# What karat wedding ring should I get? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 10, 2005, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-karat-wedding-ring-should-i-get/284024 "2005-01-10T11:02:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-karat-wedding-ring-should-i-get/284024/1 "2005-01-10T11:02:33Z")
My wife and I are buying me a backup wedding ring. The ring I have now is 24 karat gold and is great. It’s too soft, though, so we want to keep it for special occasions. What karat should I get? I want a ring that looks nice, but is hard enough to not bend and ding too much. Should I get 14 karat or 18? Is there another option? What kind of rings do you all have? What do you recommend? Oh, we’re talking yellow(gold) colored gold, not white. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-karat-wedding-ring-should-i-get/284024/2 "2005-01-10T12:53:29Z")
Too bad you’re limiting yourself to yellow gold or I’d suggest a titanium wedding band like I have. I’m pretty rough on jewelry so I went for durability. It is not scratchproof so it’s building up a lot of character. There is a nitride finish which is gold color but I doubt if that’s what you want. As for 14 vs 18 karat I think you’re splitting hairs. If durability is the goal the lower karat is probably going to be more durable. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-karat-wedding-ring-should-i-get/284024/3 "2005-01-10T17:12:09Z")
I have a 14 karat band (white gold) and it looks fine to me after 7 years. Maybe just a tad of light scuffing, but I haven’t had it professionally cleaned up or anything. I’d go with the 14 karat - you already have a band for special occasions, so you might as well go with durability. I can’t see any difference just looking at 14 vs. 18 karat gold, either. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-karat-wedding-ring-should-i-get/284024/4 "2005-01-11T00:09:34Z")
Well, I’m not married yet but I did buy my ring. It’s 10 karat. Sitting in a box for 3 years has done no damage 😃 However, I have another ring which is 10 karat. It has survived 1 year of working in a bandsaw factory, 3 years of gardening, 4 years of shoveling lots of snow, and 3 moves. I’d suggest getting 10 karat. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-karat-wedding-ring-should-i-get/284024/5 "2005-01-11T02:39:21Z")
For a wedding band, I would go with 18k. 14k gold (quite common in the States) has a brassier yellow color, while 18k and above has a deeper yellow that stands out and looks more attractive. Anything more than 18k is too soft for normal day-to-day activity. Our original bands were 14k and they served quite well for years (getting banged up a bit but no big deal). On our 10th anniversary we were in Brazil, a place where they don’t even sell 14k gold, and we bought a pair of 18k bands to commemorate the occasion. Haven’t worn the old one since. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-karat-wedding-ring-should-i-get/284024/6 "2005-01-11T13:43:40Z")
My wedding band is 14K Yellow gold. It has held up pretty well. My class ring is 10K white gold. I used to be a NCSU season ticket holder, and my wedding band is definitely softer than my my class ring. I am now to put my class ring into my pocket at State Games. ---
**Author:** ![Keweenaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Keweenaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keweenaw)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-karat-wedding-ring-should-i-get/284024/7 "2005-01-11T13:58:51Z")
This is my back-up ring. I’ve been very happy with it. [http://secure.jamesavery.com/view\_jewelry/search/viewProduct.jsp?itemCode=WB-61-A](http://secure.jamesavery.com/view_jewelry/search/viewProduct.jsp?itemCode=WB-61-A) My original was a fairly thin band and was taking some abuse so we put it in storage. lots of nice stuff on the james avery site - [http://www.jamesavery.com/](http://www.jamesavery.com/)