Koa, Walnut, ?? Ring for my wife

[sschering]

My wife has grown allergic to her gold ring and has been eyeing wood rings on Ebay.. Well I couldn't let that happen. Challenge accepted..

This one has a curly koa center, walnut sapwood veneer then mystery wood for the outer edges. each layer has the grain rotated 45 deg to give grain some strength.

This was the 3rd attempt. The first 2 broke. A wicked sharp skew did the trick

I don't know what the outer wood is but the grain runs with the ring. not across. It just has some great banding running across the grain that give it that appearance.

It's finished with a few coats of True-oil..

Now the kicker.. it's too small! I have another blank glued up for another try tomorrow but this time Koa on the out side and the ?? inside.

 

[Curly]

Looks good but a touch fragile. Is it?

The BangleGuy has SS and Ti ring cores you put wood around. Maybe the answer to your wife's problem.

You could always go with a Boone Ring in titanium. Marla has 3 now and loves them all. He is a great guy to work with and might be able to take the stone from her gold ring and set it in a similar titanium one, assuming it has a stone in it. :wink:

 

[Band Saw Box]

Even though it doesn't fit you did a fantastic job, it look great.

 

[Martin G]

Nice work! I bought some ring cores from The Bangle Guy to make a ring for my wife. She is sensitive to metals too though gold doesn't bother her. I bought the stainless cores. I've never done a ring before but I'm going to try stabilized mesquite burl.
If you have problems with the ring cracking you may want to try using stabilized wood too.

 

[USNR'03]

My wife has grown allergic to her gold ring and has been eyeing wood rings on Ebay.. Well I couldn't let that happen. Challenge accepted..

This one has a curly koa center, walnut sapwood veneer then mystery wood for the outer edges. each layer has the grain rotated 45 deg to give grain some strength.

This was the 3rd attempt. The first 2 broke. A wicked sharp skew did the trick

I don't know what the outer wood is but the grain runs with the ring. not across. It just has some great banding running across the grain that give it that appearance.

It's finished with a few coats of True-oil..

Now the kicker.. it's too small! I have another blank glued up for another try tomorrow but this time Koa on the out side and the ?? inside.

how much too small? Can you sand it? or atleast use it on another finger?

 

[sschering]

It's just a little to small. It would be a little lose as a pinkey ring.

I don't think I can go much thinner with it..

The next one I'll be sure to size it correctly before I start turning the blank down.

I think it should hold up.. I make the blank with 5 plys. Each layer has the grain turned 45° from the last so all the end grain has some support from a crossing grain.

I think I have identified my unknown wood as Lacewood.
They are all fairly hard woods so I hope it isn't to fragile. I'm not about to give it a stress test.

 

[sschering]

Looks good but a touch fragile. Is it?

The BangleGuy has SS and Ti ring cores you put wood around. Maybe the answer to your wife's problem.

You could always go with a Boone Ring in titanium. Marla has 3 now and loves them all. He is a great guy to work with and might be able to take the stone from her gold ring and set it in a similar titanium one, assuming it has a stone in it. :wink:

I've been looking at his stuff.. If this proves to not hold up I'll try one of his Ti blanks.