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world gathers for metal finishing
Q&As since 1989


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Want personally designed platinum rings

I am very interested in finding the perfect ring for my soon to be husband and platinum seems to be the metal I am most impressed with. I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find a good place to design platinum rings of our own at a reasonable price?

Sondi Stewart
- Albany, Oregon, United States
2003

Platinum is expensive compared to gold, so reasonable is a very relative term. The only answer is to shop long and hard, then hope.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2003

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2003

Sondi,

Albany Oregon is the US center for expertise in refractory metals like niobium- which may change your mind about platinum. Niobium would be far stronger than platinum, and can be colored by anodizing. It also has a "unique" status, in that it is uncommon for wedding rings, since few people can fabricate it well. Metal Technology (formerly B-J Enterprises) is one of the firms that would be worth a local phone call.

Lee Gearhart
metallurgist - E. Aurora, New York

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You might want to look into PMC (Precious Metal Clay). I know that you can buy platinum PMC.

PMC is a soft clay that contains zillions of little pieces of precious metal held together by an organic binder (sorry for so much technical jargon). After it is shaped like you want it, it is fired in a kiln to burn off the clay and melt the metal, and the result is (hopefully) a silver/gold/platinum piece that looks like your sculpted clay. Only smaller; the whole thing shrinks about 30%, I think, during the firing.

There's also liquid PMC that can (for example) be poured onto a leaf or pine cone or something and fired, burning off the organic material and leaving the metal.

I've seen people offering classes on how to make rings using PMC, so I'm pretty sure that it's possible. And the medium allows you to make extremely detailed designs.

Happy marriage to you! I hope that you find exactly what you want...in the ring and in your mate.

Greg McAlpin
- Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
2003

Question for Greg McAlpin: you gave someone advice on pmc saying you can buy platinum - where can you obtain platinum pmc?

Sabra D. Hardy
home mom - NYC, USA
2006