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Cool cube and I want one. But a metalworking friend of mine warned against getting a ring made out of tungsten. Apparently a climber had one on and broke his r
by devindotcom 5y ago
Cool cube and I want one. But a metalworking friend of mine warned against getting a ring made out of tungsten.
Apparently a climber had one on and broke his ring finger, and the EMTs couldn't get the ring off because the finger had swollen and they couldn't cut the ring due to the strength of the metal. They ended up having to amputate and re-attach the finger (much longer and it would have had to be amputated anyway, it seems).
- tshaddox 5y agoRing avulsion is pretty scary too, and can happen with any metal ring.
- oxfeed65261 5y agoI had to look this up: ‘Ring avulsion happens when a ring on one of your fingers is caught on an object and gets yanked off suddenly and rapidly. The force and pressure of the ring being pulled can strip off and damage finger tissues, including muscles, tendons, and bones. This is called “degloving.”‘ https://www.healthline.com/health/ring-avulsion https://www.healthline.com/health/ring-avulsion
- contravariant 5y agoAh, thanks, those are the kind of search queries that I'm somewhat apprehensive about. Especially with search engines that think it's a good idea to immediately show you images if they think you're searching for something visual. Thankfully the article you linked doesn't contain any images.
- xupybd 5y agoYeah my work mate wears a silicone band at work after almost losing a finger. I still wear my gold band but am rethinking it.
- tshaddox 5y agoThe silicone bands are pretty popular in the “outdoors” community too (hiking, rock climbing, etc.)
- jacquesm 5y agoTry finding a machinist that wears jewelry. Either they have yet to learn a painful lesson or they will have learned it directly or indirectly (colleague, machinist friend). That's one thing you learn to respect in a hurry: no jewelry near rotating machinery.
- tshaddox 5y agoI've only spent a very small amount of time around woodworkers, but I imagine that scarves are a big no-no as well. ;)
- jacquesm 5y agoAnd loose clothing, gloves, ties (I once saw a visiting salesguy almost lose his head in a demonstration lathe), in fact anything that can end up where you don't want it to. Similar advisories hold for printing presses, farm equipment and so on. Printing presses are particularly nasty because they tend to be so spotless that you can't tell if they're rotating or not by looking at the surface.
- ISL 5y agoIf you are in this situation, don't cut the ring, crack it. Pure tungsten, and some alloys like tungsten-carbide, is somewhat brittle. https://www.larsonjewelers.com/can-tungsten-rings-be-cutoff https://www.larsonjewelers.com/can-tungsten-rings-be-cutoff
- BizarroLand 5y agoI 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.
- ISL 5y agoMy choice was titanium, which I used to make ours. It is (IMHO) among the finest of all materials for the job.
- BizarroLand 5y agoTitanium is a good choice, much harder to break than tungsten and cheaper than tungsten or silver, too.
- learc83 5y agoI got a tantalum ring. It look a bit like tungsten or titanium but it's much softer.
- BizarroLand 5y agoThe 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.
- 5y ago
- SoylentYellow 5y agoI'm surprised the EMTs did not know how to remove the ring. Squeeze it with locking pliers and it will break into pieces.
- AndrewOMartin 5y agoWe can only pray that all EMTs read your comment such that they may be redeemed.
- WJW 5y agoOut of all humanity, it seems that EMTs are at the low end of the scale for needing to be redeemed.
- silisili 5y agoSimilarly, if missing pliers, you should be able to set it on a hard surface(like concrete or metal) and give it a few tough taps with something hard. They shatter shockingly easy.
- hencq 5y agoConsidering that in this case there's a finger inside the ring, I'm not sure if that's such an amazing idea.
- frakt0x90 5y agoI bought a tungsten wedding band and will never again. Not because of its hardness but because I dropped it on the floor and it shattered. Apparently tungsten is very brittle and is useless on a hand that does anything. Luckily it was cheap.
- adrian_b 5y agoAs others have mentioned, that band was not made of metallic tungsten, which does not shatter, but of sintered tungsten carbide ceramic, which shatters like any ceramic, even if not as easy as ceramic cookware.
- dharmab 5y agoThis sounds like an urban legend. "Ring cracker" tools are widely available, and can be improvised from common tools.
- jacquesm 5y agoScene of an emergency: hold still while I figure out how to improvise a ring cracker that can crack a solid tungsten ring without further injury to your finger.
- 6nf 5y agoThere's videos showing exactly how to do it using vice grip pliers available in any hardware store, it's very easy and takes 20 seconds.
- jacquesm 5y agoYes, it is. If you have vice grips handy. Emergencies tend to happen 'just like that', you don't get to prepare ahead of time unless you want to accessorize your tungsten ring with a pair of vice grips in your pocket.
- WJW 5y agoThere are many emergencies where innocent bystanders won't have the tools or knowledge to extricate me. I would expect ambulance and/or fire brigade services to have such tools at the ready though, just as how they have the fancy hydraulic press-metal-apart-with-extreme-force tools to get people out of car wrecks.
- 6nf 5y agoVice grip pliers capable of breaking a tungsten ring is cheaper and easier to purchase than the bolt cutters needed to remove a titanium ring
- learc83 5y agoEMTs aren't amputating your finger either. You'd go to the ER and they'd call the surgeon. They'd also know that you can crack a tungsten ring, so they wouldn't need to do that in the first place.
- jacquesm 5y agoExactly this. That was my first reaction when someone upthread wrote that they made a ring out of tungsten. I can only imagine that it would lead to misery at some point. You really don't want this kind of metal for Jewelry that surrounds you (wristband, ring, ankleband). You're going to get hurt sooner or later.