What a good fit feels like
A ring that fits is firm going on, settled at the base of the finger, and reluctant coming off. Reluctant, not impossible. You should have to twist it and mean it, and then it should come.Nobody can hand you that feeling in writing, so here are the three checks we run across the counter before a ring leaves us. They take about a minute on a hand you already have.
Three checks, on your own handNone of these is a measurement, which is the point. A ring can be made exactly to the size on the docket and still fail all three, because the size describes a circle and the fit describes a finger.
So should a ring be hard to take off? A little harder than it was to put on, and no harder than that. People hear that a snug ring is safer and take it as far as it will go, which is a mistake. You need to be able to remove your own ring: for a swollen hand, for a hospital admission, for a service at the workshop, for the day you spend laying turf. A ring you physically cannot get off is not secure. It is stuck, and one hot week is all it takes to find out.Over the knucklePush the ring on. Then take it off again, twisting it rather than pulling it straight.
FitsGoes on with steady pressure, and needs a deliberate twist to come back over the knuckle.Does notFalls off with no resistance at all, or needs soap every single time. Those are the two edges of wrong.
The spinWith the ring sitting at the base of the finger, turn it once around with your thumb.
FitsTurns with a little friction, and stays where you leave it when you let go.Does notFree spinning. The stone will spend most of its life rotated under your palm, and the band wears flat on one side.
The mark it leavesWear it for a few hours, take it off, and look at the skin underneath.
FitsA faint line that has gone within a minute or two.Does notA deep groove, or skin puffing up either side of the band. That ring is too small and it will be worse in February.
The one sentence versionA ring should be easy to put on, hard to lose and possible to take off. If any one of those three is missing, the size is wrong.
The knuckle sets the size, not the finger
Here is the awkward fact underneath every sizing conversation. A finger is not a cylinder. The ring has to pass a joint that is wider than the place it spends its life, so a band can only ever be a compromise between two different measurements on the same finger.
One finger, two measurements, one bandCross-sections through the ring finger, drawn to the same millimetre scale
Read the two drawings together and the whole problem is visible. The band is narrower than the knuckle, so getting past it takes force. The band is wider than the base, so once it is on there is room for it to turn. Those are not two faults. They are the same ring, doing what a rigid circle on a tapered finger has to do.It also explains why two people measured at the same size can disagree completely about whether it is comfortable. On a slim, even finger the difference between knuckle and base might be half a millimetre, and the ring sits still. On a finger with a prominent joint it can be two millimetres or more, and the only size that clears the knuckle will spin at the base.That case has a proper fix rather than a compromise. Two small beads of metal soldered inside the band at the bottom, or a fitted shank that flattens the inside of the ring, hold the base snug while leaving the opening wide enough to pass the joint. It is half an hour of bench work, invisible from the outside, and it turns a ring that never quite sat right into one you stop noticing. Ask for it by name and any decent workshop will know what you mean.Across the knuckle18.4 mm acrossThe band is 1.1 mm narrower than the finger hereThe band has to spread the skin and squeeze past the joint. That is the resistance you feel going on, and it is supposed to be there.
At the base, where it lives16.6 mm acrossThe band is 0.7 mm wider than the finger hereOnce past, the ring settles on a narrower finger. That small ring of air is what lets a correctly sized band turn.
Gold circle: the inside of an AU N½ band, 17.3 mm across
Drawn from a common Australian hand: an AU N½ band, which is US 7, on a finger measuring 18.4 mm over the knuckle and 16.6 mm at the base. Both numbers vary hugely between people, and the gap between them decides far more about how a size feels than the size itself does.Band width changes the answerA wide band touches more of your finger, so it reads tighter than a fine one at the same measurement. Above about 6 mm, add a quarter to half a size. This catches people out when a slim engagement ring is later joined by a chunky wedding band.
If you have to be wrong, be wrong small
Between a ring that runs slightly small and one that runs slightly large, we would take slightly small every time, and it is not close.
