Engraving tungsten carbide wedding band rings

When you want to enhance the sentiment of your love and commemorate your marriage in a unique way, engraving your wedding band rings rules supreme. Today more couples are returning to the tradition of personalizing their wedding band rings by engraving their names and the date of their marriage engraved inside.

When you select wedding band rings made of gold, silver or platinum, a traditional engraving machine is used for etching your information into the ring. But the introduction of tungsten wedding band rings is offering couples another option for lasting beauty and elegant style. Unfortunately, the traditional engraving method cannot be used on these rings because the hardness of the metal exceeds its etching ability.

Mohs Scale

Most precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum have ratings of under 5 on the Mohs Scale, which has a maximum of 10. This scale essentially compares materials by scratching one to another and rates them according to the hardness. Therefore, anything with rating of 9 can scratch materials of ratings under 9.

On the other hand, a material of rating of 10 can scratch a material of 9, but not vice versa. Since the etching head of traditional engraving machines use are made from steel, which has a Mohs Scale rating of 7, they cannot scratch tungsten carbide rings, because they have a rating of 9.

Engraving with Diamonds

For metals that exceed the capability of traditional methods, there are new engraving machines equipped with diamond heads. Diamonds have the highest rating of 10 under the Mohs Scale and thus, diamond engraving machines are able to engrave tungsten rings.

However, your choice of fonts with diamond engraving machines is very limited: they are restricted to only very thin lines, not bolder fonts. In addition to it being very hard it’s also very brittle and it’s possible that the metal could be damaged from contact with the diamond head of the engraving machine.

Laser Engraving

To preserve the beauty and integrity of your ring, the best way of engraving tungsten wedding band rings is with a laser. For laser engraving the text is first created and programmed in the machine’s computer system for the tungsten ring to be engraved.

Using this method also expands your design options: laser machines have the capacity to create engraving with fonts of any style, even with pictures. Furthermore, these rings will not chip or break when being engraved by a laser machine, producing an extremely smooth and precise result.

Your wedding bands are the lifelong symbols of your love, marriage and commitment. Tungsten carbide wedding band rings are an excellent choice when you want both durability and style. Engraving can make these wedding rings truly special, however you need to choose the engraving service for your rings with care and be sure you know which method will be used to engrave them.