Make a wood wedding ring with 2 hours and $30
Posted by Lance Atkins on February 01, 2011 6 Comments
Hi. It's Lance here. I may or may not be getting married this summer. So I made a wood wedding ring because wearing a tungsten ring would be like selling my soul to the devil. Well, kind of like that.
Make one yourself:
This one is made out of birdseye maple, but you could use any sort of wood. Get yourself some wood veneer (make sure it's thin, pure wood with no backing-stuff) and a sterling silver ring liner. Take a strip of your veneer and put a dab of super glue on your ring liner to stick it to the veneer:
After the super glue has dried, sand down the small tab of wood sticking off the ring. Your goal is to get the wood to wind up smoothly without any big bumps in the roll.
take your strip of wood and soak it in hot water for about 10 minutes until saturated and pliable. This will help it wind up around the ring without cracking. lay the strip flat on the table and brush on a thin coat of White drying Gorilla Glue. This glue cures with moisture, so it's perfect for wet wood.
Once the glue is on, snugly wind up the wood strip around the ring. You'll only need to wind about 12" of wood to get enough thickness to the ring. Tightly tape or clamp the ring to keep it from unwinding while drying. The glue will foam up as it cures, filling any small gaps.
Let it set for an hour, then attack it with some sandpaper until you get your desired shape. I would recommend starting with ~80 grit (really coarse) to get it to shape, then 120 grit then 180 grit (very fine, to a smooth surface without sanding marks.) You may also want to use various grits of 3M Sanding Sponges (Home Depot) because they're, well, wonderful. For this ring, I was able to wedge the ring onto a round, tapered screwdriver handle, put the screwdriver shaft in a drill, and spin it. This will do the sanding work for you and help easily get the ring symmetrical quickly.
Once you have the ring sanded to shape, I recommend a wipe-on, soak, wipe-off, and repeat finish. After about 4 coats, go wear your ring!
--UPDATE--
I got married June 3 to the most wonderful girl. We honeymooned in South America and decided to wear wooden rings for the six week adventure. I'm blown away with how good they faired on the road. The oil in my skin actually is helping the ring to look better with time and scratches are not a problem. Here's a his-and-hers set. The red wood you see is Padauk and yes, that is the natural color of the wood. The black "cap" on my ring is ebony wood, and has been epoxied to the top of the rough ring, then sanded to shape. Enjoy!
So, we're not selling rings at the time (but with all your requests we might have to) but we do make really excellent wood cases for Apple products. We've just launched a huge project to preorder our brand new line of cases.... Bamboo! We can cover you and your loved ones' MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or iPad 2 and have it to you in time for Christmas. Feel free to meander over to Kickstarter, where we have launched the project.
Comments (6 Comments)
Wondering how this ring is going in 2013?
Posted by Fran on May 31, 2013
This is glorious! Ive had my heart set on a 500 dollar set i found online, but I’m now tempted to take a whack at it. Do you think it’s possible to try it without a liner? Any suggestions? Id like mine to not contain any metal
Posted by Heather on March 12, 2013
I am planning on making matching rings for my fiancé and I. It has been almost 2 years since you made these rings, are you still wearing it? How is it holding up? I love them, can’t wait to start on this project. Thank you for the great instructions!
Posted by Melanie on October 09, 2012
Molly,
The rings are doing well! I have to say that I like it more than the day I made them… It’s gaining more of a “glow” as it’s constantly being oiled and polished with wear. However, it never gets gunky or gross. Also, the edges slowly become rounded and smoother… Seems like a cool analogy for marriage or life, eh?
Posted by Blackbox-Case-Lance on August 16, 2011
I was curious about it’s durability. Is it going to stand up to regular everyday usage (dishes, laundry, auto repair)?
Posted by Molly on August 16, 2011
amazing!!!
thanx ;-)
Posted by maho steinberg oikawa on February 27, 2011
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