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Wedding Ring Safety

Frank R

Stainless
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Location
Dearborn, Michigan
16 months ago I got married; rather late in life. All these years I have not had to worry about wearing a ring while working in the shop; now I do.

What do you do with your ring while working around machinery? Do you put in your pocket? Hang it on a nail? Have a little box to hold it in?

This is a serious question, as for all of you that want to leave a cynical comment or negative joke.... please don't.
 
The rule I follow is the one I was taught in high school. Nothing but skin beyond the elbows, watch, rings, etc. locked in toolbox (if in a multi-person shop).

The high school instructor who taught us that was living proof of the rule. As a young man he had lost a finger when a ring snagged on a rough weld while jumping down from a truck.
 
I am reminded of an adult scout leader of my childhood: he was missing his ring finger entirely.

Queried to this he replied that he had lost the ring finger as a young man newly married. He was working at a local farm and was in the back of the flat bed truck shoveling stuff out.

The task done he put his hand up to the sideboards to steady his jump to the ground - about four feet. As he jumped his ring caught on a nail and kept the finger attached to the board while he passed to the ground - minus his finger.

I cringe even thinking about that.

Joe in NH
 
Long time ago, my father suggested I read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends etc. I think the main thing I remember after all these years is that the author lost a finger when he jumped and got a ring caught on a nail. I also remember I was given a ring when I was in 8th Grade. I took it off to wash up after shop class and never saw the ring again.

So, when I got married, I wore my wedding ring for the rest of the day, took it off and never put it on again. My wife understands.

Larry
 
An old diesel mechanic I worked with many years ago told the tale of a wedding ring becoming instantly red hot in the batter box of a dragline a guy was working on.....Seems the ring became part of the circuit involving two 8d batteries.....I have also heard the stories of rings getting snagged on things in a jump from trucks.. Be safe.. Ramsay 1:)
 
The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon had a bad accident with a wedding ring. It was not around any machine type shop. Just got caught and his weight did the rest.
You can see his mended finger now but it has a small bend to it.

The thing about removing your ring is that your wife will think you are cheating on her.

I would just use a small pouch and pocket it during the machine time, and just be careful everywhere else.
 
Been on there 56 years - been lucky I suppose. Been too long to remember if I ever had it off for shop work - which is still an every day occurrence.

Don't do like old fools like me

On Edit - come to think of it, Pratt &Whitney Aircraft took a very dim view of wearing such during the sixties apprenticeship
 
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I hear these horror stories and it truly gives me pause. I have had some close calls myself - mostly in jumping down off trucks and such and snagging or coming close to snagging. That being said, it's been 40 years for me and it's on everyday, all day. My father worked as a mechanic and wore his everyday, all day til the day he died. His was actually worn to about half its original size.

Best wishes on your marriage.
 
I only wear mine to "special" events. Anniversary dinner, weddings, Christmas mass, etc. The wife gets it. I do the same thing with watches.
 
Before rings were banned altogether where I work, some folks wore silicone rings. Supposedly they won't rip off your fingers or "deglove" them. Over 30 years of working on and around drill rigs caused me to give up wearing a ring long ago. My wife understands.
 
I'm married and don't wear a ring at all. It's simply too dangerous and not worth the risk for me....be it in the shop, working on the truck, car, plane, or doing farm work. Never know when that thing can get caught on something, short out a battery, or other.

Fingers don't grow back.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
Congratulations on your wedding. Grandma always said "there's never a pot so crooked there isn't a lid to fit".


When my new bride and I returned from our honeymoon my wedding ring went in the dresser drawer. Its still there several decades later. My wife decided she would rather see the finger without a band than the hand without a finger. And that was before the internet was available to show her how a hand without a finger looks.

If your wife believes you must have a ring on your finger you have bigger problems than a ring on your finger.
 
Worked with a guy who had jerked his finger off, taking tendons with it, when he jumped out of a truck bed. Nice reconstruction of his hand, though (there was no saving the finger).

The idea of wearing a ring stands my hair on end. My wife has never made an issue of my not wearing a ring, bless her heart.
 
Hi Frank - Firstly congratulations ...

I have to say I'm like John (#8) and I know it's wrong but ...

I have snagged it on various "things" during my life and been lucky ... maybe next time not! and it will only be my fault!

You and I really know the real answer!

John :typing:
 
If you feel committed you can get a tattoo of a ring around your finger and put the original away.

I've been injured by mine twice. Both times I've had hot weld splatter stick to the ring. Its hard to get away from it when your finger swells up instantly. You'd think I would learn to wear gloves.

I now wear a rubber ring - splatter doesn't stick to it, but it stinks when the splatter hits it... :D

Kevin
 








 
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