CAN YOU MAKE A WIDE BAND THINNER?

Most people don’t realize this, but you can take a wide, thick wedding band and actually shave off the sides of it and make it thinner.

Thinner?

I have women do this with wide gold bands all the time. They come in with a 10mm wide gold plain band and ask if it can be cut down and thinned out to 6mm wide instead.

Yes, Yes, it can.

It’s not even a big deal either.

The jewelers literally take a saw and cut the band. Shave away the gold. File it smooth. And polish it up so it looks brand new again.

Easy as that.

Not only can they thin out a wider band, but they can taper the band down as well. They file away the gold to a nice tapered look so it not only looks better, but feels better on the finger.

They can also cut away bands with designs and engravings in them as well, but those are a little bit trickier to make look good. All in all, they try to do a great job.

You’d be amazed at how good they turn out…

When you get into rings that have diamonds or gemstones set in them, you can run into plenty of problems though.

Jewelers have to be very careful when working on these. They can thin out the shanks on diamond rings, but they don’t want to harm the structure or integrity of the mounting while doing so. It’s always an iffy situation. To weaken the ring in the process, kind of defeats the purpose of making the ring more wearable.

It’s not comfortable:

I’ve not only had people want their rings thinned out, but they’ve also wanted the thickness of the ring taken down as well (like comfort-fit bands). Some rings are just too thick and hurt the fingers (ever shook someone’s hand when you had a thick ring on? Ouch! That smarts). A lot of people get these whittled down so they feel more comfortable on their hands. Not a problem.

People have also asked jewelers to thin out prongs also. This is always a touchy subject, because the prongs are what hold in your diamonds and gems.

Some people are very picky, and don’t like it when the prongs overpower their stones. They not only have us thin out the prongs, but also to take down their height as well. It’s a crazy thing (some just don’t like the looks of them).

But it is the customer’s preference…

Better get out the saw blade!

The truth of the matter is, jewelry is a work of art. It’s an individual showpiece. People have strong ideas about what they like and dislike. Thick rings, thin rings, tall prongs, short heads… Jewelers do everything they can with gold to accommodate a customer’s wishes and desires.

But if it looks like it will harm the ring or mounting, or if it can weaken the structure or support of the ring, jewelers simply won’t attempt it. They’ll turn the job down. It’s not worth it.

They’ll advise something else, like trading the ring in for something you prefer better.

Ultimately, it all comes down to you.

If you want to saw off parts of your band, bring it in.

If you want your prongs lowered, or the shank tapered, we’ll do that as well.

It’s your ring. It’s your finger.

As long as you pay for it, it makes no difference to us.

But if it makes you wear the ring more, and it makes you happy at the same time, then it’s totally worth the operation.

Cheers! :)