The same quarter of a size, in both directions
The asymmetry is in the consequences. A ring that is too small is a mild daily annoyance with a known, cheap, permanent fix. A ring that is too big is fine for years and then is gone, usually into a hotel bin, a rockpool or a pair of gardening gloves. One of those two problems can be solved on a Tuesday afternoon.Two caveats, because the rule is not unconditional. First, err small only if the design can be opened up. A plain or lightly set band moves a size or two without argument, but a full eternity ring, a shank with pavé running to the base, or a tension setting either cannot be resized or has to be partly remade. Ask before you order, not after. Second, small has a floor. If the ring will not pass the knuckle at all on a warm evening, that is not slightly small, and no amount of persistence makes it right.One Australian wrinkle worth planning for. If you are sizing in a Melbourne July for a hand that will spend February in Brisbane, size for the summer hand. Winter fingers flatter a ring and then hand you a problem six months later.A quarter size too small
Stays on in cold water, in a coat pocket and in a wave.
Sits where the designer put it, so the stone faces up instead of sliding round.
Opens up in an afternoon at the bench on almost any design.
At its worst, it needs cold water and soap to come off on a hot night.
A quarter size too big
Turns all day, so the stone spends most of it under your palm.
Rocks against the skin as the hand moves, and the band wears thin on one side.
Comes off with a glove, a wet hand or a pocket, usually without being noticed.
Rings get claimed on insurance for being lost far more often than for being broken.
One finger, two days
Most complaints about fit are not about a ring that was made wrong. They are about a finger that was a different size when it was measured. The band is a fixed circle. Nothing else in this story holds still.
The same finger, plotted through a hot day and a cold oneMovement away from the size the finger was measured at, in AU letter sizesThe centre line is the measured size. The top and bottom of the plot are three quarters of a size either side of it.The shape here is what jewellers and hand clinics both describe: fingers run smallest when cold and first thing in the morning, largest in heat and late in the day. The heights are illustrative rather than measured. No published study tracks Australian ring sizes hour by hour, and the honest summary is a swing of about half a size across an ordinary day, stretching to a full size after salt, alcohol, a long flight or heavy gym work.
So how much does ring size change with temperature? Across the range most of us live in, roughly half a letter size between a cold morning and a hot afternoon. The mechanism is simple. In heat the blood vessels in your hands open up to shed warmth, which puts more fluid in the fingers. In cold they close down to keep the warmth in your core, and your hands are the first thing your body is willing to sacrifice.Which gives you the rules for measuring. Do it at the end of a normal day, at a normal indoor temperature, on a hand that has not just been in the surf, in the gym or on a plane. Measure three times across three different days. If the readings disagree, take the larger one, because you can feel a ring that is loose for one hour and you cannot ignore a ring that is tight for six.This is also why a ring bought as a surprise sometimes needs a visit to the workshop even though the size was right. It was measured on a borrowed ring in September. It is being worn in January. Our sizing guide covers how to take the measurement without giving the surprise away.6am10am2pm6pm10pm
A 33°C day in FebruaryHeat, a day on your feet and a salty dinner. The ring that turned freely at breakfast has to be twisted off at bedtime.
A 12°C day in JulyCold hands run smaller all day and never fully catch up. This is when rings come off in the surf and go down the drain.
Bringing a swollen finger down
Does drinking water reduce swelling in fingers? Yes, a little, and only for one cause. When you are dehydrated your body holds on to sodium and the water that comes with it, and puffy hands are part of the result. Drinking properly over a day lets your kidneys clear the excess, and the swelling settles with it.What water will not do is out-run the salty meal you ate an hour ago, and it does nothing at all for swelling caused by heat, by a knock, by arthritis or by pregnancy. If a glass of water is your plan for a ring that is stuck right now, it is the wrong plan.
Hands at the end of a hot day are close to their largest. It is the fairest moment to judge whether a ring fits, and the worst moment to judge whether you can get it off.We are jewellers and not doctors, so the line where we stop is worth stating. Swelling in one finger with pain, heat or redness, swelling that has not gone down by the next morning, pins and needles, or swelling in pregnancy that arrives suddenly alongside a headache or changes in vision: all of those are questions for a GP or a hospital rather than for a ring size. Get the ring off first if you can, then go.
