The Best Metal for Your Ring
A Vast Palette of Colors
Why settle for a pre-made ring when you can have the ring of your dreams, in a metal color that suits your skin and your style. Your ring deserves to be handcrafted from the right metal. Pick the colors youself or let the team at Krikawa help you select the perfect metal, whether it is for your unique engagement ring or wedding band. Unsure what is going to look best with your skin tone or stone? We'll provide advice from our decades of experience, photograph your colors together, or ship your stone and metal samples together for you to see in person! Together, we’ll create the ring for a lifetime. Call 1-888-KRIKAWA or email us today.
What Metal Will You Choose?
Your choices in precious metals offer you a range of colors. Your choices go beyond light cool gray to yellow. You’ll explore the possibilities in color from copper to a light green, yellow or white. Krikawa artisans and goldsmiths will work from this broad palette to create your ring. You’ll be amazed by our ability to "paint with metals," creating the masterpiece you’ll love.
At Krikawa, your ring will be handcrafted and made-to-order with the precious metal of your choice. Choose from precious metals such as: Let us help you choose the metal to compliment your skin tone. You can talk to us about a metal’s durability based on its unique composition and hardness. With our guidance, you’ll understand how a metal’s hardness will offer you different levels of resistance to dents. You can be confident knowing how your ring will hold up over time without wearing down.
White Metal. Right Metal?
Want to know how to choose the right white metal for your ring? In deciding on the right metal, let us help you consider important elements such as:
- color
- hardness
- wear resistance
- maintenance
Whether this is your first piece of fine jewelry or a new piece to your collection, our designers will help you make the most of every detail. You’ll recognize the level of expertise and craftsmanship in every Krikawa ring. You’ll understand why a Krikawa ring is the ring you’ll wear for a lifetime.
Comparative Qualities of Krikawa Precious Metals
| Alloy* | Approximate Composition |
Specific Gravity |
Melting Temp. (° F) |
Color | Vicker's Hardness |
| 950 Platinum | 95% Pt 5% Ru |
21.45 | 3235 | light cool gray | 130 |
| 18k Palladium White Gold | 75% Au + Pd | 14.6 | 1730 | light cool gray |
210 |
| 14k Palladium White Gold (Krikawa Standard) |
58.5% Au +Pd |
13.7 | 1710 | medium warm gray | 150 |
| 14k Nickel White Gold (Upon Request Only) |
58.5% Au
+Ni
|
medium warmsih gray |
170
|
||
| 18k Yellow Gold | 75% Au | 15.6 | 1700 | rich yellow | 125 |
| 14k Rose Gold | 58.5% Au +Cu |
13.4 | 1520 | copper | 125 |
| 14k Green Gold | 58.5% Au +Cu |
bright yellow | |||
| 10k Green Gold | 41.6% Au +Ag |
11.7 | 1480 | light green yellow | 170 |
Gold and Platinum Color Chart for Wedding Bands and Engagement Rings
Keep in mind, your ring will be much smaller than shown above! See this scaled chart for another reference. You can see here why, with our decades of experience in making custom rings, we recommend platinum and 18k yellow gold, or platinum and 14k rose gold for two-tone designs.
Ways to help differentiate the two metals include matte and brushed finishes, and broken surfaces (such as a groove between the two colors.
Alternative Metals?
Which Alternative Metal is the Best Choice for Your Wedding Band?
Think your ring has to be white or yellow gold? Think again! With so many alternative metal options out there, it can be a confusing sea of conflicting info to navigate. Learn about the different alternative metals for wedding bands here and make and educated choice!
We've worked in multiple alternative metals, and our preferred choice for wedding and engagement rings continues to be precious metals. The ability to repair and size precious metals, in addition to creating a custom creation in a metal that holds value are the dominant reasons why, over time, we resonate most with the beautiful precious metal options.
For a very hard gray alternative metal for a custom made ring, we continue to love 14k white gold.
Sterling Silver
Sterling Silver is the whitest of all the metals, and thus a great metal to use in mokume, as the white color provides the best contrast with other colored metals. To be marked "Sterling" it must be 925 parts silver (or 92.5%). It is traditionally alloyed with 7.5% copper. Fine silver (99.9% silver) is generally too soft for most jewelry applications.
