Here are 17 awesome reasons why I made my own wedding ring, and you can do the same thing even without many tools or a lot of woodworking experience. When you make your own ring, you save money, and you get to create something unique that nobody else in the world has.
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Making Wedding Rings
Wedding rings are expensive, and they are not unique. Unless you are going to spend in the tens of thousands or more for something that very few people have, you are just buying the same styles as anyone else.
I knew right away that a gold wedding ring was not for me, so I came up with a way of making a very strong ring that would last the rest of my life. Combining wood for the look, and metal for the core. My wooden wedding ring is built to last, and a truly unique piece.
There are many more reasons that I made my own wedding ring, and you can do the same thing. Take a look at the reasons I made my ring, and see if any of them resonate with you. If they do, there are a lot of resources on this site for Making Your Own Ring, and even My Ring Making Book for more guidance…
Wooden Rings are Unique
One of the biggest attractions of a wooden ring for me is the fact that it is a completely unique item. A wooden ring is rare to begin with, but on top of that it’s exactly mine, and there are none in this world that are the same.
Most ring stores sell the same stuff. There are some that sell different styles, but anyone walking into that store is going to have access to anything you do. Many of them will have even more access unless you are super wealthy and can buy anything you want.
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Rings like this may be rare, but they are not unique. There are still tens of thousands of them walking around the streets of the world, and that’s a lot of rings. Wooden rings on the other hand are very unique, and far fewer people have them.
If you are already set on making your own ring, my 35 Important Tips on How to Make a Ring is a very long and very useful post. You will learn a lot about making rings as a beginner, and even pick up something if you are more advanced too.
Wooden Rings are Easy to Make
A wooden wedding ring is actually really easy to make. In the beginning, you might think that you can’t make something as nice, but you can. This Quick Tutorial explains the process for making laminated rings, which is the most common style of handmade ring.
I already had several years of woodworking experience, so making a ring from wood was a very easy decision for me. Compared to the things that I was currently making, the ring was a very small project that I made in the background.
Being a woodworker, I always knew that I wanted a ring made from wood. Even though I was capable of more detail in the work, I really wanted something with a simple look, one species, and no inlay or binding work on the piece.
See Also: Essential Wooden Ring Making Tools List
Wooden Rings are an Easy Beginner Project
Every aspect of the build is pretty easy, and someone with little to no experience can take the slow route and carefully make their own wedding ring. This is why it can be a great project for you as a new woodworker. It looks amazing when finished, but it’s actually a pretty easy project.
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You can beat lack of skill with time when you have little experience. Simply slow down, take all the time you need, and carefully complete the steps. Most of the time, you can come out with something that is pretty good looking, even with less experience.
As the experienced woodworker moves quickly through the steps, they do so from experience. If you just go a little slower, and follow a good plan, you can make a great looking wedding ring that you will be proud to wear.
Look at my Last 10% Principle for more about finishing strong.
Wooden Wedding Rings Can be Updated Over Time
One of the most interesting things about making a wooden wedding ring is that you can update the ring over time. As you get older, and styles change, you might want something different. This can be really expensive with a traditional ring.
A wooden ring can be completely changed for a few hours of work and a few dollars in materials. You can also just add some small things too like inlays or gems. Either way you go, the work is easy, and the cost is very low.
You can also update the ring as your woodworking skills get better. If you were unhappy with the sanding, you can sand it more and finish it again to make it look better. You can remove the finish, change the shape, and make alterations simply by going out into the shop and working on your ring.
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See Also: Top 10 Wooden Ring Making Posts
Wooden Rings Last Just as Long as Metal
When you use a metal core, you can be assured that your rings are going to last just as long as if you were to buy a traditional ring. Wood by itself is not as strong as metal. For that reason, it will not last as long.
When you combine wood and metal, you get all the strength of metal inside the ring, but you also get the wood look on the outside. This means you get all the beauty, but with a hidden strength that only you know is there.
Sure, wood does dent faster than metal, but higher end gold is fairly soft too, and most people are surprised at how easily it can be damaged through normal use. In comparison, a wooden ring when handled well can go a very long time before acquiring its first dent.
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Your Choice of Core Materials
If you want to have a wooden ring, but you also want to have a precious metal inside the core, you can do that too. Cores come in a number of different styles and materials. This is a good place for a custom touch even though it will be hidden.
Some of the common higher end choices are gold and silver. These materials are commonly available in plain flat bands, and you can find them everywhere. There are local stores, and Amazon will also have gold and silver rings that you can buy from them.
