Phew it's been a long night, so here's my long story,

Let me explain, Swapped my rear mech over for a nice new XO Redwin and did some other jobs on the bike. While I was washing my hands after I realised the Tungsten ring I wear on my right hand 'ring' finger was loose enough to remove (first time ever since buying it about 5 years ago)

So what does this numpty do?
He forces it hard onto my middle finger immediately swelling said digit painfully.

NO WAY was this coming off and after abit of a panic parading now purple finger around the kitchen decide to try and cut it off with my Park Tools cable cutters. Nope. So try grinding it off with bench grinder. Nope. Only just scratched it!

Jump in car to local fire station & was told we used to have ring cutters but not any more try A & E.

There I was seen straight away but the lovely nurse struggled with two sets and again didn't even put a mark on the ring.

Now its an hour & a half of ice packs, then wrapping thread very tightly around the knuckle to try and slide it off. Nope.

It's getting more painfull and the talk of gangrene has me a little worried.

The staff phone the fire service, the police, other hospitals, and the air ambulance for advice & equipment regarding cutting Tungsten to no avail.

They mentioned having to keep me in overnight with my arm elevated etc to reduce the swelling.

Anyway I'm now thinking shoot, how am I gonna sort this, so I google 'How to cut off a Tungsten ring' on my iPhone and read that it can be shattered, so I ask for a hammer or molegrips.

Three of us find a side room, so here I am hammering the bejesus out of this ring placed on an adjustable spanner on the floor with my finger still inserted with me trying to use my left hand to pound the crap out of it (and missing occasionally) ouch!

Well this stuff is strong cos it must have took 20 mins just to put a crack in it and a further 10 mins to finally break it away from my hand.

So i'm home now with a really sore hand from my complete stupidity, it's getting light and I AM going out on the bike in a couple of hours. **** it.

How can I be such a numpty? 🙄

This is what puts me off a Ti ring. Just be thankfull you hadn't slipped off a ladder and degloved half your finger with the ring, and then had to go through the above 😉

Numpty!

OUch! You'll laugh about it when the swelling goes though

Going out myself in a minute, might see you (I'll recognize the huge finger!)

Jeez. I'd stick to those plastic ones that come out of crackers if I were you! Not ideal to be taking a hammer to your 'courting finger'!

I'm so glad you just stuck it on your finger.

Men & jewellery: It never, ever ends well 🙂

You are wrong with your title. This is way beyond numpty level – way beyond. You should be asked to pay whatever you cost the NHS for such stupidity.

Obi – same as MTBers shuld pay for thier self inflicted injuries?

Quality numptiage there in th OP

Are you sure it was your finger you put it on?

Obi. It actually seems to me that our fat fingered friend led a useful training session for medical professionals. How to solve this particular problem as easily as possible and more usefully how to use the Internet if you're presented with something outside your experience because someone, somewhere has dealt with it before and a quick google can save a lot of time

degloved

*shudders*

TJ – this is not the same as a biking injury though is it?

Richcc – fair point that you make there.

Quality shenanigans

I've watched a junior doc cut a weight lifting collar, the thing you use to keep weights on a bar, off someones dingus before now. He sweated for 90 minutes to cut one side then realised he had to do the other side too….

Never mind the various extractions of things from body cavities….Sex toys should really come with a long piece of string attached so you can tie them to a bed post before use.

the staff would of enjoyed it. makes a change from violent pissheads and old people who have nothing wrong with them

never force enything into a tight ring it will always end in tears 😛

this is what i read on the iPhone which saved me a night in hospital,

Tungsten Carbide is the hardest material available for ring manufacture.
The most scratch resistant of any metal.
Grey /blue colour.
It is usually only used for industrial cutting tools and if indestructibility is what you are after, then this is the ultimate choice.
Tungsten's hardness, strength and durability make it an excellent choice for mens jewellery.
Tungsten rings are too hard to be cut off. In an emergency the rings can be 'cracked' off using mole grips.
Tungsten rings will last a lifetime and make excellent wedding rings. They cannot be re sized in the future.
Tungsten rings are heavier than Titanium and our customers tell us that they really like this in a wedding ring.
Tungsten Carbide rings are manufactured by sintering dust; Tungsten Carbide cannot be cast. (It has a melting point of 2870 °C, that's 1500 °C hotter than the melting point of Steel!)

