When it comes to choosing a wedding ring, you may believe that you are all set as soon as you decide to go with titanium over gold or platinum. While that is absolutely a big step in the decision making process, you’re not done just yet; the next thing that you need to ask yourself is which type of finish you’d prefer.

Here at Avant Garde Jewelry, our clients have a choice between three different finishes to make their rings really stand out: polished, brushed and sandblasted. Before you can make a final decision and are stuck with a look that you weren’t excepting however, it’s important to know the difference between each:

Polished – As one of the more popular and traditional finishes for wedding bands, chains, pendants and more, polished jewelry is much more reflective on the metal’s surface. This particular affect is created with the help of special compounds called rouges, which vary in coarseness based on the size of the abrasive particulars within them. The appropriate rouges are applied to specialized wheels and cones at different stages of the finishing process, before the metal is buffed using extremely high speed wheels and rouges containing very fine abrasives. It’s the buffing process that produces the shiny, mirror-like finish that attracts so many.

 

 

Brushed – if you’re not interested in the sparkly shine of a polished titanium ring, a brushed finish is probably most ideal. Also referred to as “satin” or “matt”, brushed finished rings are smooth to the touch like polished rings but are not reflective – similar to the look of a fogged up bathroom mirror. To achieve this affect, Avant Garde uses very special abrasive discs and hand pads to give the rings a very fine one-directional texture, as though it had been made with a wire brush. If clients are interested in creating a very unique look, know that it is possible to combine both polished and brushed polishes on one ring to create a two-toned look, since a brushed finish will make the titanium darker.

 

 

Sandblasted – Also known as “bead blast”, a sandblasted finish is achieved by propelling a stream of abrasive material under high pressure on the surface of the ring. As a result, you will be left with a very unique matte finish that also has a subtle spark to its charcoal-colored tone. Sandblast finishes have a somewhat rougher texture, but are still very smooth to the touch, just as the aforementioned finishes. Your ring will look as though it was made from fine beach sand under the loop and will be much darker, like the brushed finish – meaning that the two-toned effect can also be created when combining sandblasted and polished finishes.

Regardless of which finish you choose to go with, Avant Garde Jewelry has a lifetime refinishing policy, meaning that any titanium ring that you buy from us comes with a free refinishing service. If your ring becomes scratched at all once it’s home with you, just send it back and we will refinish it for you, no problem!

 

(Posted by: Anton Polishuk of Avant Garde Jewelry)