Men's wedding rings advice (Part 4)

4.Which metal is best for men's wedding rings

The metals that can be used to make modern men's wedding bands include gold, titanium, platinum and silver. The information below will help you choose the metal to use for your wedding ring.

• Gold
• Titanium
• Platinum
• Tungsten
• Silver

Gold wedding rings

Gold is the most popular choice for men's wedding rings.

There are two things to consider when choosing a gold men's wedding ring. Which gold carat to choose and gold color or what combination of gold colors you would like.

The gold carats normally used in men's wedding rings are 9ct, 14ct and 18ct. The higher the proportion of gold used in the final metal, the more valuable and expensive the metal will be. So all other things being the same, an 18ct ring will be more expensive than a 14ct ring and a 14ct ring will be more expensive than a 9ct ring.

Many people consider the hardness and durability of gold when choosing a men's wedding ring.

Metal hardness is measured by what is called the Vickers scale where harder metals receive a higher Vickers score than less hard metals.

9ct has a Vickers hardness of 120 and 18ct has a Vickers hardness of 125. This shows 18ct as harder, though the difference is so slight that in practical terms 9ct and 18ct are much the same in terms of hardness.

9ct is more difficult to bend and is a little more springy than 18ct and therefore a fine 9ct ring may be less likely to bend out of shape than a fine 18ct ring. However, if the ring is of a good sturdy construction neither metal will be likely to bend out of shape.

9ct, 14ct and 18ct gold are each relatively hard and durable metals and are suitable for every day wear and use in men's wedding rings.

Next you need to consider the color of the gold.

Gold is available in several different colors. The most popular is yellow gold, followed by white gold and rose gold, though other gold colors are sometimes also available such as bronze, peach, red and lime gold.

As each gold color contains the same proportion of pure gold, all gold colors that have the same carat will have the same Vickers score.

When comparing the price of the gold colors in the same carat, white gold is normally a little more expensive than yellow gold and rose gold. Yellow gold and rose gold normally have approximately the same price.

When trying to decide between the gold carat types there are three things to consider.

1. The metal's performance with every day wear
2. The difference in color between the 9ct, 14ct and 18ct gold
3. The difference in price between the gold carats.

In practical terms, 18ct generally holds up to everyday wear better than 9ct and 14ct and 18ct tends to look better than 9ct and 14ct as it ages over the years. This is one of the reasons why 18ct is normally preferred for ladies engagement rings rather than 9ct.

14ct is halfway between 9ct and 18ct in these respects.

There is a difference in the color of different gold carats.

18ct is the superior metal for men's wedding rings provided that the ring is not a lightweight construction (Gillett's Jewellers rings are a good construction).

However, 18ct is more expensive than 14ct and 9ct, which in a large men's ring can be a noticeable difference.

For a wedding ring that you wear every day of your life it is worth the difference in price and we accordingly recommend that 18ct be selected whenever it fits within your budget.

Also regarding the need to resize your gold wedding ring, a simple gold wedding ring can normally be resized in the future by a local jeweler. A gold ring with ribbed edges, a wave or woven pattern or engraving may be more difficult to resize without affecting the ring pattern.