Titanium: The DEFINITIVE GUIDE to its use in Jewellery Making
Titanium is a metallic element discovered in Cornwall in 1791, no one back then would have realised its potential in the making of jewellery. In fact, it wasn't until after one hundred years later that man was even able to mine titanium successfully. Incidentally, meteorites and moon rocks brought back from the Apollo moon landings contain titanium.
So what is titanium?
In its pure form, titanium is a grey metal that needs to be alloyed with other metals to create the well-known metal that we use today for the making of our titanium wedding rings for example. Because of its makeup, titanium can be used to make alloys for our modern-day technological age, but its use for jewellery is entirely new. Titanium has its applications in many other fields and none more so than in medicine, due to its anti-corrosive and hypoallergenic properties. Successful implants into patients requiring prosthetics, such as hip replacements are one such example. It is also an engineers dream due to the fact it has incredible strength, perfect for creating tools and parts for the modern engineering industry. It is has been used in space exploration as parts for rockets and also the space shuttle. So titanium indeed is a space-age metal.
The making of titanium rings and jewellery
It does look quite dull if it is not finished correctly for jewellery and these days we use modern technology and the correct machinery. Specialist industrial polishing machines are used to complete the rings so that they look shiny and smooth. The titanium rings on our site are all crafted and finished this way, so they shine and possess a sheen that therefore reflects a quality that some imports don't own.
Titanium rings make fantastic wedding rings and titanium engagement rings when finished in one of two different styles, satin or polished. We call this a twin or two-tone finish that consists of a polished section or stripe. The bright part looks like a silver inlay, but in fact, it is just titanium through and through. Our designers are very experienced in machining titanium for wedding rings, and this allows absolute accuracy when combining titanium with precious metals or materials to create beautiful silver, gold or wood inlaid titanium rings which are found in our wooden wedding rings category.
As we mentioned above it is hypoallergenic, so the making of jewellery using titanium comes into its own with these properties. People who usually have skin reactions from wearing silver or gold can wear titanium safe in the knowledge that they won't suffer from any discomfort, especially if it is a wedding ring worn all the time.
Titanium just can't be beaten when it comes to diamond setting. Diamonds can be tension set in titanium due to its incredible strength. The titanium used for this is known as aircraft grade titanium, a grade of titanium used for such purposes as the manufacture of aeroplane parts. While gold or silver it too soft for tension setting, titanium is robust enough to hold a diamond in place. Setting diamonds and inlaying gold or silver into a titanium ring is harder to do than with a gold or silver ring due to its strength. Again, we use specialist industrial tools and machinery for these processes.
Another of the reasons that titanium makes such a superb metal of choice for creating jewellery and rings is its excellent properties for surface finishes including glossy satin finishes as well as shiny polished surfaces. As briefly indicated above, combine the two for a unique titanium ring that looks a whole lot more than it is worth. The rings boast both a satin and a polished surface finish that gives the impression of a valuable precious metal inlay. Titanium rings, therefore, make excellent wedding ring sets at more affordable prices.
Titanium is the best choice for men
Titanium has become an increasingly popular metal to create men's jewellery too, due to its masculine image used throughout the fashion industry. It is the jewellery of choice for many men also because of its durability for everyday wear. While precious metals such as silver or gold can deteriorate badly; titanium will last. It will scratch, however, but not wear away in the style that silver does for instance. Our silver inlaid titanium wedding ring is now one of our most favourite custom wedding rings. The titanium surrounds the silver to protect it from everyday wear.
Once completed our titanium rings will last you a lifetime and look great when finished correctly such as the example of our gold inlaid titanium and diamond wedding ring with a wire-brushed finish. Titanium has become such a useful metal of choice in our technological age, and as we have discussed, when it was first successfully mined in the nineteenth century its properties weren't fully realised. It is only in quite recent history that the engineering world discovered its unusual uses and in today's jewellery world, engineers are the only craftspeople that can work with titanium due to its nature. It has been utilised for such a broad range of uses and now also for jewellery making, meaning that it has become one of the definitive metals of our modern age.
Additional reading
Can Titanium Rings Be Resized? The BEST Information & Advice EVER