For less expensive alternatives, stainless steel and titanium are two good choices. My ring is made from a titanium band, and it’s really light. The stainless rings are only a few dollars, and the titanium I bought was about twenty.
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Stay away from tungsten carbide unless you can find a thin ring that is already the exact shape and size you need for wrapping with wood. This is a very hard material, and you will most likely not be able to modify the shape in your shop with the tools you have.
See Also: How to Mill Your Own Ring Making Wood and Save Money
Wooden Rings are Rare
I would gamble that wooden wedding rings are about as rare as the rarest of high end traditional rings, and I have never actually met anyone else that has one. Sure, there are inexpensive wooden rings online that have a wood looking band in the center, but this is not the same thing.
A ring that has a metal core, and a fully covering wooden wrap around the outside is a very rare item, and only a tiny fraction of people wear it as a wedding ring. This is very attractive to a lot of people that really like to have custom pieces.
On top of the rarity in the design, you can also add things like inlays or other custom elements that make it even more rare. Among ring styles, this is about as interesting and rare as you can possibly get for a wedding ring.
See Also: Where to Buy Ring Making Supplies
People Will Ask a Lot of Questions
I love sharing woodworking with people. That is why I have a website, and why I am approaching half a million words published for free that anyone can enjoy. This is a passion of mine, and like most passionate people, I can’t shut up about it.
My wooden ring is a conversation starter, and that allows me to share my love of woodworking with many more people. I am asked several times a week about my ring. People see it, and they instantly ask all kinds of questions about it.
When this happens, I gladly take off my ring, and hand it to them to take a look. They are often times surprised that there is a metal band inside, and then I tell them all about how it’s made. It’s a fun conversation every time, and it opens the door to sales as well.
See Also: Ring Making for Beginners
Wood is a More Traditional Material
Metal is a relatively new material when compared to wood. Humans have been making things from wood since the discovery of tools. Once the first tree fell down, that was all it took for humans to fall in love with making things from wood.
Without sounding too weird, because unless you work with wood as your medium you will not understand, wood just makes me feel better than metal. There is something about working with a material that came from the earth and grew up from the ground that makes me happy.
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Some people like stone, others metal, and others clay. I like working with wood, and feel a strong connection to the substance when I work. It’s like I am connected to the millions of other woodworkers in the past, because we are all using the same medium to create.
See Also: Roughing out Your Ring Blank – Ring Making Tips
Full Control Over the Weight
The weight of a wedding ring is something that is very personal for most people, and what feels good to one person will not feel good to another. Some like the feel of a heavy ring, and some like a light ring. Nobody is wrong, and when you make your own you can choose.
Some people really like a heavy piece of jewelry. Things that are small and heavy tend to be expensive, so a small ring with a heavy weight feels high end to some people. If you like a heavier ring, choose gold or another weighty metal.
Others like light rings, and that’s because they don’t like the feeling of a heavy ring pulling on their finger. My ring is made from titanium, which is very light. I didn’t necessarily feel like I needed a light ring, I just bought a titanium band and it made me happy so I used it.
See Also: Grain Direction For Ring Making
Fully Control Every Aspect of the Design
Another thing that making your own wedding ring will give you is full control over every aspect of the design. In most buying situations, you will settle for something in order to get different things. With a fully custom wooden wedding ring, you settle for nothing.
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The reason you do not have to settle is because you control the entire build. If you want a light color, do it. If you want a heavy metal core, do that too. Literally everything about the project is under your full control, and you do not have to settle for anything.
Think about that for a second. You do not have to settle for anything. Make your own ring, and you will be able to choose every design aspect, material, and construction method. This is one of my favorite parts, because you build what you want rather than choose from something that someone else made and hope to get most of what you want.
See Also: 5 Great Woods For Ring Making
Wooden Rings are Easy to Repair
Another thing that I really like about wooden rings is the ease in repair. My wedding ring is buffed on a buffing wheel with compounds to bring out the shine. It’s then buffed with carnauba wax to coat the surface and bring out a little more shine. Repairing the sheen is super easy, and only takes seconds.
Any time I need to restore the sheen, a light buffing on the wheel restores it. Later on, I can do the same thing again if needed, and it never hurts the ring. It actually takes me longer to get my ring and go into the shop than it does to restore the gloss.
On a deep scratch, it can take a little longer, but it’s still easy. Simply sand out the scratch, then buff with compounds again before buffing with wax. I have the Beall Buffing System, which you can learn more about through the link. There is a video too so you can really see what it does. I wish I did not wait as long as I did to buy this awesome tool.