Quality numptiage indeed. 🙂

No lasting harm done, and we've all learned important lessons that will hopefully save enormous NHS resources in the future. It's all good.

I'm surprised you (lot) wear a ring whilst riding a bike.
Firstly I found they (I had two) rubbed on the grips somewhat, giving me blisters. But more to the point, any metal around my finger isn't going to be a good thing in the event of a crash, either as a ripping finger off event or just bend and squash.
Finally, I wouldn't want to lose one on a long ride.
If you must have it with you bung it on a lanyard around your neck.

I'll stick to gold thanks. Comes off easily with a cable cutters when you bend your finger back through 90 degrees arsing about on the steps in the Tesco car park 🙂

I wear a wedding ring, but any sport that I have to do means the ring comes off. I _really_ do not want to experience degloving…

The wearing of any jewellery when undertaking maintenance of any kind is just foolish no stupid I have seen several hands with wedding fingers missing, fortunately after the event

He he, I love the targetted Titanium ring ads that have popped up for me. Not the best result by google adwords.

didn't you **** your finger with the hammer when the ring broke ❓

would a big vice have worked ❓

I used to wear my wedding ring when riding. Right up until I had a little off in Whinlatter where I went over the bars using a hand to help me land. I thought I was fine right up until I saw my white gloves getting steadily more red. Took my glove off and I had split the web between my ring finger and my little finger. Basically the wedding ring had pulled the skin tight enough that when I stretched my little finger away from the rest of the hand it caused the web to tear. Was known as vadge hand for a good while after that.

God, one more thing to worry about. Anyone know any good Ti chain sellers?

Never wear my wedding ring on the bike.

Come to think of it I hardly ever wear it other than when I'm out with the wife 😆

Thats tungsten carbide or tungsten? There's a difference, one is brittle, the other most certainly isnt and will just clamp onto your finger tighter if hammered!

Pah that's nowt.

About ten yrs ago a mate (honestly) gave me a stainless steel cock ring 'cos he had two (no, i don't know why).

Daft sod here decided to try it with new G/F. Damned thing was 10mm wide/thick and when 'aroused' i found it rather uncomfortably tight, to the point that i got very worried when the old 'fella suddenly developed a nasty purple bruise through a burst blood vessel! 😯

Rapidly deciding this cock ring malarkey really wasn't a good idea we hurried to the bathroom and i spent the next 15 minutes alternating 'tween running ice-cold shower water on it & smacking it on the side of the bath yelling 'come off you b*****d!'

Eventually came off (more than i did) and i thought all was well…

Went to the pub next day & the G/F (now ex) regaled all & sundry with the tale, to the point that everyone now knew i had a bright purple todger.
Went to the loo & the buggers followed me with a camera, so i went into a cubicle.

Thinking i was safe i relaxed & started to pee – only to find the sods had gone into the next cubicle and dangled one lad over the divider armed with a camera….

😳

Can't believe i actually posted that!

Anyway, can anyone else see the advert for the 'black diamond' titanium ring on the right? 😆

I think someone here is an extrovert dying to get out

I've done some daft things over the yrs but i'm not putting out like that anywhere near my groin again that's for sure!

I have a very chunky stainless steel ring for my thumb. It does give me a little panic when I can't get it over the knuckle.

Silliness aside, it does seem a bit daft that we buy these hard metal rings that we can't cut off in an emergency.

My mum was bitten by some bug or other in Turkey & her ring finger went black & swollen, quickly followed by her hand, forearm etc. The waiters at the hotel rushed her to a jewellers to have it cut off before carrying on to the hospital. She nearly lost her arm due to an adverse reaction to the bite.

Not numpty at all, as already mentioned an important training experience for the junior medics involved. Plus in a customer services kind of way, they'll share the experience with colleagues.

"Hey I had this numpty in A&E with a tungsten wedding ring and……….".

EDIT: Currently I can't remove my gold wedding ring, so should really get that sorted in due course and not in a panicked situation.

Got any pix of the damaged ring?

*** insert ring-based fnar fnar comedy here…***