Betelgeuse Damascus Men Ring 12 US Size Handmade Stainless Steel Damascus and Mokume Gane Ring | BMJ-01

Description

The Betelgeuse is one band carrying two entirely separate metalworking traditions. A forge-welded steel body, dark and layered, with a stripe of mokume gane inlaid the whole way around it in copper, brass, nickel and silver that has been coloured by heat rather than by plating. Listed in US sizes 3 through 12.

Two crafts, not one process run twice

These are not the same technique used on different metals. The steel half is forge welded and then etched, so the alternating layers separate into light and dark under acid. Mokume gane is a Japanese non-ferrous method: sheets of copper, brass, nickel or silver are diffusion bonded together under heat and pressure, then carved into and flattened again so that the buried layers surface as a wood-grain figure. One of those belongs to the blacksmith and the other sits much closer to the goldsmith’s bench. Putting them on a single band gives you two colour palettes and two different rates of ageing on the same finger. What forge welding actually involves covers the ferrous side of the work in detail.

One price across every size

US 3 through 12 are all listed at the same figure, which is not how jewellery normally works. Most makers charge by metal weight, so a size 12 costs more than a size 5 and the difference lands on the invoice. Forged steel bands are made one at a time rather than cast out of a mould, so there is no per-gram bill to hand along. That range covers most adult hands in both directions, and it means a couple ordering two rings together are not paying a premium on the larger of the pair.

Sizing advice worth taking seriously

Get measured properly in a shop instead of guessing from a printed paper strip, because paper stretches under a little tension and tends to read half a size small. Fingers swell in heat and shrink in the cold, so a band that fits beautifully in July can spin loose on you in January. Steel offers none of the forgiveness that soft gold does, so err toward the size that clears your knuckle with a small amount of resistance rather than the one that feels perfect at the base of the finger.

Living with it

This is a high-carbon laminate rather than a corrosion-proof alloy, so treat it the way you would treat a good blade. Take it off before heavy lifting, before the gym and before you swim. Rinse and dry it when you wash your hands. A wipe of light oil every few weeks keeps the etched face crisp and the mokume bright, and two minutes of attention a month is genuinely the whole routine.

Made in Memphis

The billet is welded up, drawn down and rolled at our own forge, the mokume is bonded and carved on the same bench, and the two are brought together and finished by hand before the ring is sized and polished. Nothing about the process scales neatly, which is why the range is small and why each band comes out a little different from the last one.

Where it sits in the range

The Akuma devil ring is the heavy sculpted statement piece at this bench, and the Aldebaran band sits closest to this one on price if you want the forged figure without the non-ferrous inlay. Every ring is made and finished in Memphis, Tennessee, and laser engraving on the inside face can be added before checkout.

Model: BMJ-01