As a non-jewelry wearing guy, I am not sure whether there are times when I should take my (soon to be acquired) wedding ring off.
For example, I think I have been told not to wear it in the machine shop for fear of it snagging on something big, strong and sharp.
I also play goalkeeper in indoor soccer. Is the ring a safety hazard to me in that? (I wear gloves, of course.)
What about during rock climbing?
Are there any other times where I should take the ring off to protect either my finger or the ring?
Obviously, for the protection of other parts of my body, I don’t want to take it off more than necessary.
(The ring is a white gold simple band if that makes any difference in the advice)
When you’re doing electrical work. You’d hate to get a burn there, and gold is such a great conductor. I’ve never known an electrician or a lineman to wear one, although that might be an excuse.
My uncle had an electric motor repair shop. He was winding wire for a motor one day, and his wedding ring snagged on something. Ripped his whole finrger clean off. He worked alone, and had to make it to the shop next door for some help. They never could reattach his finger.
Take it off anytime you feel wearing it would be unsafe. Electrical work and the machine shop are good examples of this.
A finger, in addition to being burned or amputated, can also be degloved by a snagged ring. That’s just what it sounds like - the flesh is torn right off from knuckle to fingertip, leaving only the finger bones behind.
I learned about charming injuries like this in the Navy. Men and women who worked with aircraft engines, hydraulics, electricity, or anything of the sort never wore rings. Not even so-called “breakaway” rings.
My husband doesn’t wear one. My dad didn’t wear one. My FIL didn’t wear one. It’s silly to endanger yourself if your work poses a hazard. Many shops won’t let you wear a ring when you’re working.
What Mr. Moto said; if it might not be safe to wear the ring, take it off. I rarely work in machine shops, but I do remove my ring when I’m going to work with bleach or other serious chemicals, when I’m out on the lake or at the beach (it would be a bummer to lose it in the water, and my hands shrink when they’re cold), or when I’m afraid it might fall off and get lost some other way.
Kendo class. If you get smacked on the ring, it can get squashed which (a) hurts and (b) requires the use of pliers to get it roughly round before you can get it off and make it really round.
side note: there’s a scene in Patriot Games in which an IRA terrorist is going to bed with his mistress; he takes his ring off first. My wife saw that and didn’t understand what it meant. “Well, see, there are some people who believe that if they take the ring off, they’re not… well, they can… it… stupid movie…”
Neither mrAru nor I wear wedding rings. They are just a symbol for others to see, we know in our hearts we are married to each other and that is good enough for us=)
Take yours off whenever you want - if it is going to be a work or hobby hazard, when washing dishes or swimming, when flirting in bars - it is entirely up to you.
So what my friend max did - he and his wife got theirs tatooed on=)
If you wanna see some truly horrific pictures, look up “ring avulsion amputation”. It’s when the ring is caught on something (in one example I personally know, the person fell off a ladder while cleaning leaves and got the ring caught on the rain gutter) and the finger is pulled off. :eek:
A friend of mine was never into wearing a wedding ring- soley because he was just uncomfortable with having something around his finger. His wife- wonderful woman actually- finally convinced him to wear one. He reluctantly agreed. About a week later he was up on a ladder got a wire stuck thru the ring, slipped fell, and tore his finger off. Now he cant wear his ring… his poor wife felt terrible!
I say, be careful- depending on what you do day to day… I think youll be perfectly fine playing soccer, but rock climbing may be a different story.
My wife is a little obsessed about wedding rings and refuses to remove hers for any reason. When she went in for surgery she had it taped rather than take it off.
She has however, given the very real possibility of my losing the ring finger because of my wearing it, relented. I’ve seen one to many guys actually have their ring finger pulled out by the roots when the ring got caught in machinery. Back when I was a real soldier the ring, and my wrist watch, went on the dog tag chain and the chain was doubled on a belt loop and went in the hip pocket (the last thing you need is to have your face pulled into machinery because you wore your dog tags like a necklace).
For many people wearing a ring presents no unacceptable risk. For people who work with machinery or do physical work it can present a real danger.
If you are able to tan at all, just sit in the sun wearing your ring for a while.
Then, if you need to take it off for any reason, all and sundry will still be able to see you are married.
I tease my husband about his ring tan all the time.
I take my ring off for yoga and making hamburgers.
Back in my soccer refereeing days we were supposed to have the players remove any and all jewelry. There was one guy who just refused to remove his wedding ring. Said his wife would kill him. In these cases we just tell them to tape it up really well.
These days it seems a lot of players, at least at a professional level, are allowed to wear some jewelry (usually neck chains). I guess they bitched so much about it that FIFA gave in.
If you are a goaltender and will be wearing your gloves the whole game it seems OK to have a ring on underneath.
