Make Your Own Wedding Ring

So, we all still here? Yes? Who would have thought that a guy who's already made a false claim before about the end of times via the return of Jeebs based on Bible math could be wrong? I know, it's wild. But since the Earth is still here and we have to go on with our lives, looks like we'll have to go on paying our credit card bills, sticking to a healthy diet and going to work.

Speaking of life, this is Victoria Day weekend, or as us Canucks call it, the May two-four. If the Toonie doesn't convince you about Canada's love of silly wordplay, the May two-four should suffice.

Most people were out having a beer on a patio or camping or some other worthy day-off activity in the glorious sunshine, which had eluded us all week. The Dude and I, however, had a date at a jewellers called The Devil's Workshop, where we made our wedding rings.

Yes, we made them and it was awesome. You wouldn't think forging metal and sanding it down would be a great time, but somehow it was.

This is what we started out with.

The entire thing took about six hours, with a 45-minute break for lunch. We had to spend the first chunk of time finely sanding down the ends of each piece of gold so they would fit flush together when we started hammering them into shape.

This was actually the second step of hammering, and it was really difficult.

I learned during the initial shaping of the rings that I am no good with a hammer and I have very little in the way of upper body strength. This is not new information, but I really forget how weak I actually am on a regular basis. Possibly my daydreams and fantasies of being athletic or a superhero cause me to lose touch with my physical realities. The Dude had to help me more than once. And since I was making his ring, it was harder and thicker and required more muscle. He had my dainty little number done much faster.

This is how they looked after
we were done hammering them the first time.

This was the soldering part. Fire makes me nervous, but I was hungry and wanted to go to lunch, so I volunteered to go first.

After lunch, we had to hammer the misshapen, medieval-looking gold into actual rings. This was another hammering challenge and I really had to let the ring have it. I wish I'd thought of something angering at the time; I really could have gotten some good aggression out. Plus it would have helped, as I have a hesitant and nervous hammering hand. I was basically giving the thing love taps and they required a good hate hit.

This was when it finally started to resemble jewellery.

Then we had to sand. The sanding essentially took up the rest of the afternoon. We had to use sand paper, four pieces of different refining qualities, and work out every ripple, edge, nick and scrape. And when we were done, we had to use the power tools to sand in the centre, again using four grades of sanding. And then buffing. And then buffing again.

But it was worth it. They look seriously amazing. And along with the experience of making them, after the cost for the workshop, gold materials and tax, we got them both for under $1,000. Men's wedding bands start at around that much (though after today I can totally understand why).

The finished product. Shiny!

All in all, not a bad way to spend the day. Maybe not so much on the most beautiful day of the year on the holiday weekend, but I regret nothing.