My lover and I have finally decided to tie the knot. We like the idea of stainless steel bands. The problem, of course, is finding such a thing. There is some steel jewelry out there–it is sometimes marketed as “lustrium”. However, we can’t find anything simple–only gaudy class rings and the like. For those of you with conventional leanings, I am not really interested in debating the merits of steel wedding bands; I am merely looking for a source. Thanks.
I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but have you thought of Titanium? It looks a little like steel and it’s more durable I think.
The jewelery mart where I found my ring had several jewelers with titanium rings, but none with stainless steel.
Stainless steel is not a typically used medium for jewelry. I’d first check out to see why. For example: rings in particular get alot of abuse from wear, would they hold up? (that’s why a number of metals aren’t used by the way)
Also, some people react with certain metals, too. The predominate metals used in jewelry making have differing rates of people reacting (stainless steel which is often used in earring posts can turn your ears green for example).
If you’re absolutely sold on the idea and don’t see things commercially available, like I said, there may be a reason. Your best bet would be to find a custom jeweler. and perhaps you may have to go to new one rather than an established one. The custom jeweler I grew up with would have thrown ya out of his office (he’s a fine metalsmith). Good luck.
Sorry, wring, wrong on all counts:
[ul][li]Gold is an extremely soft metal, which does not prevent its popularity for jewelry. Stainless steel is extremely durable.[/li][li]Stainless steel is, IIRC, completely inert: that’s why it’s stainless (it doesn’t rust). It will not turn your ears green. People with metal sensitivities can usually wear earrings made from gold or stainless steel. In any case, it’s made of iron, so if it turned your skin any color, it would be rusty red; green is from copper.[/li]Steel is extremely hard, and beyond the tools of most custom jewelers. I used to make jewelry, and I don’t think I ever came across stainless steel as a material. You’ll probably have to find someone who specializes in it; your average jeweler will not have the tools.[/ul]
Spare me. lissener, I understand gold is a soft metal (which is why it’s mixed with others for 18, 14, and 10 K jewelry).
You admit that stainless steel is not a commonly used item in jewelry, which is what I said.
the steel commonly used is surgical steel, not stainless. which is why I speculated there may be some reason why one wouldn’t use stainless.
Yes, stainless steel is strong when used in say frying pans and the like. Not sure how it would hold up in a ring, which has different stress points, which is WHY I said, talk to a custom jeweler. (the one I know has been at it for some 50+ years)
Surgical steel is stainless steel.
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,71169+1+69371,00.html
Back in a mechanical eng. lab class we tested the tensile strenth of iron, steal (don’t remember the grade) and stainless steel (again don’t remember the grade)
the stainless steel was about 8x stronger then the steal and stronger then the iron from what I remember.
Also there are difrent grades of stainless steel.
numbers in the 300 are basically rust proof, diving equipoment is made of this, step up to 400 (421?) and the the material is much stronger but slightly reactive
I havn’t used stainless steel and it’s numbering system in many yrs so I don’t remember the details - but I am sure it would be more then strong enough.
Stainless is not stronger than steel 90% of the time, unless it is specially hardened. SS can, and is usually very brittle (compared to most good steel). The Stainless in medical usage is also not very likely the same kind you would get a bolt, or a ring made out of.
Stainless being generally “stronger” or “better” than regular “steel” is usually incorrect.
Eric
If all else fails, you could try a manufacturer of body jewlery. Most body piercing items are made from surgical stainless steel, so they may be able to help you.
A list of body piercing jewelry manufacturers
“Surgical Steel” is not stainless? You are joking, yes?
Stainless steels can be some of the most durable, corrosion-resistant, and strong steels known. Like, uh, 440A-C for example?
Different stress points? Would you care to explain this? As an ME, I have no idea how stainless steel would suffer in any way relative to any other metal in the form of a ring.
Anyhow - as to the OP. You can order a wide variety of stainless steels in a wide variety of shapes. You may have very good luck working with a precision metalworker in fashioning a ring out of this. Niobium is an interesting metal as well, often used in body piercings. I always thought tungsten or osmium or iridium would be mondo-cool, but they are extraordinarily difficult to form.
And don’t forget my favorite and the only thing I get my rings made of - platinum/ruthenium.
I’ve also seen a couple websites that sell titanium rings, esp. because titanium lends itself to some cool etching techniques.
Strength and hardness are two very different things, you know. And where do you get your 90% figure from?
What’s “regular steel”? Mild steel? 1010? 1045? 1095? SA210? There are hundreds, if not thousands of different alloys of steel to compare with. And what stainless steel are you comparing it to? Austenitic (300 series)? The 400 series? 18/10? There’s an enormous variety to choose from.
