Anyone who owns an item of jewellery for a significant period is at risk of suffering some harm to it. It may be scratched or a stone cracked (especially if it is a softer one, lower down the Mohs scale). It may be lost and then found later, bent out of shape or crushed under a heavy object.
However, sometimes jewellery repairs are less about fixing damage than adjusting it to a changing circumstance - the size of your ring finger.
Nobody knows their ring size before they get it measured for the first time, especially for single people who will wear an engagement or wedding ring, having not done so before.
In theory, this should be accurate, but even for those who have their finger measured for a ring they may be wearing within weeks or months, the measurement might not be foolproof.
Why Your Ring Size Might Be Wrong
One reason for this is that fingers can be fatter or thinner according to temporary factors such as room temperature, so a ring may fit very snugly at some times but also be tight or loose when the room is warmer or cooler. Fingers tend to be thinner when it is cold and expand when it is warm.
Similarly, fingers can expand and the ring become tighter due to factors such as extra salinity (after a meal with a lot of salt), having just exercised when the blood is pumping, and, for women, hormonal factors - in particular, pregnancy.
Sometimes, there is not a great deal you can do about this. For instance, there is no point in trying to get it changed during pregnancy when your finger size will revert to normal after the baby arrives.
For that reason, the main reason to get the ring changed is if the normal circumstances when you wear it differ from when you had it measured. Had you just entered the jewellers on a very warm or cold day, for example, or just after eating fish and chips, or even while pregnant? This could have upset the calculations.
Permanent Size Change Factors
A permanent issue like this is one good reason to get a ring re-sized. Another might be less temporary physical changes. For example, if you put on or lose a lot of weight, your priority should always be to ensure your weight is the healthiest for you.
On the other hand, factors like ageing and conditions like arthritis can alter your finger size, causing their shape to change or your fingers to swell up. If you have had a ring that fitted well for many years but no longer does for any of these reasons, this warrants getting it changed.
The techniques for changing a ring’s size are simple enough, but, as ever, you should always rely on the experts to do it and not attempt any homespun tricks, as getting it wrong could leave you with permanent damage. This is especially likely if the ring has gems embedded, as they may be loosened or even damaged.
How Rings Can Be Resized
Increasing the size of a ring is easier or harder depending on the metal. Gold, being soft and malleable, is easy to stretch a bit. Platinum or silver can also be resized, but this requires more skill. Harder and more brittle metals like tungsten can be harder to resize.
If having your ring stretched is something that should only be done by a skilled jeweller, the same is true if you want to make it smaller because it is too loose. True, it can be made smaller by homespun methods, but these involve using tricks with tape or string or even risky things like soldering that, once again, could go wrong.
Methods of making a ring fit tighter can include fitting inserts on the inside or adding extra metal to thicken it slightly and reduce the circumference around your finger.
As with stretching, the level of technical skill and equipment needed for making a ring fit tighter is greater when it involves a less malleable metal, but easier with gold, platinum or silver.
If you have an engagement or wedding ring that doesn’t fit snugly day by day despite the initial measurements appearing to be fine, or if long-term physical changes have made it looser or tighter, you need not put up with something that is either uncomfortable or at risk of slipping off and being lost. Nor should you risk a DIY attempt to correct it.
Instead, do not hesitate to get in touch and have it resized by a skilled jewellery repair specialist, who will have done this many times before, leading to a myriad of customers feeling very satisfied with the snug ring fit on their fingers.