Shop safety- wedding bands- what material?

I just got engaged three weeks ago and have been contemplating a ring as well and the only thing I can think to do would be get a tattoo around my finger. It's kind of funny, but I know her (my fiance) by "Sissy." I think it would be funny to have "Sissy" tattooed on your finger.

 

Whatever she picks out, that's the one you get....

and take it off when working. I usually don't (because I forget) but I've been lucky. Another horror story, a friend was doing a little mig welding on his firewall, without gloves on, a drop of weld spatter hit his ring and melted it....they were able to control the gangrene and he didn't lose his finger.

 

Maybe it is just a sissy risk-management attitude from my many years in the Air Force, but here it is:

DON'T WEAR RINGS IN THE SHOP!!

Thank you.

 

I have a pretty nice white gold one with a yellow gold inlay...it didn't set me back much, and it seems to be holding up pretty well because...

I never,ever wear it at the shop. I have seen a brake lathe take a guy's finger straight off, and heard plenty of electricity stories as well.

I figure the wife will be happy so long as I have a finger to put the ring on when we go out and whatnot. if it AND the ring were missing, she would probably be upset.( I have knuckle tattoos.the "I" in "lucky Devil" would be missing.would you like to buy a vowel?) so yeah. pick out what you want, and put it on your wallet chain or keyring, -just say no to necklaces at the shop,too- just imagine an alternator fan getting ahold of a necklace and smashing your face into the case. it's pretty ugly. unless you like the hockey player look.

 

I have a Silver one on one hand that the wife bought when we were dating. I lost one, this one is a half size smaller and have worn it (other than for Softball games) 24-7 for last ten years or better. If I get somethign on it that tarnishes it, it rubs away with wear in a day or two so I really dont worry about it. I even bent it oval while mountain biking and bent it back while on my finger enough to get it off, then straightened it out more.

I got married about 6 years ago, and have a plain gold band on the left hand. Same wear and tear, luckily havent bent it to crap yet. Never bothered re-polishing it (even though it is free with the purshase of the ring).

I always wear gloves in the shop or in the field for Army (Military Police, NOT A Mechanic) so if something was to want to rip a ring off, it would not really matter if I had a ring on or not as the glove will offer minor protection, and if whatever force is strong enough to put that much hurt on me, it wouldnt really matter what I had on my hands short of Kevlar Meat/Butcher Cutting Gloves.

I dont work much (like ever) with electricity, or a mill or a lathe, but would have gloves on if I did, just caus eI am used to it. I wear them with the grinder too even though some schools of thought say not to.

I dont wear baggy gloves.

Go with the Gold. Youll be glad you did.

 

too bad THE CLASH aint still around





Sorry i couldn't resist

I got white gold - its all good

any ring you wear is gonna get beat up - working on cars or not

L

 

Trust me, don't wear it in the shop.

 

My suggestion: NONE at work. Almost took my finger off once when my band got stuf in between something I was working on. I never wear it to work now- only at home and places I go. And its gold.

 

DO NOT WEAR A RING WHILE YOU ARE WORKING ON ANYTHING!!!!!

If you are getting married and your wife is a stickler about it to the point where she would rather have you wear a ring and risk peeling your skin from your finger like an orange peel than she's selfish and ridiculous anyhow!

My girl and I will be getting married sooner than later and she knows that whatever I wear it will have to come off when I am working on anything around any kind of tooling... just like a watch... long sleeves (unless I'm welding)... frayed pants... hell, I even wear engineer boots instead of laced boots just to save myself from getting the laces snagged up, tripping on them, etc.

 

Get a plain wide gold band, at a department store. (cheap)
Get it just the right size for your finger now.
In six months of eating again it will be too tight to even wear on your pinky finger, I guarantee it!

My Dad hit a live wire to ground with his wedding band while working on a Cadillac.
He managed to rip it off before it burned all the way to meat but he had a "ring" permanently branded on his finger after that.
The other guys in the shop found it behind the brake lathe at the other end of the shop where he threw it.
Mom wouldn't LET him wear it any more!

 

The type of ring is personal choice. Personally I hate gold plated anything. Mine is Titanium and it looks like finned aluminum.

You guys are freaking me out. I'm going to look into the O ring alternative. I think I can remember that. I wear different glasses when I'm doing any kind of work. Switching rings shouldn't be that hard.

 

I agree with Chaz....I too touched a ring (grounded) with the welding stinger. Destroyed the ring and burned the hell out of my finger.

 

Horror stories aside, I'll try to help with your question.
My bro is one of 5 master jewelers in Texas, so he knows his shit and I had the same questions a couple of years ago. It came down to this. Silver is too soft. It won't hold it's shape very well. ALL rings bend. Ask your ladies. My wifes wedding ring is stuck in a perpetual oval. That doesn't mean you get a crushing injury, you just have to have it trued up once in a while and all but titanium can be easily cut off if something freakish happens. I wouldn't reccomend titanium for 2 reasons. 1. it's hard to cut off or straighten if ever required. 2. titanium is ugly. When you get a shiny titanium ring, it's not polished. It is rodium plated. It's like silver plating, but brighter. It also wears off very quickly. When you take titanium in to get cleaned up, they buff out what imperfections they can (it's hard!, remember?) and then they give it a quick trip through the rodium plating machine. After that, it gets a very light polish because the rodium is so thin.
Yellow gold wears hard, but gives the best durability of color and shine. Classic, but sometimes out of style.
I chose white gold. Here's why: White gold was invented during WWII as a replacement for yellow gold. Yellow gold, silver and platinum were on the rashioned metals list. It was illegal to make anything out of materials on that list because the government commandeered all of it for the war effort. White gold is a nickle/gold alloy so it looks like silver, but not so bright. It won't tarnish like silver and it is harder than yellow gold so it holds it's shape better. It polishes nicely and takes a beating. It also says "modest". My wife is a very down to earth and thrifty chick. If I had given her a big rock on an exotic setting, she would have dumped me for being so foolish with my money. Instead, she got a one of a kind set of antique white gold guards to frame her modest solitaire engagment ring. I needed something to go with it and a medium wide white band was just the ticket. I've worn the shine off it a few times in 3 years, bent it once and never take it off unless my hand starts to swell from doing somethnig stupid. Her words are engraved on the inside and I won't ever go without it, even at the risk of my finger. It means that much. You mentioned something about choosing one from the period, I think you know what I would suggest. Good luck in your new venture.

