Tungsten is most definately not the same as tungsten carbide. Nor is tungsten carbide the same as titanium. Titanium is in many ways similar to tungsten though.

One day I’m going to treat myself to one or two of these I think.
Ti loveliness

And possibly one of these too…
meteorite ring

I’d love a ring with an actual Mars meteorite in it. They cost a bit.

My wedding ring was titanium, came off my bike and my hand swelled up so needed to go to the hospital to have it cut off. Took them over an hour to cut through it.

Its the dura ace chain around the wrist you have to worry about if you break yer hand.

The doctors go nuts.

We used 5 new super duper version ring cutter/ jewellers saw blades to remove a £5 Ring a guy had on after his finger swelled, the local a&e sent them to us as they knew the time involved to remove it.

It’s not just the material that’s the issue, although it doesn’t help. gold and silver can be cut through in 5-6 rotations of a 50p sized cutting disc (jewellers saw). Access is the biggest issue, disc cutters and other power tools can not be used safely due to the risk of slipping.

After my last experience of a titanium ring removal I changed my mind on what my wedding ring would be made of.

it is very difficult to cut off in an accident.

Is that the ‘I married the wrong woman’ sort of accident?

My wedding ring fell off my finger whilst swimming on our honeymoon in 1986. never to be seen again, she still occasionally asks we’re going to replace it 🙂

when you mean tungsten carbide, do you mean…
– 100% tungsten carbide
– tungsten carbide with about 10-15% nickel and/or titanium binder

Tungsten rings is pretty easy to remove in an emergency

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuqgI0g-Tc4[/video]

I’d be more worried about the dangers of marriage to be honest

Seconded!
BTW My wedding ring is titanium and it scratches anything glass ever so easily (having a little diamond help scratching I suppose).

When I was an apprentice (1973) we where told gory stories and shown pictures of what can happen to your finger if your ring gets caught on plant or equipment, that was enough to put me off. I had a wedding ring when I got married but never used to wear it and I haven’t seen it for over 20 years.

Drac we actually carry ring cutters in the first aid gear

It cost me about £40k to get a gold ring removed.
Much happier now though…..

Drac we actually carry ring cutters in the first aid gear

You do yes, Ambulance crews as a rule don’t. There’s a rabbit off with that story as we certainly don’t remove fingers.

We don’t either that I know of lol

Exactly so as I say there’s something missing or added to that story.

my grandfather got a crane hook caught in his ring (gold). It hoisted him a few feet in the air before he was lowered again. he still has the ring and it is obelisk shaped and around 3 inches long. almost lost hid finger doing that.

therefore gold is dangerous too…

I don’t wear any rings or other jewellery – lots of good reasons not to if you work with electricity or do ‘active’ stuff.

If all you do is ponce about nightclubs and restaurants, and never do any DIY or other stuff, by all means drape yourself in metal trinkets.

I might have lost a finger if hadn’t of had a boring common ‘soft’ gold wedding ring.

Just something silly as loading my Land Rover up as I jumped off the roof rack my ring got caught on it. It was 15stone of momentum and gravity vs finger vs gold ring.

The gold ring lost and snapped in two. (thankfully)

Still bloody hurt though!!

Hmm! It seem Land Rover roof racks are the problem then, ban them I say next time it could be a child’s face.

I personally have a platinum ring which gets a good polish on a regular basis, but can get tight in warm weather due to swelling and all that is required is some spit to aid lubrication. 😉

Drac – the story is what it is. Not sure what incentive there is for me to say any different.

I’m guessing accidents can all be different and decisions are made that relate to the situation as it is. I don’t work in that sector.

At the end of the day the guy doesn’t have his ring finger anymore.

I actually contacted London Fir Brigade to get there position on this – basically not really a problem.

Dear Eric

This email is in response to the enquiry that you made regarding Titanium Rings. There has been much speculation about Titanium being too strong to cut through. Various manufactures claim that a standard ring cutting tool can be used to remove titanium rings from one’s person.

However, there are a variety of ways of removing Titanium rings that are less destructive:

If you need to remove a titanium ring from a severely swollen hand or finger, raise the arm and hold the hand in the air, which forces blood to flow away from the finger and back into the body.

After a few minutes, the swelling should be reduced. If the finger is still significantly swollen, soak it in ice water for a few minutes to reduce inflammation.

· Once the swelling has gone down slightly, apply a lubricant around the finger and knuckle. Effective lubricants include Vaseline, hand lotion, liquid soap, olive oil or saliva.

· Hold the titanium ring with a towel and pull with a gentle, yet forceful twisting motion. Once the ring passes over the swollen knuckle, it will usually slide easily over the rest of the finger.

If this fails to remove the problematic ring then there is a slightly more technical method using string or dental floss:

For best results, use the flat version of dental floss, as this rests more snugly against the finger. You will need at least 2 feet of dental floss for this technique.

· Begin by sliding a few inches of dental floss under the ring, toward the body. The long end should extend toward the swollen joint.

· Grab the long end of the floss and wrap it tightly around the finger, starting just above the titanium ring.

· The dental floss should be extremely snug against the finger; the goal is to compress the swelling as much as possible. Each row of floss should sit snugly against the previous row.

· Continue wrapping until just beyond the swollen finger joint. Take hold of the short end of the dental floss, which should still be tucked under the ring. Use a gentle, slow motion to unwrap the dental floss from the finger.

· As the floss unwinds from the finger, the ring should be pushed along with it. Once the ring passes over the swollen joint, remove it and quickly unwrap the rest of the dental floss.

If these initial attempts fail then there may, in an emergency situation, be a requirement to cut the ring off. It has been suggested that anything with the capability of cutting steal should be sufficient to cut titanium. The London Fire Brigade currently carries standard jewelers ring cutters, hacksaws and bolt croppers on frontline appliances all of which are able to cut steel.

Although these methods may not seem favorable, therefore your email has highlighted the requirement to explore the possibility of more innovative methods to deal with such incidents because of the recent popularity in the use of Titanium for jewelry.

I hope that this answers your question satisfactorily. If you require any further information please feel free to contact me directly.

Regards

More than happy with my Ti wedding ring. Much better than the gold one i had last time. 🙂 Seems to have lasted longer too (and so has the ring).

surely any ring would be harder to get off than no ring at all, therefore dont sell rings. health and safety sorted. personally i try not to get into a position where i would need to have mine cut off. its worked for me so far.

A guy I worked with as an apprentice had a missing ring finger and a (gold) wedding ring stretched into a teardrop shape….. He had clambered up on some racking to look for parts in a factory – jumped down without realising he was snagged and left his finger behind!

I now work in a heavy engineering lab and have no desire to wear a ring, watch or anything else dangly and metal.

My Ti ring gave me calluses when I biked with it, so I started taking it off when I went biking… and lost it. Which is the best thing that could have ever happened to it as far as I am concerned. My ring finger knuckle is on the large side after I gave it a dunt a few years back, hence a ring to go over it was loose on the skinny finger beyond. The ring would move around all the time and bug me… definitely best off without… although the bitching about having lost it has never stopped, and probably never will.

I’ve not lost the engagement watch though 8)