I hated to do it

.....but I had to.

My wife and I were moving concrete block yesterday and she smashed her hand between 2 of them.
Her left hand.
And what is on her left hand ? Wedding rings.

She tried to take them off, but by then her hand was swollen to the point they wouldn't come off. We put her hand in ice water, but no luck. We tried dish washing liquid and that didn't work either. I recently changed the front wheel bearings on my truck and I even tried some of the grease I packed the bearings with.
Still no luck.
By now she is in a lot of pain and her finger is turning blue so I went to the nuclear option. Wire cutters.
*sigh* Yes, I cut them off. I felt terrible because she started crying a little when I cut them, but she was in a lot of pain and I was out of options.
We took her for an x ray and nothing is broken, just smashed and sore, she'll be fine, but damn I hated doing that. But, it was the rings or her finger.
I'm taking her out for lunch today and then go to the jewelers to get them fixed.

a reply to: DAVID64
I would have cried a bit too, but you did the right thing, and they can always be fixed, like you said, or replaced if need be.

My hubby can't even wear his, since the first one he had almost took his finger off. It was worn down, super sharp, from carrying bricks all day.


Glad nothing was broken!

a reply to: DAVID64

For future reference (for you and others in a similar predicament), You can try the string trick to remove a ring from a swollen (or fat) finger:

YouTube Video
In the video, they use a wide shoestring, but it actually seems to work better with a smaller string and some people use dental floss.

I'm glad she is okay...sometimes things like this happen, you get distracted while working and start thinking of all those times she has hounded you or talked about how well her old boyfriend is doing, or how irritating your parents are, or it is just her voice that same voice questioning your very existence. Things happen..remember Delores Claiborne, sometimes that's all a woman has.

Seriously though

reminds me of my brother and his wife when they got married they were both so nervous, he put the ring on the wrong finger. Well, we partied had a great reception and she didn't mention it but late that evening they had to go to the hospital and they had to cut the ring off.

It amazes me the value people place in things and the value they place in each other. Be really nice, lots of love and show her that the ring is not the relationship, it’s about something deeper
I am sure you already know that
Give her a nice back shoulder massage, tell her you love her and she is more important than a ring

originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: DAVID64

For future reference (for you and others in a similar predicament), You can try the string trick to remove a ring from a swollen (or fat) finger:

YouTube Video
In the video, they use a wide shoestring, but it actually seems to work better with a smaller string and some people use dental floss.

That's a nice little trick, and a good thing to keep in mind, just in case. It seems like it works pretty good, but I do think the video would have been more effective if it had at least shown her trying to pull the ring off by herself in the beginning.

Rings can be fixed and replaced; fingers cannot.

Someone in my family got a finger torn off when they fell off a ladder and got the wedding band caught on it.

No finger and nowhere to put the band back on.

a reply to: DAVID64

The jeweley can be repaired...the finger? Not so much!🤞🙄

a reply to: BrokenCircles
You are correct.
I didn't pick the best video to showcase abilities of the hack. I used that one because it was easy to see how the hack works by using the wide shoestring.
I have watched other videos where the finger was so swollen that the ring was barely visible and they still had good results.

a reply to: DAVID64

Well, the good news is...

Just about any ring with a reasonably high gold or silver content can be fixed so that you can't even tell where the cut was. In fact, often times when a ring is being sized to correctly fit by a jeweler, they are cut and a section removed and then they are re-soldered together. When they are done you can't even tell.

originally posted by: DAVID64
.....but I had to.

My wife and I were moving concrete block yesterday and she smashed her hand between 2 of them.
Her left hand.
And what is on her left hand ? Wedding rings.

She tried to take them off, but by then her hand was swollen to the point they wouldn't come off. We put her hand in ice water, but no luck. We tried dish washing liquid and that didn't work either. I recently changed the front wheel bearings on my truck and I even tried some of the grease I packed the bearings with.
Still no luck.
By now she is in a lot of pain and her finger is turning blue so I went to the nuclear option. Wire cutters.
*sigh* Yes, I cut them off. I felt terrible because she started crying a little when I cut them, but she was in a lot of pain and I was out of options.
We took her for an x ray and nothing is broken, just smashed and sore, she'll be fine, but damn I hated doing that. But, it was the rings or her finger.
I'm taking her out for lunch today and then go to the jewelers to get them fixed.

For the past couple of years my wife and I have been wearing Groove Rings. They are rubber rings. I love them. They come in all kinds of colors and can be customized. They are also extremely comfortable. This year for my 20 year anniversary, I got my wife and I a pair with our wedding date. The best thing is that if you destroy them, they will replace it for free. However, they are so cheap, about $30 I just usually buy new ones.

Both of us have the fancy rings platinum and gold rings from top designers (Chanel, Cartier, and Bulgari). Worth a small fortune. However, we rarely wear them now. The funny thing is I get compliments on my rubber rings all the time because the colors are unique but hardly anyone really notices our fancy rings.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: DAVID64

Well, the good news is...

Just about any ring with a reasonably high gold or silver content can be fixed so that you can't even tell where the cut was. In fact, often times when a ring is being sized to correctly fit by a jeweler, they are cut and a section removed and then they are re-soldered together. When they are done you can't even tell.

Another thing about jewelers... If you go to them with the ring on your finger, they will cut it off using a jewelers saw. The jewelers saw has very fine teeth and won't damage the skin, the jeweler will make a cut that is easy for him to repair and he can resize the ring to fit afterwards if the stuck ring was due to weight gain over the years.
They will do this if there are no injuries to the finger involved or infection. My uncle is a manufacturing jeweler and has done this service from time to time.

a reply to: Edumakated

I might have to look those up. Husband lost his band years ago, and mine no longer fits after an unfortunate incident with a ceiling fan.

Those would perfect as neither of us are heavy jewelry types to begin with.

a reply to: ketsuko

I highly recommend. Big fan of them. American made, small business.

www.groovelife.com

We carry ring cutters on the fire trucks where I work. I used one many times. It makes a pretty small straight cut and with 1 cut you can sometimes get it off by spreading it out a bit instead of cutting it in half with two cuts.

a reply to: Edumakated

Yes, thank you!

That would be perfect for the hubby!

a reply to: Edumakated

Rings arent relevant to me, but that site has some very, very cool products. I think Im going to get one of the belts, and have some great ideas for gifts for Christmas too. Thanks!

As for the OP.. thankfully most rings made of precious metals are relatively easy to fix and you gotta get those suckers off the hand if there is swelling! A bit of an annoyance, but I guess you could say the repaired ring will always hold a bit of a scar representing the incident. Might have had a bit of "sentimental damage" right now, but we all get a bit battered as we get older

ETA: For the lazy people like me, here is the direct link.