Sizing Titanium Wedding Bands
Titanium wedding bands are an increasingly popular choice by couples for their wedding band. They are very lightweight, extremely durable, and very reasonably priced when compared to traditional gold or platinum wedding bands. These are the advantages.
The disadvantages are when it comes to sizing. Titanium wedding bands cannot be cut and sized down so please take extra care when having your finger sized. They can however, be sized slightly larger by grinding out a small amount of metal from the inside. Many titanium bands can also be stretched larger. Be sure and check with your local jeweler to make sure they are experienced and comfortable stretching titanium bands.
Cutting Titanium Bands Off
In the unfortunate event that your titanium wedding band gets stuck on your finger, don’t fret, it can be cut off. Just keep in mind that the ring cannot be reassembled or repaired once cut off so you will need to replace it. Jewelers and emergency or medical personnel have tools specifically for this. The band can be cut on opposite sides so that it easily comes off in 2 pieces.
Recently in our forum, a member posted a suggestion about having a jeweler cut off a titanium ring using a separating disc. Have been a jeweler for more than 20 years and having used a separating disc thousands upon thousands of times, I can tell you first hand that this is exceptionally bad advice.
It was bad enough that this suggestion was a cut, copy and paste from another website, but what was even worse was that this very bad advice is being offered by e-weddingbands. Here’s the quote from their site…
…In our own jewelry shop, we used a separating disc and flexible shaft tool-items commonly found in nearly all jewelry shops that work with gold, silver, and platinum–to cut through one of our 5mm domed and comfort fit titanium rings. Cutting it all the way through took only 20 seconds…
…Nonetheless, if you ever need your Titanium ring cut off; just contact a local jeweler that uses separating discs…
This is not only horrible advice, it’s irresponsible. Anything that can through a titanium band that quickly WILL cut into your finger and through the bone at lightning speed. Not to mention the heat that is caused by this process will very badly burn your finger.
First things first, if you ever find that your titanium ring is very uncomfortably tight, causing any kind of discoloration or tingling in your finger, DO NOT CONTACT A JEWELER! Seek medical attention immediately!
Secondly, if your titanium wedding band is simply stuck on your finger, there are specific tools that can be used to safely remove it and I assure you that tool is NOT a separating disc. If a jeweler ever suggests or offers to cut off ANY ring with a separating disc and flex shaft… RUN AWAY!
November 15th, 2007 at 11:09 am
What a poorly written piece. Do you have a beef against this vendor? You mention that there are a lot of tools to do this, but instead of focusing on what they are and giving us good advice, all you can do is bad mouth someone else. I have no interest in this company you pick on, but if you want us to read your stuff, give us something worth reading.
November 15th, 2007 at 11:10 am
By the way, I don’t see this quote on their website.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
In regards to the quote, the link I posted takes you directly to the page that contains it. Here’s link to the Google cache of that page as well…
http://72.14.209.104/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GFRC_enUS219US219&q=cache:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.e-weddingbands.com%2Fstore%2Ftitanium-rings.html
Scroll to the bottom of the page. It’s there. Here’s a link to a screen capture..
http://www.banglesandbrides.com/tip-of-the-day/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/e-weddingbands-capture.jpg
You can click on the image or click on the small box that appears in the lower right corner when you hover on the image to expand it to regular size.
As far as a “beef” is concerned. Yes I do have a problem. I have a problem with any merchant that provides dangerous information that will cause personal injury. Doesn’t make a difference who the merchant is. My apologies if you don’t consider pointing out that what they are suggesting will cause you personal injury “good advice”.
As far as the other advice I offered…
1. Titanium rings cannot be cut and sized down so take care when having your finger sized.
2. Titanium rings can be sized up by grinding a small amount of metal from the inside or stretching.
3. Be sure and check with your jeweler with regards to stretching.
All sound and accurate advice.
If you’re interested in a specific tool for safely removing titanium rings, as well as other rings, one such tool is called a “ring cutter”. There’s a small curved blade guard that slips between the inside of the ring and the finger, completely protecting the hand and finger. A small circular saw blade cuts through the ring. As I mentioned in my original post, the ring (especially the heavy ones) will need to be cut on opposite sides so that it will come off in 2 pieces. Cutting it through in one spot and then bending it open is not an option for heavy titanium rings and most any heavy ring.
For thin or lighter weight titanium rings, and other rings for that matter, a good pair of diagonal cutters will work just fine and safely, provided there’s enough room between the ring and finger.
If any ring ever becomes uncomfortably tight or gets bent and is causing discoloration, tingling, etc. do not contact a jeweler as the merchant is suggesting, seek medical attention. Now this may seem rather obvious to some, but since I personally have had consumers come to me with purple fingers from having bent or smashed their wedding bands on their fingers it’s worth repeating because it’s good advice.
Dave