Wedding Bands

[SuperMan3 1]

My school posted those pictures along with a bunch of graphic pictures to show atheletes who wear jewelry

[dalebert 8]

Yeah my first aid certification class was nice enough to feed us dinner then show us pictures like that and worse.

[shooter27 116]

Do you have any links to the other pics? I'm always interested in that type of injury stuff.

[dalebert 8]

I didn't post the link, this guy was a fireman from some local house running the class and he had it on a powerpoint. I'm sure a quick search on google will bring up anything you want to see. It's extremely graphic though. You have been warned.

[stick9 896]

My ring is aircraft grade titanium. If it had to be cut off, chances are the tools at the hospital aren't going to be able to do it. My fire fighter buddy has been called in to remove titanium rings. He said with gold they usually just cut the ring with bolt cutters and spread it open to remove it. Those type of cutters won't cut titanium, and it's too strong to spread so they have to make a cut on each side to remove em.

My Dad only has only a pinky and thumb on one hand. He lost the other three...not all at the same time though. My brother is missing a ring finger because of a ring, not sure about the specifics of that one. I'm reminded daily what can actually happen and how easily it can.

[mack 44]

This is obviously too big to wear, but the wife wanted to keep it low-key and classy:

[Sir Douglas 22 0]

im not married..or even close for that matter...but ever since ive heard about some guy at work getting "gloved" from getting his ring caught while jumping out of a helicopter (on the ground) ive been paranoid about everything that can possibly get caught on anything haha. thinking about it urks the hell out of me.

[phunky_monkey 6]

Wow, I'd really rather have not ever read this thread...

:P

[DarkStar50 679]

The ring is the least of your problems when you get married! :lol:

[tomh7 2]

My ring is aircraft grade titanium. If it had to be cut off, chances are the tools at the hospital aren't going to be able to do it. My fire fighter buddy has been called in to remove titanium rings. He said with gold they usually just cut the ring with bolt cutters and spread it open to remove it. Those type of cutters won't cut titanium, and it's too strong to spread so they have to make a cut on each side to remove em.

My Dad only has only a pinky and thumb on one hand. He lost the other three...not all at the same time though. My brother is missing a ring finger because of a ring, not sure about the specifics of that one. I'm reminded daily what can actually happen and how easily it can.

I believe that most hospitals are equiped with the tools to cut steel in relatively small amounts (i.e. stainless steel rings) and titanium is about on par if not easier to machine than non-hardened stainless steels. However; since tungsten carbide is the material use in metal cutting tools, cutting it would not work (like cutting aluminum with aluminum). Tungsten is also very brittle so it breaks relatively easy (instead of bending). A google search on tungsten and titanium rings will yield a lot of information regarding the differences between the various grades of gold, stainless, titanium, and tungsten.

[chk hrd 164]

I wear my ring for everything and rarely take it off, it is be banged around and mangled so many times that it is almost impossible to take off. Never had a problem catching it on anything.

[stick9 896]

Found some good info here.

http://www.cascadiadesignstudio.com/faq-cut-off-ring.htm

In the rare event it becomes necessary to cut off a ring, emergency medical professionals carry ring cutters or rotary cut-off tools that cut through metals, including our CP and Aerospace Grade Titanium. In our testing, we found that tools that will cut through stainless steel will also cut through titanium rings.

Ring cutters are available from jewelry supply companies and ChiefSupply.com, a company serving Public Safety professionals.

For your safety, never wear any type of ring around open machinery or electrical equipment, or while participating in physical sports.

That said, I'm gonna assume the hospital my buddy was called to didn't have the proper tool to remove the ring.

[flyguy1697 0]

I would never. Few years ago, got hit trying to deflect a slapper in front right on the outside of my glove. Shattered my finger and it blew up to 4.5 times its size. Get into the doctors office and he told me if I was wearing a ring (it was my ring finger) that I would have lost that finger.

[lawryde 0]

How many of you who religiously take off your rings don't wear full cages?

I'll play the odds of not getting the magic bullet to my finger and wear a full cage every time I'm on the ice.

Also from some jewerly sight when I typed in cutting titanium rings into google.

Q: Can a Titanium ring be cut off?

A: Yes! Please be aware that in any situation where it might become necessary to cut off a Titanium ring - for instance excessive weight gain, hand injury, etc., - cutting through titanium will be more difficult than cutting through gold or platinum. However, it can still be done. In our own jewelry shop, we used a separating disc and flexible shaft tool-items commonly found in nearly all jewelry shops that work with gold, silver, and platinum--to cut through one of our 5mm domed and comfort fit titanium rings. Cutting it all the way through took only 20 seconds. Next, we contacted our local hospital emergency room and asked if they were equipped to cut off a titanium ring in an emergency. Most hospital emergency rooms are prepared to handle almost anything, and ours 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. Titanium rings are less likely to crush or bend out-of-round, so if you shut your hand in a car door or drop a heavy object on it, it might be safer to be wearing a titanium ring than a precious metal band! Nonetheless, if you ever need your Titanium ring cut off, just contact a local jeweler that uses separating discs. Please check with your local medical facility if you have concerns.

[chippa13 1844]

I never wear my ring for hockey, it usually doesn't even make it into the rink. It isn't so much a safety thing as much as I don't want to beat up the ring too much.

[Tailboard Jockey 25]

I never wear my wedding ring on my finger. I keep it threaded through my watch band. It pisses off my wife, but so be it.

On our fire engines, we carry a ring cutting tool specifically to cut rings off of fingers. I've seen enough people de-gloved to never want to wear a ring on my finger.

[Zylos45 118]

My goalie doesn't either but that's because I broke his one night with a slapper in a pickup game.

What was the ring made of...paper marche?

I leave mine in the car. Already lost one ring and my wife was pretty pissed about it!

[Yoke 0]

I take mine off and put it in my wallet. I've never skated with it on, because about a month before I got married I saw some gross pictures of what could happen.

Plus, it's just uncomfortable. I've held my stick with my ring on and didn't like it.

[SidCaeser 0]

I wear my ring, and I really don't worry about snagging it on anything while playing. I have gloves on my hands. While working on the car or doing various home improvement projects, I'll take it off. But to play hockey, I don't see an issue. I don't see me having my skin ripped off the bone because I got hit in the hand with a slapper.

[kovalchuk71 212]

But if your finger swells from a slapper, you will lose the finger.

[jbyun04 7]

i'm not married but my brother (goalie) wore his during a game, saved a slapper and after the game he realized the ring was crushed around his finger. Took him a while to get it off and he had to get a new ring.

[W.Heinle 0]

I take mine off.

[Jarick 5]

I always wondered why so many guys are getting Ti rings now....then I looked at the prices. Much nicer. Those engagement rings though...wow. But hey, apparently my Minnesota Wild has an "official jeweler" so it would go to a good cause :lol:

I don't wear any jewelry or watches, and having read the horror stories on here before, I wouldn't ever while playing hockey. I'd imagine most hospitals are going to be equipped for cutting titanium (or would be after running into one of these situations once), but good to know about jewelers being able to as well.

[Gwyren 0]

I always wondered why so many guys are getting Ti rings now....then I looked at the prices. Much nicer.

One I am seeing in a few locations here is Palladium. It is in the same group as Platinum, weighs less, and currently, is quite a bit cheaper. It is also nearly impossible to tell the difference with the naked eye (or at least my not quite perfect ones).

[chippa13 1844]

I wound up with platinum just because it was the most basic thing they had.