 

Neither my wife nor I like gold colored stuff. Her ring is white gold and mine is Tungsten carbide with a sterling silver inlay. The silver is all banged up and pretty soft (its only 6 months old). The tungsten looks brand new. If I had it to do again, I'd skip the inlay and keep it all tungsten.

 

Don't wear it while working in the garage. Or working period.

I can't wear mine at work & fell out of the habit altogether. The wife understands. She doesn't wear her diamond anymore, just the band, for similar reasons.

Whether or not we wear rings doesn't change the fact we're married...

 

I had my wife's initial tatooed on my ring finger. Safe, and I'll never be without it. Just remember, tatoos are forever!

 

That used to be the concept behind marrage too. It's unfortunate that it no longer is.

I'm going to make mine out of Titanium(if I ever get hitched). I'm not going to wear it much though. O-rings are my shop ring of choice.

 

For you non whimps this is the best way to handle the dangerous situation. just get it tattoed on. If you get divorced , thats what they make sawzalls for.

 

i'm bout to get my tattooed on... i have a titanium one, weres well, doesn't scratch awfully bad, but i don't wear it anymore, after the first few weeks of having it on in the shop i developed some kind of rash/ flaking skin, not sure if it was some kind of chemical reaction, or reaction to welding or what..but no more rings for me..

 

I'm not really into jewelry, so I got Stainless Steel. If I though I could make one from a model A part......I would!

 

If you work in a shop environment and use power and hand tools DO NOT even think about wearing a wedding band or any ring no matter what material it is made of. If your ring gets caught on something it can literally RIP YOUR FINGER OFF. Been married 31 years, never wore a ring and still have all ten fingers. Thank God.

 

My Grandfather was a jeweler here is Texas. He made my ring from white gold and the diamonds from my great grandmother's ear rings who immigrated from poland and that was the only thing she was able to get out of value. I dont wear it in the shop or to work for fear of damaging or losing it. My wifes wedding ring was my great grandmothers sisters ring that has been passed down for years. Its also white gold. both bands are very subtle but mean the world to us.

 

ON TATTOOING RINGS:

Give it 10 years. If you're still together, then consider it.

You'd have to be a complete fucking knob to get it done right away.

 

One last horror story....
I was welding a support brace for the dash of my '32. The weld was in an akward spot-pointing the gun up. Some of the weld dripped off and landing squarely on the left side of my wedding rind. The huge glowing glob was about 1/4" and I watched in shock as it burned the flesh on the side of my finger. A guy in the club helped me pull the ring off after I ran it under cold water. Needless to say I didn't wear the ring again for a few months and I am left with a scare that, believe it or not, has just about disappeared. Repair to the wedding ring, $50. Bandaids for finger $3. Learning from experience, priceless.

 

Because of the safety reasons listed above. I had my ear peirced and wear a gold ear ring in it. My wife and I know that to s it is my wedding ring. :}

 

I have silver. I'm on my second one in almost 6 years. I like the fact that it's soft, I had to cut the first one off with some bolt cutters after getting some chemicals on my hand and not being able to clean them out from underneath to my satisfaction. I thought about the harder metals but was warned away from them for safety reasons. The silver holds up decent, and is easily resized.
As for the tarnishing, well it's a lot like a marriage, you have to work on it a bit to keep things good...

 

I had a stainless one my dad made from a stainless nut. It took him a week of "lunch hours" to make it. I used it for my first two marriages. By the end of the second one I could only get it off by soaking my hand in ice water. The stainless one wasn't too dangerous in later years because it was so small nothing could get between it and my finger. I never did weld with it on.
I switched to white gold for the last one.
My son-in-law is an EMT and he recommends against a titanium one because it can't be easily cut off in an accident.

 

I take my ring off in the shop and put it on my bench next to the door so I can put it back on when I leave. I have a titanium band, which my jeweler warned me on several occasions will be difficult or impossible to cut off if I have a problem. That said, it is still perfectly round after two years of marriage. It does have some scratches in it, but you can only see them if you look very closely at it. I also considered a stainless steel band. I thought it was kind of cool - and it was actually really cheap! I don't like the look of yellow gold, so it was silver, titanium, or steel for me. Or white gold I suppose, but gold is so soft!!

Oh, and FWIW, my wife's rings are platinum, which looks nice and doesn't tarnish, but is expensive to buy and repair. She hurt her hand and it swelled so much the ER tech butchered the rings cutting them off her hand. Wasn't cheap to repair.

 

tattoo - when I wore a ring it was constantly getting caught on stuff. I have a buddy who has his name tattooed on his left hand. D O N on his middle, ring and pinky finger, he jumped down off his tractor and his ring caught on the seat, now he only has D and N, O sits at home in a jar of formaldehyde.

 

the marriage or the ring?