I originally had a tungsten ring when I got married and managed to shatter both it and its replacement within a year.

Terrible for rings, just go with silver if you want or need a cheap wedding ring.

My choice was titanium, which I used to make ours. It is (IMHO) among the finest of all materials for the job.

> among the finest of all materials for the job.

Titanium should also work great for forced amputation in the case of a broken finger I suppose...

Nah, it cuts like soft stainless-steel. Garden-variety bolt-cutters will go through it like butter.

To wax poetic for a little while, Ti is lightweight, strong, warms quickly to the touch but isn't cold in winter, resists abrasion, doesn't irritate, and is almost immune to corrosion. Its strength allows a lower-profile ring without collapse, too. When making rings for our wedding, I could have used any material under the sun; titanium was our choice.

A material need not be rare to have significance, so it is with love.

What is with the anti-ring cartel on this thread?

Every metal mentioned has someone talking about losing a finger. Do you work for a silicone ring company?

It's a real hazard that is well known in the trades, but might not be appreciated by people who are attracted to the idea of an exotic metal ring but are not in situations where they will be warned about it. The warnings here seem reasonable to me.

There's an easy workaround -- if you're working in a machine shop or where getting your ring caught by something is a possibility, the ring goes in a safe place.

For me, before I touch a lathe or mill, the ring goes in my left back pocket. Every time.

Titanium is a good choice, much harder to break than tungsten and cheaper than tungsten or silver, too.

I got a tantalum ring. It look a bit like tungsten or titanium but it's much softer.

The ones I saw from a quick search were nice looking but pretty pricey. Basic Gold rings were going for the same price as some of the fancier designs so I think that would be more of a design / aesthetic choice.

Titanium / Tungsten / Silver are for people who want an inexpensive ring.

Funny because titanium is actually a very cheap material. I got a 1" cube of it for about $30. I assume almost all of the price is labor for working with it rather than the cost of the metal itself.

I mean the Tantalum rings, those are the ones going for about the same price (75-90+%) as gold rings.

Stainless steel works too

My problem with Stainless Steel is a nickle allergy. Skin gets raw, itchy and red if I wear a stainless steel ring for more than a few hours and it takes days to heal after contact ends.

I also have to test Sterling Silver as it is supposed to only be 92.5% Silver and 7.5% copper but sometimes it is adulterated with nickel and can cause me to have a breakout.