Learn Me: Wedding Rings

Looking for a good place to get plain band wedding rings under 500 a piece. Local to StL or online. Any suggestions?

We plan on getting plain gold bands and I'll probably get another under $60 to be able to switch it up sometimes.

Good looking out ,
Nick

Be damn sure she's going to say yes before buying one...

That's all I got...

Look for small scale artisan jewelry makers. They are hungry, and they are talented.

I'd trust them a lot more than any big box or chain.

Unless you're looking for something a little different, I'd say one of the warehouse clubs. Small guys have to charge more. Big guys move volume and can sell cheap.

With Gold at $1600 (actually $1788) an ounce, engineered metals like tungsten and titanium seem like a steal.

imirk wrote: With Gold at $1600 (actually $1788) an ounce, engineered metals like tungsten and titanium seem like a steal.

I have gold....but like the looks of tungsten and Ti more. but....there is also something symbolic about the simplicity of a "plain" gold ring

No advice as where to get one, but platinum is cheaper than gold today.

Ian F wrote: Be damn sure she's going to say yes before buying one... That's all I got...

I've been there, too.

Now, WRT the OP

For women, WHATEVER MAKES HER HAPPY!!!! (assuming, of course, that you can figure that out.)

For guys, http://boonerings.com/ (They're cheap, and durable enough to survive a garage environment.)

< /thread >

but titanium is really bad if it needs to be cut off for some reason.

edit: did we go backwards with the board? its back to not opening links in a new tab/window again

JoeyM wrote: For women, WHATEVER MAKES HER HAPPY!!!! (assuming, of course, that you can figure that out.) For guys, http://boonerings.com/ (They're cheap, and durable enough to survive a garage environment.)

Agreed about her ring, and well the same should apply for you.

Personally I have a tungsten ring, Things I like about it: It is heavy, I don't ever forget that I'm wearing it, and it is hard, I've only scratched it once, and that was while I was doing a deadlift on the end of a 3' breaker bar busting loose some rusted suspension bolts.

Drawback, I broke one by dropping it on tile when it hit a defect in the ring and snapped a chink out of it.

I found the ring I gave my wife at the bottom a river.

The funny thing is as soon as she put it on she took complete control of my life, and now wields the power to banish me to the couch...

I made mine by hammering a 24 carat gold coin into a strip, cutting it to length, then welding them into a circle. 99.9% pure being key to easy ductility here. It'll work harden, but heat it to a dull orange glow and it gains back all its softness. No prior experience, and all done with a regular propane torch and the small flat pounding surface on my bench vice.

I made a lot of mistakes, but gold is super forgiving so it was no biggie to redo it. 10 (damn!) years on they both have aged well. Pure gold does pick up scratches and bends, but it's tough stuff (I never take it off) and I kinda like the way it's registered the abuse of everyday life. They've always gotten a lot of compliments even from people who don't know they were made by a schmuck.

You might be able to get enough gold to DIY for under a grand. I used around 3/4oz back when gold was $300/oz.

Capt Slow: The board switchover won't let me +1 that, so this will have to do.

Ian F wrote: Be damn sure she's going to say yes before buying one... That's all I got...

Trust me, I got that one covered, but I'm not getting into that on a public forum.

imirk wrote: With Gold at $1600 (actually $1788) an ounce, engineered metals like tungsten and titanium seem like a steal.

We are going with the simple gold bands, and my extra one will be tungsten or titanium. I've seen some really cool ones.

In reply to Capt Slow:

You made me LOL, so a dandy ole rootin' tootin' +1 to you good sir'.

SVreX wrote: Look for small scale artisan jewelry makers. They are hungry, and they are talented. I'd trust them a lot more than any big box or chain.

This. I have the original tungsten carbide/CF ring that was brought to the states, from the original jeweler that got it in hong kong from his guy. I paid 85$ for it. Several of my friends have the same ring, and paid 4-5x of that.

Mine is not gold but I got my wedding ring on http://www.etsy.com

In reply to ppddppddppddppddppddppdd:

Thats creative and neat. I may try that sometime, but a bit beyond me for the time being. The car, go cart, and rally car (yet to be purchased) are all still on the list.

JoeyM wrote: For women, WHATEVER MAKES HER HAPPY!!!! (assuming, of course, that you can figure that out.) For guys, http://boonerings.com/ (They're cheap, and durable enough to survive a garage environment.) < /thread >

I was going to suggest Bruce Boone as well. He custom built my ring and my wife's. They're black zirconium with white gold and sterling silver mokume insert on hers, white and yellow gold insert on mine. Hers has a tension set .5k diamond in the center. Looks pretty awesome... Trying to find pix...

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/finding-a-grm-approved-wedding-ring/30111/page1/

The board won't let me hotlink photos and I forget the coding but there's some cool ideas here for your second ring: http://www.titanium-buzz.com/tiretreadrings.html

Hers came from her grandmother. All three of mine came from a pawn shop. I have lost two in the last 25 years. One at the bottom of the Charleston Harbor, and one our last house ate. Both of ours are gold. She takes hers to the jewelry store every few years for cleaning. I hit mine with a file for the big dings and throw it on the buffer in the shop.

I have a 1997 model...plain gold band. One owner. Some sctatches. Out of warranty. Make offer.

Capt. Slow, she didn't disappear?

Because I ran machines I couldn't wear a ring. For my 20th anniversary I got a tattoo ring. Wicked <$500.

Dan

Look, I don't wear jewelry, or even a watch... just not my thing at all. But I'm just gonna say this: if you get the right ring, you don't need another to "switch it up", and you'll enjoy wearing it.

We weren't hung up on having matching bands and I very specifically didn't want a traditional simple gold band because it reminded me of my father's. In fact, the moment I put a plain gold band on, the back of my hand looked just like my father's, which made me feel awkward for some reason. Instead, we looked around quite a bit and I found a ring that not only made me comfortable, but I find that I'm inspired by and very attached to, and I'm very fond of wearing (except when I'm using my hands for wrenching or whatever). The only downside was that at $600 (it's a custom design in white gold) it was more expensive than her wedding band, which is gold with a row of diamonds (.7ct worth at that).

BTW, here's the ring I got (called "Starry Night", inspired by the Van Gogh painting of the same name) for anyone that is curious: http://www.artisanweddingrings.com/Images/Item/11193W.jpg

ST_ZX2 wrote: I have a 1997 model...plain gold band. One owner. Some sctatches. Out of warranty. Make offer.

I got a 1996 version for sale... didn't work as advertised.

I got a cheap gold band in 1997 when we got married, we're still together almost 14 years later. I think it's barely 10-12 carat, too. My wife got the 18 carat gold band, no stone. She said "Have you seen the price on those?". So I got lucky.