

 

[headlight]

I am not sure at this point the cause as we thought we had it "solved" only to deal with a new flare-up of problems. Thus, my knuckle is still all funky. I have chosen to wear my diamond ring on my right hand. I finally "gave in". I am able to wear othe rings on the left hand ring finger, but my diamond ring is just too "much", I guess. I haven''t had good luck in the making of a Superfit ring shank -- may have been the jeweler''s fault but it still left me w/ a bad taste in my mouth -- and I no longer have my Lockshank because it broke. They were going to fix it for me, but I am gun-shy for that one, too.
However, I have been engaged for 17 years and married for almost the same, so it isn''t the biggest deal in teh world for me to not have the diamond ring on my left hand ring finger. But, as you can see, it took me to this point and this long of marriage for me to concede to doing so. Thus, I can totally understand how just succumbing to wearing your e-ring on your right hand would not be acceptable to most of you ladies here on PS who are younger and more newly engaged/married -- and I don''t blame you! I wish I had better info for you in terms of knuckle treatment and then w/ the arthritic shanks.
Best of luck to you!