Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I polish my titanium ring myself?
A: Yes. There are many polishes on the market for stainless steels in either
liquid or waxy form that work well on titanium. These can be found in the automotive departments of
many chain stores. They can be worked by hand with a cloth, or to
speed things up, you can use a Dremel tool with a cotton polishing buff. Just apply the
polish to the buff and go to it. If there are heavier scratches, it might take a light
sanding with super fine wet sanding paper like 600 grit. For Brushed finishes, all that's
necessary is to buff along the grain lines with a ScotchBrite pad. These are the scruffy
pads used for pots and pans. This will bring the ring to as new condition any time. Also,
don't forget my lifetime refinishing policy, where I'll do it any time you want as well.
Q: What do the different finishes look like?
A: Here's a
LINK to the finishes available.
Q: How can I add Costs that are not on the orderforms?
A: You can go to THIS PAGE. You are able to input any extra amount there for things such as precious
stones or custom work. It will show up in your Jewelry Box (shopping cart) like a normal item.
This can be used for return shipping on a resized or reworked ring as well.
You would leave the total at zero and proceed to check out. Shipping
options are picked after the customer information is filled out.
- Q: I am allergic to gold. Will titanium
be better on my skin?
- A: Yes, titanium is more inert than most metals. People with reactions
to gold will have no reaction to titanium.
- Q: You use 6Al4V titanium. What
is it and what about the other grades I've been hearing about?
- A: The 6Al4V titanium is an alloy with 6% Aluminum and 4% Vanadium added
for strength. The alloy is used extensively in aerospace. Pure titanium,
also called Ti999 or Commercially Pure Titanium is relatively soft. It
makes for good hip joint implants, but will not stand up as well as 6/4
in a ring. The other common alloy, 6/6/2 contains tin. There are a lot
of different alloys containing tin coming from old Russian subs. The tin
tends to make the metal "gummy" to machine, and it doesn't finish
as well. I use an 8-1-1 alloy for my upgraded rings, which contains Aluminum,
Vanadium, and Molybdenum. It has the upgraded strength without the tin.
- Q: What is Pay Pal and how does
- A: Pay Pal is an internet money transfer service. You simply sign up
with them (open an account) and they can transfer money from your credit
card to my Pay Pal account (which is the same as my E-mail address.) The
money is transferred instantly and there are no transaction fees. It is usually
used by people with online auctions. Pay Pal uses the float in the money
to invest just like banks do. When you consider that most people might
have a few hundred dollars in their account, and there are millions of
customers, you can see that it's a pretty solid investment. I've had no
problem with it other than a new customer has a credit limit until
their E-mail and address can be confirmed. To sign up, just go to PayPal.com.
- Q: What about cutting off a titanium
or tungsten carbide in case of an accident?
- A: The very first thing I did when I started making titanium rings is cut
them off of my own finger by different methods. Titanium is about as hard
as stainless steel, so things that cut steel such as a hacksaw or Dremel tool can
be used. Titanium has a reputation of being stronger than steel. It's not
necessarily so. It's the high strength to weight ratio that is the reason
it is used in aerospace applications. I've had a customer that did have
to get one cut off. They were able to remove it without a problem, and
she ordered another titanium ring! Tungsten Carbide rings are so hard
that they cannot be cut, but they are made from powder, so they are relatively
fragile like ceramic, and can be cracked off by squeezing them in a vise or
- Q: Can you do engraving?
- A: Yes, I can do inside ring engraving. I have a computerized engraving machine, so I
am able to do different fonts and can scale them to fit. A general rule
of thumb is to use a maximum of around 30 characters to keep the letters large
enough to read well. Here's a
LINK to the fonts available.
- Q: Can the ring be resized?