See Also: 7 Beautiful Types of Wood For Ring Making
Traditional Rings are Not My Style
My style has always been different. Traditional rings were never for me, and I always knew that I would not have something that was a common item. This is not because of any wanting to be an original or anything, I just have a weird taste in things, and if not a wooden ring I would have probably ended up with something different either way.
A wooden ring as a woodworker always made sense to me. However, it took a while for me to figure out that I could put metal inside the ring. Once I did that, I knew that a wooden ring with a metal core was perfect for me to call my wedding ring for the rest of my life.
This is a lot better than some of the rings I was looking at in the beginning, and much more consistent with my hobbies and interests. It’s also something I really love, which makes it much easier to wear it all the time, because I enjoy it.
See Also: How to Make a Wood and Copper Ring from a Pipe Fitting
It Allowed Me to Give More to My Wife
Traditional rings are expensive. Even modest offerings are still expensive when compared to wooden rings. One interesting thing that my wedding ring allowed me to do was give more to my wife in her wedding ring.
My wife is awesome, but I do not think she would wear a wooden ring. Not knowing much about rings, I had no idea that we would need a band and a ring, and the band was about the same price as a regular mens gold ring. I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, but that actually kind of broke me even.
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Had I bought a ring for myself for a few hundred dollars, adding in the wedding band on top of my wife’s ring would have set me back farther. Making my ring from wood, I saved a few hundred dollars, which I ended up needing for her band.
See Also: How to Make a Wood and Epoxy Ring with Inlace Nuggets
Less Worry About Damaging the Ring
One of the nice things about my ring is that I really don’t worry about damaging it. I can fix it so easily, and it’s so inexpensive that I just wear it how I like and I don’t worry about it. This is something that would not be possible with a traditional ring, at least for me.
There are some people that can beat the crap out of their wedding bands and they don’t care. I am definitely not one of those people. I would feel like I had a few hundred dollars in my hand everywhere I went, and it would affect the way I use my hands.
Being a woodworker, I was really concerned that I would have a ring that I did not have to take off all the time. When working with machinery I always take it off as a safety issue, but in general I like to keep it on while I am doing other tasks.
See Also: Inlay Materials For Ring Making
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Wooden Rings are Easy to Replace
It sounds bad to say, but the last benefit for making your own wedding ring is that you can replace it easily without taking much of a financial hit. While everyone hopes that they keep their original ring until the day they die, sometimes you lose it, have it stolen, or damage it beyond repair.
If this were to happen to my ring, I could spend a few hours in the shop and have a new one without it costing very much at all. I could even make it identical to the last one, nearly to the point where I would be the only one who could tell that it was replaced.
Again, without advocating lying, I could literally replace my ring if I lost it, and nobody would ever know unless I told them. This is a good thing, because if something were to happen, I would be able to get my ring back without a huge price tag or a long process.
See Also: 25 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Making Wooden Rings
An Exclusive Group
If you want to be in an exclusive club with a very small member count, making your own ring will do that for you. There are a very small handful of people in the world that have made their own wedding ring.
I am very proud that I made my own ring, and you will be too. It’s a challenge, but you can do it. All you need to do is remain persistent, and keep on working on your ring until it is finished. Stopping too soon will make the ting look bad, but you have control over that.
When you finish your ring, you will immediately be a part of a very small group of people in the world that have done the same thing. In fact, if you do make your own wedding ring, I would love to hear about it, because as of now I am the only person I know of that’s done it.
Your Homework
Not everyone is ready to make their own wooden wedding ring. I absolutely understand that, but you are getting a homework assignment either way. If you are not about to make a new ring, or make a wooden ring for yourself, you still have some options.
Wooden rings with precious metal cores are a very nice item. You can make and sell a few of these, and you might find that you enjoy making them. There are people that may not be able to afford a traditional ring, and you can still make them something beautiful.
Make a metal core ring, and you will end up making more. They are an awesome combination of strength and beauty, and have a quality feel to them. Give a wood and metal ring a try, you will not be disappointed.
17 Awesome Reasons Why I Made My Own Wedding Ring Wrap-Up
I made my own wedding ring years ago, and I am so glad that I did. There are a ton of great reasons to make your own wedding ring, and it will become a family treasure that has so much more value than anything you could purchase.
A wedding ring is more about the promise than the materials, at least that is the way it should be. My ring is nearly worthless when you value it based on its parts. However, the value that it gives me is far more.
If you are not about to throw your wedding ring in the trash, I get it. You can still make wood and metal rings for your friends, or for sale. They are very high quality, and they combine the strength of metal with the beauty of wood.
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- More than 20 Years Woodworking Experience
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