Is it true that you can't cut off a tungsten ring easily?

[lokiju]

I got married back in October and got a white gold ring that already looks like I've been wearing it for 10 years.

I liked the tungsten rings I tried on when shopping but had a few different jewelers tell me that they can't be cut off in an emergency situation this could be very bad (like a broken finger).

Is there any truth to this or is it just as easy to have cut off as a gold ring would be?


snopes.com has failed me

 

[dullard]

Tungsten isn't an easy metal to work with. first google link: "Tungsten is very difficult to machine and fabricate. With experience, it can be turned. Milling is all but impossible. It is only done with great difficulty and high cost by those most experienced with it. Forming must be done at very high temperatures and with careful stress relieving. Welding is not recommended and riveting is difficult at best. Extreme care must be exercised when designing a component from tungsten."

 

[nakedfrog]

I got a titanium ring and have the same problem. I've just settled on "it's going to end up looking like that eventually anyway"
But, FWIW this is what the place I ordered from has to say about their tungsten rings.

 

[MrDudeMan]

i have a tungsten ring and it is great. also, there is no way in hell that you can seriously believe it is impossible to cut. i have no idea why moron salesmen tell people this, but it isnt true. it is hard to work with but you could easily, very easily, cut it in half.

ive cut tungsten with an angle grinder and it was just like any other metal for the most part.

my tungsten ring has zero scratches on it and looks brand new still. it is very highly scratch resistant and i really like how it looks.

 

[Vette73]

Tungsten/titanium are stronger thenr gold, silver, plat. But every ER can cut all of them off. i think someone here, thats works in a ER, said it takes maybe 1-2 more cranks on the cutter but they will come off.

I have a titanium wedding band.

 

[Mark R]

They are more difficult to cut, but tungsten, especially tungsten carbide is very brittle, so the rings will break.

A surgical pin cutter (for cutting metal pins for fixing bones) may be able to nibble away at a tungsten ring enough for the ring to be pried apart. Alternatively, the ring can be placed in a vice, and when squeezed hard will shatter. (Because the ring is so hard, it won't bend and compress the underlying finger).

 

[SlowSpyder]

I have a tungsten wedding ring. Tungsten carbide cannot be cut, but it can be broken with a vise grips. Although it is very hard, it is also more brittle then traditional metals.

 

[Tsaico]

It is true. The clippers and the vice the hospitals use to bust or cut rings are manually operated, not by hydrualics or other machine. You are then relying the physical strength of your docotor or nurse. My dad worked in the ER for years and told me a story of a titanium ring they could not bust or cut. It sounds like Tungsten is even harder then titanium so I would imagine they would have even harder time with it.

In his particular story, they ended up trying to drain the broken finger with a few well placed needles and try to drain the swollen area. They had moderate luck, but just enough to get the thing off. In the end it caused some severe brusing, but their other option was to let it swell and possibly cause necrosis to the rest of the thumb.

Perhaps now things are a little different (my dad's story is about 7 years old) but I would imagine not by much in this regard. Unless you are in an industry or situations that broken digits are common, I wouldn't let this sway you from buying one though.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: Tsaico
It is true. The clippers and the vice the hospitals use to bust or cut rings are manually operated, not by hydrualics or other machine. You are then relying the physical strength of your docotor or nurse. My dad worked in the ER for years and told me a story of a titanium ring they could not bust or cut. It sounds like Tungsten is even harder then titanium so I would imagine they would have even harder time with it.

In his particular story, they ended up trying to drain the broken finger with a few well placed needles and try to drain the swollen area. They had moderate luck, but just enough to get the thing off. In the end it caused some severe brusing, but their other option was to let it swell and possibly cause necrosis to the rest of the thumb.

Perhaps now things are a little different (my dad's story is about 7 years old) but I would imagine not by much in this regard. Unless you are in an industry or situations that broken digits are common, I wouldn't let this sway you from buying one though.

I sit behind a computer all day so I'm not in a high risk at all but want to have piece of mind that they'll be able to get it off of me if I do have to go to an E.R.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Sounds like they can get it off if they have the right equipment, if they do not, oh well.

Call your local hospital that you would most likely go to in an ER visit and ask them the same question, if they say yes, problem solved.

 

[MrDudeMan]

I can't believe some of you people. You can cut tungsten with a dremel. I've done it. It takes a lot of cutting wheels but you can certainly do it quite easily. How do you think you are able to sharpen a tungsten carbide drill bit? If you couldn't cut it, you couldn't sharpen it.

