I made some wooden rings earlier today, turned out fairly well. They're out of mesquite, just wood, no metal core. Anyhow, I have my doubts they'll last, especially with daily wear or even casual wear. I'd like to make them last for several years, decades if possible with consistent wear. I was curious, is there a way to make the wood more durable?

I seen a couple things, using CA glue, and one person used epoxy.

There's metal cores for rings, but I have no idea how well they're made, what materials are available, how you wood secure the wood the core, anyone want to enlighten me?

Fantastic, thank you for that. Have you ever had the wood come off a core, after you or someone else has worn it for awhile?

Earlier this year I made one of the Craft Supplies rings with the metal core.  I used Osage Orange for it's durability & color.  Pretty easy to turn.  I used epoxy to hold the wood to the core.  The wood cracked after a couple of months.  I don't know if it was the wood (since OO tends to crack) or if expansion differences between the metal and wood caused it.

Al Wasser wrote on May 25^th, 2018 at 9:16am:


Awesome, I'll take a look there too.

Try laminating 3 layers of wood in opposing directions for added strength and stability.

I did these 3  bracelets over a decade ago

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Ron Sardo wrote on May 25^th, 2018 at 3:19pm:


The Rings I'll be making will be out of mesquite wood scraps. I don't have any thin enough for lamination.

Quote:


The cores are pretty heavy duty you cant bend them pinching with your fingers.  I finished all mine with a coat of thin ca glue that soaked into the wood then 3 coats of medium that built up a good layer on the ring.  The same process i use for my pens.  Then sanded them down through a micro mesh set to 12000 grit.

Bill Neff wrote on May 25^th, 2018 at 9:19am:

Bill Neff wrote on May 26^th, 2018 at 9:50am:


With this info, IMO
It's still the wood, nothing else.
The stainless steel core is stable.
The epoxy is 'typically " stable
The wood, that's another story.
OO has it's own characteristics like any other species but is not really prone to shrinkage.
OO is actually quite stable and somewhat elastic (used for archery bows) and because of this has a wide range of uses.

You mentioned that your blank was 2"x2"x6", while this is considered small, the interior wood can have significantly higher MC than the exterior (especially if sealed).
I have some (sealed) wood blanks of that size which are far older and are still soaking wet in the center.
In a perfect world
Wood should be milled close to final dimension leaving enough material for final dimensioning and sanding. Then left to acclimate to your working environment for at least a day before final fitting and adhesive is applied.
If the wood is not "stable" or at least as stable as you can get it before you fit it onto the steel, it doesn't really matter what else you do.
Wood Moves