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Comment by dvaun | Hacker News Reader

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dvaun

> They have the mean tendecy to explode into super sharp pieces when you're not expecting it, so wear goggles.

Well, I guess I need to buy a new wedding ring at some point.

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Your marriage yields the equivalent of 1000t pressure stress on your wedding ring?

Mine does

Mine did

I accidentally dropped my tungsten carbide wedding band on my kitchen tile floor. Now, I have 4 shattered pieces of tungsten carbide sitting in a box on my desk.

Sounds like the start to an epic quest.

The four shards must be reunited for the prophecy to be fulfilled!

Given that my wedding ring is permanently egg shaped due to some impact that I don't even remember, I'll stick with gold.

Sounds like a good night!

Mine too, but mine got deformed when I held my fingers behind a plank I was mounting to a concrete wall using a power screw driver, and didn't engage my brain safety-wise.

i read something about a guy shattering his tungsten wedding band on his wedding night, after deciding that slapping his hands on concrete was how you're supposed to dance.

professional advice: don't use an exotic metal for your wedding band. some fire departments can't cut it if your ring finger swells up.

Easy enough to cut the finger off and reattach later. Seriously that's what they do.

Tungsten (carbide) ring wearer here: I've looked into this and supposedly they're easy enough to crack.

Lucky for me, I bought mine for ~$30 on eBay and it's always been a bit too big for me. If my finger only swells a bit, it could probably still come off.

Or you could just not wear rings at all. I'm an EMT and the only trauma injury that gives me the creeps is degloving. Happens e.g. when somebody falls off a ladder and their ring gets caught on a nail on the way down. Don't google it.

Or wear a silicone one. They are cheap to replace and (in theory) will break if they catch on something. I have a couple from SafeRingz[1] (not affiliated), but there are plenty of cheaper ones on Amazon.

[1]: https://www.saferingz.com/

> the only trauma injury that gives me the creeps is degloving

I worked with a guy who was missing most of his ring finger. I asked him about it one day at lunch. I regretted it.

Specially maxillofacial degloving. But modern surgery is amazing.

Thats the reason I never wore any rings or necklace, or co.

You never know, when you suddenly need to move fast.

There was a scene in The Fountain where the guy ends up tattooing himself a wedding band after losing his wedding ring.

Many years ago I was told about a British Post Office training film from the days when they were responsible for the telephone system.

A technician climbed a telegraph pole without proper equipment and wearing a ring. He and slipped and tore off the finger wearing the ring. The way it was described to me was horrific, the tendons were pulled out of his hand as well.

I've never seen it so I don't know for sure if it really was like that but the description alone was sufficient for me and I always remove my rings when doing anything like that.

Yeah I have this about scarves ever since I read about how Isadora Duncan died.

I have a very cool ring made of tungsten carbide and carbon fiber. But I stopped wearing it precisely because of hearing stories like this.

Apparently you can shatter tungsten rings with a strong pair of locking pliers. See this amazing medical journal article in which "the Internet was consulted which led to a YouTube video": https://www.hindawi.com/journals/criem/2016/8164524/

I have heard claims that they are actually safer since if you take a hit, a metal ring could squeeze your finger while a WC ring will shatter instead.

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