What actually works within the hourGet the hand above your heart, run it under cold water, and open and close the fist twenty times. Elevation, cold and the muscle pump move fluid out of a finger in minutes, which is roughly the speed hydration works over a day. Take rings off before a long flight rather than after one.
When it will not come off
Almost every stuck ring comes off at home, and the order you try things in matters more than any individual trick.
In this order, and no otherEach step is reversible and each one improves the odds of the next. Give the first two a genuine few minutes before reaching for a lubricant, because a cool, drained hand is a smaller hand.
Which brings us to the internet's favourite answer. Why does Windex help with ring removal? Nothing mystical: it is a thin, slippery liquid that will run into the gap between a band and skin where hand cream just sits on top, the surfactants in it break the grip between metal and damp skin, and it evaporates instead of leaving a film to clean off afterwards. Straight out of a cupboard it is cold as well, which does no harm.Soap and cold water do the same job about as well, so use whatever is closest. The one caution is the ring itself. Ammonia based window cleaner is harmless on diamond, gold and platinum, but it can damage porous and treated stones such as emerald, opal, pearl and turquoise, and it will lift plating. If the ring is anything other than a plain diamond in solid metal, reach for the soap instead.1
Stop pulling, and put the hand in the airYanking at a stuck ring swells the fingertip within a minute and makes everything after it harder. Hold the hand above your head for two or three minutes and let the fluid drain back down the arm.
2
Cool the whole handA minute or two under cold running water shrinks a finger by more than you would expect, and it takes the heat out of any swelling that is already there. Ice against bare skin is unnecessary.
3
Lubricate, then twist rather than pullSoap, hand cream, olive oil, dishwashing liquid or window cleaner all work. Work the ring back and forth as you ease it up, because a twist breaks the seal between skin and metal in a way that a straight pull never does.
4
Wrap the finger with dental flossWind floss firmly from the fingertip down to the ring, feed the loose end under the band, then unwind from underneath. The wrap squeezes the knuckle down and walks the ring over it. This is the step people skip, and it is the one that usually works.
Stop
Purple, numb or throbbing means hands offA band that is restricting circulation is an emergency, not a puzzle to solve. Every emergency department and most jewellers keep a ring cutter and use it in about ten seconds. A cut shank is an hour of bench time and a repair nobody will ever see. A damaged finger is not.
Two things never to doDo not wait it out overnight while the colour of your finger changes, and do not attack the band with pliers or a hacksaw. A proper ring cutter is designed to protect the finger underneath it. Everything in a toolbox is designed to do the opposite. Our care guide covers what happens to the ring afterwards.
Fixing a fit that is wrong
Give a new ring a fortnight before you decide. A band on a finger that has never worn one feels foreign for about that long, and a surprising number of rings sent back for resizing in the first week turn out to have been right.After that, the fix depends on the direction and the design. Going smaller is the straightforward one: a section comes out of the bottom of the shank, the ends are joined, and the join is finished until it cannot be found. Going larger is either the same operation in reverse, with metal added, or a light stretch on a mandrel for a quarter size or so, which thins the band slightly and is best used sparingly. Either way a plain or lightly set ring moves one to two sizes comfortably.What resists is anything set the whole way round. A full eternity band cannot be resized in the normal sense because there is no plain metal to cut, and the honest options are a remake or a different ring. Pavé that runs to the base of the shank has to be partly unset and reset. Tension settings rely on the spring in the metal holding the stone, so opening the band changes the thing doing the holding. None of that is a reason to avoid those designs. It is a reason to be sure of the size before you commit to one.And if the fit is only wrong at the base while the knuckle is fine, do not resize at all. That is the beads and fitted shank problem from earlier, and shrinking the whole ring to solve it just gives you a band you cannot get past the joint.
Not sure if it fits?Tell us what the ring is doing: spinning, marking, sticking in the heat. We will tell you whether it is a size problem, a knuckle problem or a fortnight problem, and what it would take to fix. We would rather say leave it alone than sell you bench time you do not need.
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