About
Ron Yates has been in the jewelry business for over twenty years. Since 2002 he applies his vast jewelry expertise and impeccable personal tastes to various online blogs and stores.
He has a physical “bricks and mortar” jewelry store (Yates & Co Jewelers) located in Modesto, California, offering custom fine jewelry with unique and original designs, antique and estate pieces and of course, a full line of incredible titanium and tungsten jewelry. Ron has dedicated himself to providing unique styles to discriminating shoppers since since 1988.
What Is Tungsten?
Tungsten is a Swedish word derived from Old Norse. “Tung” meaning heavy, and “Sten” meaning stone. Tungsten is indeed a heavy stone material, that has been making a tremendous impact on today’s world, being used in both jewelry and industrial products. Tungsten ranks as the hardest of metals, with a hardness topped only by diamonds, and has been widely used for well over 100 years.
The element of Tungsten was discovered in 1783 by two brothers, both Spanish chemists, named Juan José and Fausto Elhuyar, in samples of the mineral Wolframite. The element tungsten, known on the periodic table as Wolfram (W), is not encountered as a naturally formed metal, but is found in the Earth’s crust, in the form of tungstenite, tungsten disulfide, scheelite (calcium tungstate), stolzite (lead tungstate) and wolframite. Once the tungsten ore is isolated, it is ground into a powder, then for the highest quality jewelry is combined with nickel and minimal amounts of various other elements. It is then compressed with high pressure dies to form a ring blank, or any other shape desired by a skilled designer.
What Makes Tungsten So Special?
Tungsten’s cool, smoky gray persona, has a solid heaviness and strength that remains to date, unmatched by any other precious or contemporary metal. Mens tungsten wedding bands are the perfect selection for a man who wants a beautiful, permanently polished shine with virtually no maintenance. Most other metals, including platinum, gold and silver,to name only a few, scratches or scuff’s and must be polished or buffed out by a professional. This is not the case with tungsten, which is virtually scratch resistant. The best way to maintain its store bought showroom appearance, is to clean when needed, with a mild soap and warm water, then simply dry with a soft cloth.