Sterling silver is a relatively soft metal, so we reserve it for more substantial designs (such as men's wedding bands), that do not have stones. Delicate ring designs would not withstand daily wear if made in sterling.
Sterling Silver Engagement Rings
Do you want your valuable and sentimental engagement stone set in a soft metal? We often get the question of whether we can make engagement rings in sterling. The short answer is yes, however, we want your stone to stay safe for a lifetime, and sterling silver is not the answer for that.
Tungsten Carbide: for your wedding band?
We get a lot of requests for tungsten carbide. Why? Well, it's been a much-advertised metal, and for some mysterious reason, guys really respond to having the "hardest" ring available. Is tungsten carbide hard? You bet! It's so hard that it shatters when dropped. Krikawa has decided that we don't want our clients investing in a symbol of their love with something that is so hard it breaks if dropped. Just like a good solid relationship, there needs to be some yielding.
What is tungsten carbide? It is a very hard, dark gray compound made by the reaction of tungsten and carbon at high temperatures. It is used in making engineering dies, cutting and drilling tools, and other similar items.
What's our recommendation for Super Hard?
For a lighter gray look, Cobalt Chrome. This material is harder than stainless steel (and that's saying a lot). If you were ever to sit at a workbench to sand and polish a cobalt chrome ring, you would certainly agree! It will tear up your files and sandpaper, destroying the tools, yet without making a mark on the ring. It feels like you are working glass. The upside? We can throw them around the shop without worrying about them shattering. We can throw them on steel, hammer them (well, they won't really dent, but we can still do it!), and jump up and down on them, but really, nothing's going to happen.
For a black look, Black Zirconium. There's no truly black metal, through and through. The black is always some kind of treatment. We've found the black zirconium to be an uber hard finish that holds up very well.
So, do you want a metal that is so hard and unyeilding it will drop when shattered, or do you want a ring that will truly last a lifetime? You make the choice.
One jeweler demonstrates the shattering truth about tungsten carbide in his youtube video here:
Black Zirconium
In its natural state, black zirconium is medium gray in color.
When heat treated, a lustrous black layer forms on the outside, which can be polished to a lacquer-like finish that won’t diminish over time.
It black, glossy shell is extremely scratch resistant; at 8.2, it’s harder than stainless steel.
Black zirconium can also be machined so that it’s matte, shiny or a mix of the two.
Zirconium alloys are used in exotic applications ranging from nuclear reactors to incendiary munitions.
Cutting-edge and masculine-looking
One of the more affordable metal options: a plain band starts around $300
TITANIUM Lightweight. Heavy Strength.
From the aircraft runway to fashion runway
Lightweight. Heavy Strength.
Medium-dark gray in color
Modern, unusual and masculine-looking
Known for being ultra lightweight
The bands we offer through Lashbrook are made of the aerospace grade titanium alloy Ti6Al4V, which is twice as strong and twice as hard as commercial counterparts.
Titanium has the highest strength to density ratio of any metal, making it ideal for use in products ranging from golf clubs to naval ships, and from racing engines to spacecraft.
Durability and strength combine to make a titanium ring one that will last a lifetime
Titanium rings can be easily customized with stones, precious metal inlays, and patterns
Affordable; a plain band costs around $100
COBALT CHROME
The Beauty of Steel with a Superior Hardness
Image Source: Jordiferrer
A shiny gray steel that is similar in color to platinum
Harder than stainless steel (read: it’s very durable)
An alloy composed of approximately 67% Cobalt, 27% Chromium, and 6% Molybdenum
Renowned in the metals industry for its superb wear resistance, and is used for artificial joints and dental implants. As such, the metal is highly biocompatible, i.e. hypoallergenic!
While Cobalt-Chrome has an incredible luster after high polish, it does, however, have certain limitations in jewelry making. The high level of wear resistance also causes it to resist tools, making it very difficult to drill holes, set stones, or size in a traditional manner. The best use for this metal can therefore be found in pendants, earrings, cufflinks, necklaces, and bracelets, etc. that do not require sizing and designs that showcase the metal versus stones. Stones, when needed, can be riveted or glued in place.
Another benefit of Cobalt-Chrome is its susceptibility to blackening. Blackening is done through a chemical process that creates a black oxide layer providing a wonderful contrast with platinum, palladium, and gold alloys.
Cobalt chrome is also budget-friendly—plain bands run between $300-$500.
