Can My Ring Be Resized?

While resizing rings is a common practice, there are some rings that are very difficult to resize. Unfortunately, there are also rings that simply can’t be resized. Why? There are several variables that affect whether or not a ring can be resized. For instance, the material of your ring may be a problem. Hard jewelry metals like titanium and stainless steel are highly durable, therefor resizing them requires special tools. Then there is tungsten, the hardest jewelry metal, which is virtually impossible to resize.

Additionally, if a ring has decorative stones that wrap around the band, it’s difficult to resize it as the stones will be displaced or damaged in the process.

Not sure if your ring can be resized? Here’s a look at what types of rings may prove challenging, and which rings altogether can’t be resized.

How Is A Ring Resized?

To upsize a ring, the jeweler will cut the ring and spread the metal in order to fill the gap with additional materials. Afterward, the ring is soldered together and forms a larger size.

To downsize a ring, the jeweler cuts the ring and removes portions of the metal before soldering the ring back together.

Limitations of Ring Resizing

If you’ve inherited a ring or received a ring as a gift, it’s important to ensure the ring is within 1-2 sizes of your ring size as rings can only be resized so much. This means that there’s an actual limit to how much you can add or remove from a ring.

If a ring needs to be upsized or downsized greater than two sizes, resizing is simply not a good choice. Essentially, resizing a ring too far from your ring size can damage the ring. Additionally, the style of ring and ring metal will affect whether or not it can be resized.

Resizing Men’s Wedding Bands

Many men’s wedding rings and bands feature a pattern or polish around the entirety of the band. To retain a ring’s polish or decoration, the band will require a process of stretching or pressing. Instead of cutting the band, the jeweler will stretch the ring to widen it to a size larger.

However, some materials are not suitable to press, and must be cut to resize. This creates a challenge as unique patterns on men’s wedding bands are not easily replicated. Furthermore, if the ring is downsized, the pattern might not match fluidly as it once did.

Also consider that many popular men’s wedding bands are made from tough, durable and hard metals like tungsten and titanium. While titanium can be resized with great effort, the same can’t be said for tungsten. Ultimately, if you are gifting a tungsten wedding ring, you’ll want to be absolutely positive the size is right as it cannot be resized.

Resizing White Gold Rings

White gold is a yellow-gold alloy plated in light-colored metals like silver and palladium. Its sparkling white finish is eye-catching, pristine and classic. That said, when a white gold ring is resized, part of the rhodium plating is removed. As such, replating is necessary in order to replace the bits removed. Why does that matter? Replating a resized white gold ring will cost you more.

Resizing Platinum Rings

Platinum is a material that is harder than gold, and also more expensive. When resizing platinum rings larger, a jeweler adds extra platinum to the ring. Because platinum is more expensive, the cost to resize it will be higher than say, gold resizing. Additionally, platinum requires a higher temperature and specialized tools. Ultimately, the process of resizing platinum rings is more technical, time-consuming, and expensive.

Can Pave Rings and Vintage Rings Be Resized?

A pave ring has many small stones or diamonds set around the band, and is a style popular to vintage rings. Pave rings can only be resized so much as the diamonds and stones run along the side of the band and cannot be cut. As such, pave rings and vintage rings can usually only be resized by one size.

Resizing Eternity Rings

An eternity ring has gemstones or diamonds that completely encircle the wedding band. Because the diamonds populate every part of the band, resizing is simply not possible. As stated, resizing a ring requires cutting the ring and either adding or taking away material. If an eternity ring is recut to upsize, there will be a noticeable gap in the stones. Conversely, if you cut into an eternity ring to withdraw material, you will lose some of the stones. Bottom line: eternity rings can’t be resized. So, what do you do if your eternity ring no longer fits? You’ll have to purchase a new ring. It’s wise to buy rings that aren’t wrapped in gemstones if you plan to resize it in the future. An alternative is to buy a ring that has gemstones along the sides, but is open on the bottom to give you the option to resize it if need be.

Can My Ring Be Resized?

If your ring falls into any of the ring categories listed above, resizing will either be an issue, or impossible. When buying jewelry, it’s best to inquire up front with the jeweler if the ring can be resized. A ring is a lifelong accessory, and many circumstances may arise which require our ring size to fluctuate. As such, it’s important to buy rings that at least have the option for resizing.

If you already own one of these rings which needs to be resized but cannot, you’ll have to unfortunately buy a new ring altogether. You can also try wearing the ring on another finger as a keepsake.

If you have an eternity, pave or vintage ring that cannot be resized, you can string the band from a beautiful necklace chain. This is a thoughtful and creative way of keeping your ring close to your heart.