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David S. Diamonds home of the Solasfera cut.  It’s been nearly a year since I dropped a truckload of cash with this jeweler for Ivana’s engagement ring, so we decided to pay them a visit for her wedding band (they make a matched pair for the Solasfera setting).  The thing about David and his staff, not only are they just about the nicest people you’d ever have the pleasure of meeting in the diamond district, but they have so many toys to play with (and you know how boys like toys) that you can’t help but have fun on any visit there.

The photos below show Amy setting up a Solasfera in a hearts and arrows viewer so you can see the symmetry you get with a perfectly cut diamond.  We’ll be stopping by one more time to get her engagement ring polished before the wedding but this certainly won’t be our last visit to one of NYC’s friendliest diamond shops.

Why should the girls have all the fun?  Guys can be creative too right?  Truth be told, with a few exceptions, I’m practically incapable of owning nice things.  They either get lost, mangled, or both… I have very active hands, and little regard for the safety of things like…rings…I have 3 in particular, one given to me by my wifey-to-be, and two others from my bachelor days.  Thrashed to hell from years of bang my hands around in places hands (let alone rings) have no business being in.

And I want my wedding ring to end up like that?  No.  There’s gotta be something out there that’s like scratch resistant, nice to look at, AND inexpensive – 3 words of which are typically used mutually exclusively.

Well it turns out there actually was something out there for me, and I have to thank my buddy Mark for keying me into them.  Tungsten rings.  The first thing you notice about these rings is the weight, this metal’s easily 3x heavier than any of it’s precious metal cousins, but what I didn’t know was that if you mix it with other not so precious metals, you get a metal that’s malleable enough to be formed (tungsten in its native form is brittle), has luster, and super super super super (did I mention super?) strong.

Now, I’m fascinated by all things Japanese, so when I found out that ringsmiths were putting inlays in rings that were based on japanese sword making techniques, oh hell I just HAD to have THAT!  Which brings me to the Mokume Gane series and ultimately, my new precccccious.

My polished tungsten Mokume Gane straddling her platinum Solasfera (no that wasn’t on purpose!)

All that “the googling” finally paid off…A ring that’s tough as nails, with japanese sword inlays, mixed in with material that you find in the space shuttle…You can see more options at tungstenworld.com HERE

I should also mention that I got incredible service from tungstenworld.  They have a process they encourage you to do to ensure that your ring size is as close to accurate as possible.  I got my ring finger sized by a jeweler and sent that measurement when I ordered my ring.  Unfortunately due to the convex nature of the inside of the band, there’s actually a little more room in there than I had planned for, so I returned the ring and requested one 1/4 size smaller.  The replacement ring came back in less than 2 weeks and I was up and running for the wedding :)