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My husband has a tungsten and I wish we had gone with white gold. It's really nice and he loves it, but they can't be sized! If you need a different size you have to send off for a whole new ring. My husband lost a lot of weight so now his ring is always falling off. We went to go exchange it for another size, but we had already passed the available time gap in which you can exchange for another size so now we're stuck with a ring that's too big.
I agree with Bella. We got my husband a tungsten carbide ring, and now its huge on him...
If the tungsten ring you are looking at is identical to the white gold, go for it. Just know that it cannot be sized, so youll have to buy a new ring if it happens.
We LOVE my husband's Tungsten Carbide ring.
And as far as getting another one if it becomes the wrong size, his ring was only $89! So who cares!
He has been wearing his ring now for over a year and it looks BRAND new - and he is HARD on jewelry! The ring is a "comfort fit" and he tells me it feels very good and comfortable. A ton of guys have actually mentioned to him that they really like his ring. It's very "manly". :) I'll see if I can post a pic...
We ordered it from an online company and had FANTASTIC customer service. Also, people might tell you that it can't be engraved - but they are wrong. The company we bought it from engraved his ring for us and it looks fantastic. We bought it here: www.titaniumkay.com - we highly recommend them!
0485.jpg (46.8 KB, 385 downloads) 2 years old 
Tungsten carbide cannot be cut off your finger, in case of emergency/trauma. We were told that most manufacturers intentionally make TC rings with four thinner spots spaced equally around the ring, so that they can be broken off (the ring will shatter, apparently), if necessary.
@MrsK2be- That looks exactly like my mans ring! He loves it. We just wish it fit him a little better :(
Not to be disagreeable here, but in fact, a Tungsten Ring CAN be easily cut off a finger in the event of an emergency. This information was given to us from our jeweler (who did not sell us DH's Tungsten ring):
"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!"
@ Bella: Where did you get it? What is their return/exchange policy?
Where we got DH's ring they had a FANTASTIC return policy (paid shipping both ways and no questions asked...) We sent back his first band too because we ordered the wrong size...they had one sent out to us within 3 days in the correct size! And again, it was only $89 and it is heavy, smooth and great quality!
We got it at Kay jewelers. They had a 6 month return policy. We also ordered the wrong size at first and had to send it back for a new one. Then my husband went on a 7 month deployment with the Navy and when he returned home he had lost about 20lbs. We went to Kay to return the ring for another size and they told us we could no longer return the ring.
The difference between how tungsten carbide (and titanium) are made as compared to white gold is they are either machined to size or cast a really high temps. Yes, you will not be able to resize the ring. However, for the cost and look, they really are a good alternative. Tungesten Carbide can sometimes crack and you will need to replace it (a warranty usually covers this). Titanium is lightweight and rugged.
As state above, ER's are now pretty much equiped to handle the situations for these metals. A number of the men (and women) i know who have titanium or tungsten carbide really like how they hold up to abuse. My FI really likes titanium so I'm going to make his in the machine shop.
My fiancee and I bought our ring at Zales and we got the tungsten ring he loves it we paid a little more but it was worth it we have ordered two different sizes because the first didn't fit right we paid 200 and some change and we have a lifetime warranty which does include cleaning, damage and sizing among other things so if your fiancee likes the ring I personally would get it. Word of advice though get the comfort fit my fiancee says it feels a lot better
just to put everyone at ease - the titanium used for jewelry is easily cut off by the same thigns they use to cut of any other jewelry in an ER, so no worries.
the titanium that cannot be cut is the aircraft grade titanium which is not used in rings. Just make sure that what you buy is commercial grade. however even aircraft grade titanium can be cut through, its just a little more involved.
this is from two sources - my FH who was a jewler, and a friend of mine who is an ER doctor.
so have no fear!
but yeah you cant resize them - so if your man is one of fluctuating weight, you might want to go with a softer metal.
Tungsten rings can be found for super cheap though.. check out amazon and you'll find tons for under $100. I know I read on here once about someone who just ordered 3 or so rings in her husbands size +/- a size or two so as he gained and lost weight he could just switch them out. They were so cheap that she still saved on the rings.
We went to Jared and looked at the Tungsten Carbide. They told us that they could do a lifetime gaurantee in which they would replace the ring if it needed resized. We didn't end up going with this, but only because hubby found a white gold ring he liked better.
Here is a link.. there are several on there for less than $50 even..
i liked the tungsten rings,but my FH didnt want one cuz it cant be resized when he get old and gains or loses weight one day. he doesnt want to have to buy a new ring, he wants the ring he got married with. idk, were sentimental like that. i love love LOVE the scott kay brute cobalt, but same thing, no resizing threw us off. thats a no go for us.
