Can Tungsten Rings Be Engraved?

Tungsten rings are one of the top choices out there for wedding bands due to its affordability, durability, and low maintenance requirements. 

But as popular as tungsten rings among practical couples, these pieces are also notorious in the jewellery industry for being challenging to work with. While the hardness of tungsten makes it resistant to scratch and tarnishing, allowing it to remain looking new through the years, it is also this quality that makes a tungsten ring impossible to resize or alter.

Traditional rings from gold and silver are softer and malleable, which is why they can be easily resized or altered. Another thing that you can do with gold and silver rings is to have them engraved, something many couples want in a wedding. This used to be impossible with a metal as hard as tungsten, which can damage traditional engraving tools.

Fortunately, with modern breakthroughs, getting your tungsten rings to engrave and reflect a personalised message for your loved one is now possible and quite simple. 

However, the method of engraving tungsten differs from the traditional method of engraving.

Traditional jewellery engraving usually entails chiselling or etching the message or inscription into the material of the ring. This is easily done on softer metals like gold or platinum. Another method is rotary engraving, which entails the use of a machine-controlled bit. 

But engraving tungsten, which is easily 10 times harder than gold, requires a more modern solution: laser engraving.

Laser engraving uses an adjustable laser beam to blast the surface of the ring. Out of the three jewellery engraving methods, this method is the one that most effectively penetrates tungsten’s hard and durable surface.

Laser Engraving for Tungsten Rings

Laser engraving entails burning the tungsten carbide with lasers, which brings carbon to the ring’s surface to reflect a message. This method of engraving is usually more preferable over the other two methods of engraving because the result is smoother to the touch. A laser engraving also prevents dirt and grim from getting embedded into the inscription.

You can have almost any design engraved onto your tungsten ring for a personalised touch. For tungsten wedding bands, common engravings include names, wedding dates, and vows. 

If you are looking for more ideas for tungsten ring engravings, aside from message inscriptions (like phrases or birthdays), you can also request for a fancy monogram engraving (which can be pricier as it entails more effort) and even images. In other words, as long as the image, monogram, or phrase fits, you can have it engraved on your tungsten ring.

Word of Caution

While tungsten ring engraving is definitely doable, it is very challenging to have these engravings removed from the metal. While it can be done, the result may leave permanent marks and affect the integrity of the metal. So before you go ahead and have your ring engraved, think thoroughly and make a careful decision.