| Traditional jewelry has always been based on what’s known as the precious metals. These include gold, platinum, silver, and white gold. The metals are easy to cast, solder, bend, and shape, and they take a good finish. They have worked well for thousands of years, but today’s customers are looking for some alternatives. Precious metals are at or near all time highs, and men in particular don’t care for the offerings in a typical jewelry store. It seems that most stores are geared towards women, and only have around 10 men’s rings to choose from, and they are either very plain in a soft white metal or covered with diamonds. Neither option is very appealing to him. The advent of alternative metals such as titanium or zirconium offers a break from the ordinary.
Titanium is a material so strong and lightweight that it was originally used for aerospace applications. It was found to be extremely inert, so later found uses in medical implants like femurs and bone screws. A person can wear a titanium rings even if they are allergic to white gold, as many people are. They are much stronger than precious metals, so won’t dent or ding like the softer metals can. The increased strength also allows such innovations as inlays of exotic hardwoods, meteorite, carbon fiber or other materials.
Another perfect application for titanium is in the use of tension set rings. Tension sets are rings that hold onto diamonds without the use of traditional prongs. The ring itself holds the stone by small grooves cut into the side walls, and the stone looks to be suspended without trusses, braces, or other visible means of support. This allows more light to get through the stone, and it greatly improves the look of a diamond. The stone needs to be held with a lot of force. Past tension sets have been made in gold or platinum, but generally had to be very thick in order to get the needed strength. The rings were also extremely expensive because they were controlled by patents that deal with making the weaker metals more springy so they could work. Only four companies in the world were licensed to make them, so they controlled the market, charging huge prices and having long lead times. Titanium has the advantages of being a springier and stronger metal to begin with, so no special treatment is necessary to work better than precious metals in this application.
Titanium has been overlooked by jewelers in the past because it takes very special equipment to make rings from it. It is normally machined from solid bar rather than cast like silver or gold. It takes special computer controlled machines which are out of the scope of most jewelers. Being versed in the technology needed to make the rings allows manufacturers to make custom rings to order in a short amount of time.
Titanium Rings is a leader in the manufacture of custom titanium rings since1993. Their website is www.boonerings.com |
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