I bought my FI's tungsten ring from Zales, and it came with a lifetime warranty - including exchanging the ring if you need a different size (for free!), but I had to pay for the warranty. Total, I ended up spending about $190 on it, but I got it on sale over Xmas.
Yep, you can resize and my bro in law was told if he ever had to get it off and it was stuck on...they'd have to cut his finger off! Hahaha :)
The ugly with tungsten, unfortunately, is really really ugly.
Most of the tungsten we have here comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it has fueled a 10 year civil war that has left over 5 million people dead and over 1 million living victims of violent sexual assault. The situation there is so bad that it has been declared the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman or a girl.
There are a few bills before congress to ban it (at least the import from Congo), but until then I would steer clear if this is something that would worry you. My boyfriend was interested in tungsten, but we quickly decided that we didn't want (to be completely cheesy about it) something that would represent our love and our union to fund these horrors.
@Sirouhi, thanks SO MUCH for posting that. We were thinking of getting one for him, but definitely won't, now. Even if we knew where it came from, I'm not supporting the market at all. I'm particularly sensitive since my mom is in the DRC right now, working to help those exact people. Wow. White gold it is, I guess.
My husband got a tungsten ring, and he loves it. He likes it because it doesn't scratch, and because he's really not into the whole jewelry thing, he didn't want to spend a lot, but still wanted something that reflected his personality (which often means more money).
I ordered his ring from tungstenworld.com, and they have a lifetime guarantee for sizing and such. I think it's only $20 each time you need to trade it in ... for life. Not too bad, if you ask me.
And yes, tungsten CAN be removed in case of emergency.
@Sirouhi: Eek! Any sources on that we could see?
That's the problem with jewelry. Every time I turn around more people are dying to make it! :(
I'm not a big fan of tungsten, mainly because it's an industrial metal and not a precious metal; I greatly prefer traditional wedding band metals like gold and platinum for their intrinsic value, and the fact that they do scratch. I've seen tc shatter with relatively little force. It's hard, but that doesn't make it tough exactly...
@Sirouhi
In the interest of clarifying where Tungsten comes from I found the following PDF by the US Geological Survey. By far MOST Tungsten comes from China and not the Congo. And in terms of powder for Tungsten Carbide the Congo isn't a significant source for that at all. So most assuredly if you get a TC ring the materials for it originated in China as opposed to the Congo.
Source:
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/tungsten/680400.pdf
Just wanted to add my two cents to this thread for anyone looking in the future. No matter how many times the jeweler swears up and down, cross his heart and hope to die, that tungsten carbide is hypoallergenic, don't believe him. We initially went with a tungsten ring for my FI because he's crazy allergic to several metals (nickel, so he can't do gold or silver, in general). Within a day of wearing the ring, he had a rash all up his ring finger, and on the near sides of the fingers next to it. It was a really handsome ring, though. Fairly lightweight, masculine. I was sad to see it go, but we had to replace it with a titanium one.
We got a tungsten band for my FI from Amazon.com, mainly because we are trying to stay within our budget. It looks great on, and I'm not too concerned about the size.. we will just get another one if he grows out of it. Someday we will probably upgrade it :)
We just ordered FI ring from Kessler jewelers and went with tungsten. FI is hard on rings and the scratch resistence was a plus. I asked repeatedly about the safety as Fi works with a fair amount of heavy machinery and it sounded like anything that hit it hard enough to cause damage would shatter the ring.
My ring is from Kesslers also and one of the reasons we wanted to stick with them is the lifetime warrenty. No routine inspections or anything- just a warrenty that covers if FI needs a different size years down the road, if he does manage to shatter it (we just have to bring in pieces/powder/whatever is left.)
This is similar to what we got (I like how manly they look) http://www.kesslersdiamonds.com/jewelry/wedding-anniversary/gents-rings/details/4302/11/anniversary-wedding/mens-rings/wbkcg16055.html
FI's band is tungsten. It's a Triton band. They will replace it for free if anything happens to it for life.
http://www.reeds.com/TRITON-Tungsten-Carbide-Band-plu11-2858C-G.html
We're looking at tungsten rings from LarsonJewelers.com right now and they're really affordable. What's nice about them is that they have this free lifetime sizing so if FI's finger size changes, the will replace it for free.
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Well, FI and I went looking for a wedding band for him today. He found a ring he liked, in tungsten carbide. I've only heard the name a few times and wanted to know a little more about them and was hoping the bees could help! :)
I know that they're pretty scratch resistant and they shatter under a ton of pressure, but I wanted to hear what you all thought of tungsten carbide vs. white gold.
This ring he likes is about 1/3 of the cost of similar white gold bands, so we're hoping there's enough good about the metal to justify purchasing.
Thanks for your help! :)