Plated Rings: Why They Are a Bad Idea
When looking for a wedding ring, one of the biggest factors influencing your decision is the price of the ring. Most people tend to go with the cheaper option which usually results in a ring with worse quality. Weddings involve tremendous expenses, from renting venues, arranging food, purchasing a wedding dress, and more. Because of this, it's easy to yield to temptation and purchase a ring of lesser quality to save money while retaining a refined look. In these cases, people often purchase a plated ring.
On the surface, these rings seem like a viable men's wedding ring choice. However, the truth is plated wedding rings lead to more problems than they solve. What kind of problems, you ask? To find that out, you'll have to read on!
What is a Plated Ring?
If you're not entirely familiar with wedding bands, you may be wondering what exactly is a plated ring? A plated ring is a ring made out of a cheap alternative metal such as tungsten. Tungsten is great because of its affordability and durability, it stands the test of time and makes for a great wedding band material. The only downside to tungsten is its color. When polished, tungsten can look like a bright silver ring, but that is pretty much it. It lacks the luster of other more expensive materials like gold. To combat this, jewelers will plate tungsten to look like a typical rose gold or yellow gold ring. The result is something that looks pretty much identical to a typical gold ring! Tungsten and gold is just one example of metal plating in jewelry (black tungsten is quite popular) and you may be wondering, why wouldn't you just go for a gold plated ring since it's a much cheaper alternative? We're here to tell you the dangers of plated rings and why you should try to avoid them at all costs.
If you're not entirely familiar with wedding bands, you may be wondering what exactly is a plated ring? A plated ring is a ring made out of a cheap alternative metal such as tungsten. Tungsten is great because of its affordability and durability, it stands the test of time and makes for a great wedding band material. The only downside to tungsten is its color. When polished, tungsten can look like a bright silver ring, but that is pretty much it. It lacks the luster of other more expensive materials like gold. To combat this, jewelers will plate tungsten to look like a typical rose gold or yellow gold ring. The result is something that looks pretty much identical to a typical gold ring! Tungsten and gold is just one example of metal plating in jewelry (black tungsten is quite popular) and you may be wondering, why wouldn't you just go for a gold plated ring since it's a much cheaper alternative? We're here to tell you the dangers of plated rings and why you should try to avoid them at all costs.
The Dangers of a Plated Ring
When you're browsing online at places such as Amazon, you'll often see terms like "gold plated" or "gold filled"used to describe the ring. This means that the ring's base is likely tungsten or stainless steel. While these aren't poor metals in themselves, they're not up to par with gold. So, how do these rings get the same look as a standard ring?
Typically, designers accomplish this by coating the ring in a thin layer of gold. Now, because that gold is the most visible element, it looks just like a gold ring to the untrained eye. Unlike gold rings, though, these alternatives are much cheaper to produce, especially on a wide scale. If you ever see a ring that looks like it's made from gold but is extremely affordable, then it is likely plated gold and not solid. While this may sound amazing on paper because you get the best of both worlds - durability and affordability without having to worry about maintaining a solid gold ring, problems will quickly arise.
Fading
The chief problem with a plated ring is that the gold layer will inevitably fade. Depending on the maker of the ring, this fading could occur over months. Often though, it will only take weeks. This goes for painted gold plated and gold filled alternatives.
Gradual wear and tear on the ring's surface will cause the ring to fade. This fading accelerates through water exposure. Once the plating begins to fade, it will reveal the base metal underneath and you'll be left with a ring that looks nothing like the original one you ordered. Luckily, most jewelers who sell plated rings are wholesalers from China that will let you replace your ring when it inevitably fades. These sellers do not care if they have to replace your ring for free every few months because of their mass-producers with incredibly high margins. Still, you don't want to have to replace your wedding band every few months because you cheaped out for a ring of lesser quality.
Polishing
If you buy a plated ring, understand that it's impossible to polish it without wearing down the filament. This filling is especially vulnerable to high-power polishing machines. These machines remove the entire layer of gold within seconds. This also means if your plated ring dulls over time and you want to touch it up, you cannot polish it without altering the overall look of the ring.
Alternatives
Other types of plating exist beyond gold-plating. One example of a popular plating is Black Tungsten, which you see in a lot of fashionable rings for men. Instead of buying a black Tungsten ring, you can purchase a Black Ceramic Ring. Ceramic shares many of the same qualities as tungsten. It's durable, scratch-resistant, and affordable. However, ceramic is not plated and is far superior to black tungsten because of the problems with plated rings that we discussed above.
Other types of plating exist beyond gold-plating. One example of a popular plating is Black Tungsten, which you see in a lot of fashionable rings for men. Instead of buying a black Tungsten ring, you can purchase a Black Ceramic Ring. Ceramic shares many of the same qualities as tungsten. It's durable, scratch-resistant, and affordable. However, ceramic is not plated and is far superior to black tungsten because of the problems with plated rings that we discussed above.