Discount Titanium Ring?

Q: Somewhere (I believe in this newsgroup) I heard about the option of titanium wedding rings, and when I mentioned it to my fiance, he went bananas. It seems unlikely that I could get much in the way of an engagement ring in titanium, and I prefer yellow gold over white metals. So we're currently thinking that we'd get matching wedding rings, but mine in gold and his in titanium. Anyone out there with titanium rings? Good or bad? Know jewlers who work with titanium?

A:We got my husband's engagement ring and his wedding band from the same company, both in titanium, one with diamonds and one without. The service was wonderful, and they will customize any ring however you wish, no charge. Bill loves his rings, and he says they're very comfortable......the company is Exotica Jewelry, and they have a website at http://www.ringsforever.com ....I actually placed the orders via email and confirmed details, etc., by phone. If you have any specific questions for me, I would be happy to answer them.....hope you get what you want! I suspect that they actually would *replace* the ring with a different ring in the same style and a different size. Gold is easy

to resize. Heat it up, tug on it a little, and it's larger. Slice a little piece out, re-solder it, and it's smaller. (Obviously, I'm exaggerating a little.) Titanium, OTOH, does not stretch in this manner more than a miniscule amount, and cannot be soldered in an oxygen environment. And if you do solder it (by surrounding the item with argon gas), it changes markedly in appearance. Having said that, Ti is a great choice for a wedding band. Very durable, resistant to scratching, and extremely hypoallergenic. The only reason I went with gold instead of Ti is that Ti is irrevocably associated with a particularly flaky ex-boyfriend for me. ;-)