The bride-to-be first called and asked if I could do a tungsten carbide wedding band. Told her no. Then, in the same sentence, I said Yes! Figured I could do it with a diamond which I almost never use. I think the last time was about the time Liz Taylor’s rock was in the news.
The first time I tried to engrave a tungsten carbide ring, the brand new carbide bur skipped across the inside surface of the ring like a ball point pen on a piece of glass. That’s why my first answer was negative when she asked.
She had the ring delivered and said she’d email the message to me. I quoted her a price of $55. and she sent the ring. About the time it arrived, I got an email with the message: You are my 1 in 7 million. Plain and simple. I looked to see where the logo or manufacturer’s imprint was inside the ring. Looked at the message, shot from the hip, and decided a #2 diamond would do it. I dug out a #2 diamond, put the ring between my thumb and index finger, and went to work. Took about 90 seconds for the entire message, turning a tad after every letter. As it turned out, I missed my ‘eyeballing’ the message and available space; the last letter went over about half the logo imprint. No sweat. The logo was faint. To have avoided that, I would have measured the length of the line engraved on flat glass as a test. I would have measured that line with a seamstress’s tape measure to be sure it would fit.
When it was finished, I took these photos (more on that later if anyone asks) and sent them to the bride. She panicked. In her email, million was meant to be billion. THEN I got the message. She was telling the old boy he was only one in 7 billion…all of us on the planet. She’s ordering another ring to send here. I get to keep this one in exchange for engraving the next one at no charge. Now, if there’s a bride out there whose groom-to-be is brain surgeon on elephants, or a contortionist who can put himself in the trunk of a SmartCar, or can walk a tightrope on his tiptoes over an alligator pit, I have just the ring for you. Make me an offer!
If nobody comes forth, I may drop it in the fish tank at my doctor’s office. He only sees senior Calligraphers who work with a dental drill. -Ken
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