RINGS! Part 2

And the ring drama continues! Wes’s was actually a bit harder to find!  

Wes felt very weird about spending gobs of money on a ring. Also, he is a very active person. He is always doing something that would probably scratch up a soft metal ring. This got me thinking that maybe a harder type of metal might be better than gold. There’s a few options for people in the market for a nontraditional metal ring.

There’s tungsten, titanium, cobalt and palladium just to name a few. In particular, tungsten and titanium are significantly cheaper than white gold. If you are interested in knowing how all these metals compare I suggest these site:

http://www.e-weddingbands.com/store/contemporary-metals-comparison.html

http://www.e-weddingbands.com/store/precious-metals-comparison.html

Tungsten is much harder than gold and it is getting easier to find tungsten rings, so we gravitated towards this metal. Tungsten is hypoallergenic, doesn’t scratch, and stays polished forever. Too good to be true right? Well, yes in my opinion. Tungsten is a dark metal so it doesn’t look like white gold at all. Trust me we ordered some and they were very dark. However, they can be made lighter by plating it with some other metal and is thus called white tungsten but it is harder to find than regular tungsten. But here's the worse part… tungsten is difficult to get off in case of an emergency, as well. It is not impossible to get it off, but it takes longer. (I can hear Wes’s mom in my head right now saying “Wes you better get white gold instead of tungsten!”). Also, I felt that if we were going to consider white tungsten that we should go through a reputable company to make sure it was made out of tungsten carbide instead of lead! I was not very confident that some strange internet website selling rings for $20 would be able to confirm for me exactly what the ring was made out of.

For the record, I am team white gold! However, white gold isn’t all it is cracked up to be either. White gold is made by mixing gold with white metals like nickel or palladium and then is plated with rhodium. The rhodium wears off quickly. I have only had my engagement ring for two years and it is already yellowing. So, I have to take it in to get it replated which will cost $45. If it is plated with something else to make it white then what is the point of getting white gold anyway!?!

 I guess the only thing I recommend to people is that you do your homework and know exactly what you are buying.  

Wes tried on white tungsten carbide and white gold at the jewelers. He knew before going that he wanted a very plain band. No designs. No inlays. No fancy finishing. He decided he liked exactly 5mm, not 4mm or 6mm. He liked the ringed domed, not flat. He instantly liked this 5mm white tungsten ring the jeweler had. I was hoping we could it in white gold so in case of an emergency paramedics would be able to cut it off. However, the domed rings are more expensive because there’s more metal compared to the flat rings, so the jeweler gave us another crazy price for white gold. They didn’t have any older rings in the back like mine, so we left without a ring for him. We did some searching online and found white gold and white tungsten carbide rings on sale at Macy’s. I also had a 15% coupon so we order both of them to look at.

 Here they are:

Tungsten on right.

Tunsten on right. This is my hand - Wes's hand isn't that girlie!

They look the same in color. The only difference is that the white gold ring is a little flatter than the white tungsten. Both are comfort fit. The white tungsten was much cheaper. Again, I am team white gold.

AND he picked (drumroll)…

Tungsten. Oh well. Little does he know that his wedding present from me is going to be a vice grip for him to carry at all times in case we have to crack his ring off.