- A: Because of the harder material, stretching titanium rings is a lot
gold, but it can be done. I am able to stretch most rings or machine a slight amount of material out of a
ring to increase it's size about 1/4 to a half size. I can go down in size
on some, but not all rings. Sometimes it
would take making another ring. If you get your ring and find that it doesn't
fit, in most cases, you can send it back with a few bucks for return shipping and I'll take care
of it. We don't keep your credit card information on file, so you can
use this LINK
to pay. There are some rings that cannot be resized, in which case a new
ring would have to be made and the remake fee of 20% or 35% for precious metal
inlays would apply. These include black zirconium ones that cannot be
sized down, or ones with inlays, Mokumanium rings can go up but not down,
lasered in design rings, and some tension sets.
- Q: Can you do a comfort fit?
- A: Yes, a comfort fit, where the inner corners are rounded an extra
amount is available at no extra charge. Most rings come that way unless
a straight fit is specified.
- Q: What stones are available?
- A: I can do synthetic stones in any of the 12 birthstones which would
be included in the tension setting costs, or I could do genuine stones,
including diamonds. An additional cost of $5 to more than $120 is a good
ballpark for gemstones, depending on
the stone and size you want. Diamonds go from a few hundred to several
thousand dollars. Just give me as much info on size, quality, color, and
pricing guidelines as you can. I can help find the stone you are looking
for. They can be paid for
HERE. The synthetic
stones are of very good quality and I personally can't tell the difference
between those and genuine ones by looking.
- Q: Why are your prices so much
lower than the other guys? Surely the quality can't be the same.
- A: It's all about the equipment. My "secret" is that I own
some very expensive computer controlled machines that make the rings. I wrote
special parametric programs where I can feed them size, width, style,
and thickness information, and it will produce a perfect ring the first
time. While I still have to finish it by hand, the other guys likely do
the entire ring by hand significantly adding to the cost. When you buy
a titanium ring, you don't pay for the material, (it's about $60/pound
versus $1750/ounce for gold) you pay for the time it takes to make it. I
have a huge advantage over the other guys in my machines and my programming.
I also don't have the overhead of professional website services, expensive buildings, staff or other things
guys pay for. My quality is second to none.
- Q: How are the rings made? Can
you do fancy stuff like bows or like a class ring?
- A: Unlike gold rings, which are often cast into fancy shapes, these
rings are all machined from solid billet. This limits the possibilities
to shapes that are the same profile all the way around (turned shapes),
contours that are milled from above such as the Offset Flat Tension Setting,
or milled from above with radius cutters such as the Omega rings. I can
also do fourth axis designs such the Lines style and the Facets style where
a computer controlled rotary table rotates beneath a milling cutter. The
possibilities grow when the ring can rotate as the cutter cuts simultaneously.
- Q: Do you do inlays?
- A: Yes, I can do inlays in gold, silver, platinum, rose gold, white gold,
and Mokume materials both into titanium, cobalt chrome, and Mokumanium rings. I am constantly working to come up with new styles (in my
"spare" time), so if you don't see what you would like on the site yet, let me
know, and I can work with you.
- Q: What's the best way to ship
- A: There are several methods that are tracked and insured such as Express
Mail, FedEx, and UPS, as well as registered
and insured mail. It's best to send it to my personal attention: Bruce
T. Boone rather than Boone Titanium Rings, and ship in a completely taped box
that can stand up to crushing. Please include your name and address on
the inside as well as the outside of the box. Diamonds should be SI1
clarity or better.
- Q: What is the true color of titanium
- A: The pictures of the rings vary slightly as to the color of titanium. This is based
on digital camera settings and is not a factor of the titanium itself. The pictures were
taken in a photographic dome, so they reflect the white walls. One of the
closest true to color pictures looks to be Wiiideone in the Signature Series.
The titanium is slightly darker than white gold and platinum. It might
best be thought of as a chromium toaster's color or the same as a stainless
steel refrigerator. Mokumanium is exactly
the same color as the titanium. You can't tell a difference by looking,
although you can certainly feel the difference in weight.