If what the OP wants are “pipe cut” or “band-style” rings, any machinist could order a short length of SS pipe of whatever alloy is available, and turn out some nice rings on a lathe. I did as a “let’s see if I can do it” exercise in my optional ME shop, with a piece of 312 SS tubing. Took about 2 hours to make it nice.
Man, you can count on the SDMB to come through on practically anything!
Lunasea, thanks for the list–I will give some of those places a call tomorrow.
Anthracite, thanks for the reassurance that there is nothing inherently wrong with SS in jewelry. And I like the idea of going to a machine shop to get a ring made. one question though:
My science is notstrong, but isn’t iridium both insanely rare and radioactive? Although wering a ring made (possibly) of the rock that killed the dinosaurs would be sorta cool. . .
Iridium is not radioactive at all in it’s common form (that is, many elements have radioactive isotopes, but iridium is no more or less so than say, platinum) In fact, iridium is sometimes alloyed with platinum in jewelry, in small amounts. The word “iridium” derives from the rainbow-like colors of it’s salts, which are very pretty.
The International “Standard Meter” is a platinum-iridium bar, IIRC. The real problems with iridium are it’s rarity, and extreme difficulty in working. You would probably not find anyone who could make an iridium ring unless you were willing to pay $$$. And even then, as hard as it is, I imagine it would have to be cast into a custom mold, rather than formed.
Osmium, BTW, is very closely related to iridium, except it supposedly has a pungent smell (I’ve never noticed it) and it is the densest element known. In fact, I think the word “osmium” come from a root word meaning “bad smell”, but I’m not certain. It is also extremely hard and rare.
It would still be mondo-cool.
Of course, as to the anecdote about me turning out an SS ring - sizing would be a problem. The ring I made did not fit any of my fingers, since I had no pipe available that was the right size. Given the huge array of tubing sizes one can order, I’m sure a machinist could find an exact fit.
Just don’t try to re-size it ever. 
You’re welcome, and since I forgot to say it before:
Congratulations!
Thanks for the information. Metals are really pretty interesting. As it happens, we live in a fairly techie city (lots of NASA stuff–I personally know a guy who did plasma-welding on the space shuttle), and the university across the street has a pretty good ME department. It seems like I could find somewhere around here that could do it–the only problem will be convincing them to take on such a small job.
Well, as an ME undergrad I had a very detailed engineering shop class - maybe if this University has the same, you could convince a student to try it out as a project? Or a prof to assign it as a project for the whole class, a contest to see who could produce the best rings, and the prize is you buy the best ones?
Just a thought…
IIRC iron or steel (not stainless steel wedding bands were the norm in Europe before gold caught on. The would have been in the middle ages or the Renaissance. Gold met with sharp resistance when it began to be popular, because it was considered to be too soft to symbolize what was supposed to be a strong bond. Evidently the fact that gold doesn’t corrode and iron does won out. I can’t remember where I read this, and I can find no confirmation now, so it might be total bunkum.
In any case, listen to Anthracite. You’ll probably have better luck at a machine shop than a jewelry store.
After we got married (we didn’t get the rings until later) we kicked around this very idea. Designing our own rings and having them special made of a “different” material appealed to us.
I work in a chemistry lab at a University and went down to our machine shop to talk with the guys about metals to make rings out of. It was their consensus that stainless would not be appropriate because it is harder to machine to the perfect size and it would be difficult to remove in an emergency. Gold can be cut more easily if needed.
We went out and bought traditional rings which I’m happy with though I still think stainless or some other metal machined by the shop would have been cool.
Manda Jo – I think Lunasea’s suggestion of the body art stores may be the easiest solution to your problem. However, if you decide to try and find a metal shop to build you a couple of rings, then don’t be deterred by the ‘small job’ thing. My dad is a welder, and he loves the small, unusual jobs. It brings out the craftsman in him. So call a few shops and see if you can get someone interested in the challenge. If you can get the interest, then it won’t matter that it’s a small job. One more suggestion, you say ‘Lustrium’ is a jewelry grade steel used by class ring places? Did you try asking if you can commission simple wedding rings out of the stuff as a custom job? Most of the class ring places are set up to do a certain amount of limited custom work anyway, so maybe they can help you, or point you to someone who would be willing to do custom work with Lustrium.
Speaking not as an ME or metal specialist but simply as the owner of purportedly high grade stainless steel tools, knives, scissors, pliers, etc etc, I would offer the observation that in my experience stainless steel is truly perfectly “stainless” only when kept dry and out of corrosive environments. Even high quality stainless (in the aforesaid items) will sometimes suffer very small rust pits and if not buffed out these “pit” areas will tend to spread.
Maybe this is just my experience and there are types of stainless that will remain “perfect” but it would give me pause if choosing a stainless steel ring that would be in proximity to my skin 24/7.
That is why she needs surgical stainless steel.