Pure tungsten can be cut with a hacksaw. It can be crushed without an absolute ton of force.

Can a Tungsten ring be cut off?
Yes! Please be aware that in any situation where there might be a medical necessity to cut off or remove a tungsten ring--for instance excessive weight gain, hand injury, etc.,--removing a tungsten ring doesn?t pose much more of a challenge than cutting through a gold or platinum wedding band. In our own jewelry shop, as in many other jewelry shops, we have a cutting tool designed for cutting titanium and tungsten wedding bands. In addition, tungsten bands can be fractured into pieces using vise-grip pliers. When we contacted our local hospital emergency room and asked if they were equipped to remove tungsten wedding bands in an emergency, they told us that most hospital emergency rooms are prepared to handle almost anything, and assured us that it would be no problem for them.

During our 30 years of jewelry repair experience, we've only seen a dozen or so rings that have been cut off in hospital emergency rooms, and in most of those cases the rings had been bent out-of-round and were putting painful pressure on the finger. Tungsten rings will not crush or bend out-of-round, so if you shut your hand in a car door or drop a heavy object on it, a tungsten wedding band is likely to fracture into several pieces and fall off your finger freely. You might be safer wearing a tungsten ring than a precious metal band! Nonetheless, check with your local jeweler or medical facility if you have concerns.

It still boggles my mind that people are so susceptible to lies like this.

 

[Colt45]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Tungsten/titanium are stronger thenr gold, silver, plat. But every ER can cut all of them off. i think someone here, thats works in a ER, said it takes maybe 1-2 more cranks on the cutter but they will come off.

I have a titanium wedding band.

bullshit.. my buddy had a high carbon steel ring on, that was a little tight.. they broke the cutter on it.

 

[0roo0roo]

well dremel can cut most anything.
but i don'tthink they'd want to use it medically which is the problem, dremel leaves lots of metal and disc dust from the cutting, i don't think that would be good ina wound? maybe thats why the warning.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
well dremel can cut most anything.
but i don'tthink they'd want to use it medically which is the problem, dremel leaves lots of metal and disc dust from the cutting, i don't think that would be good ina wound? maybe thats why the warning.

not to mention, you know, like hitting the finger with a high speed blade

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Colt45
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Tungsten/titanium are stronger thenr gold, silver, plat. But every ER can cut all of them off. i think someone here, thats works in a ER, said it takes maybe 1-2 more cranks on the cutter but they will come off.

I have a titanium wedding band.</end quote></div>

bullshit.. my buddy had a high carbon steel ring on, that was a little tight.. they broke the cutter on it.

Not bullsh!t. I'm sorry you don't have your facts straight, but the fact is you are wrong. You can't use any old pair of cutters, but you can crush/fracture/snap it quite easily.

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
well dremel can cut most anything.
but i don'tthink they'd want to use it medically which is the problem, dremel leaves lots of metal and disc dust from the cutting, i don't think that would be good ina wound? maybe thats why the warning.</end quote></div>

not to mention, you know, like hitting the finger with a high speed blade

The point wasn't that ERs should use a dremel - the point was that it can be cut. In a medical application, tungsten would not present a bigger problem than any other metal. In fact, because it is so hard, you could crush it while not crushing the finger its on with a vice and some patience. Honestly, you people are quite stupid if you think this is a problem.

Lastly, if you have any skill at all with a dremel, it is not hard to control. Sealing the wounds with super glue and running water over the ring would be a very easy way to use a dremel in an emergency (not in the emergency room) situation.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
well dremel can cut most anything.
but i don'tthink they'd want to use it medically which is the problem, dremel leaves lots of metal and disc dust from the cutting, i don't think that would be good ina wound? maybe thats why the warning.

i got a video round here someplace of docs in the ER having to dremmel a metal ring off some dudes penis because he got it stuck in it

 

[Sphexi]

Who looks at a guy's ring anyways? I got a 10k piece of crap from Walmart for myself, blew the big bucks on the wife's matching engagement/wedding rings. Mine looks like copper almost, it's dull and scratched, but it does the job.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Who looks at a guy's ring anyways? I got a 10k piece of crap from Walmart for myself, blew the big bucks on the wife's matching engagement/wedding rings. Mine looks like copper almost, it's dull and scratched, but it does the job.

Someone asks me about mine once a week. They see it and say "wow, cool ring" and then ask a bunch of questions about it. Just my $.02. My ring was about $270...hardly a lot of money considering what it is.