Looking after your ring

The metal needs almost nothing. The natural materials need you to keep them dry. That is most of it.

Foundoria ring with deer antler and whisky barrel wood inlay

Tungsten, titanium and zirconium are all far harder than precious metal, and none of them will tarnish. What decides how your ring looks in ten years is not the band, it is how you treat whatever natural material is set into it. Wood and antler absorb moisture. Meteorite is iron, and iron and water do what they have always done.

So the honest short version: wear it, wipe it now and then, and take it off before it gets wet. Your free ENDURA silicone band exists precisely so you can keep wearing something when the real ring should be in its box.

What your ring needs

Your ring	Water	Cleaning
Plain metal band tungsten, titanium, black zirconium	Fine. Handwashing and the occasional soaking will not hurt it	Mild soap and warm water when it looks dull. Dry and buff with a soft cloth
Carbon fibre	Fine	Damp cloth, then dry. No solvents
Wood inlay or sleeve	Take it off first. Wood swells, then cracks	Barely damp cloth, dried straight away. Never soak, never soap the wood
Antler inlay or sleeve	Take it off first. Antler is porous	Dry cloth is usually enough. Barely damp for anything stubborn, then dry
Meteorite inlay	Keep it dry, and keep it out of chlorine especially	Dry cloth only. See the meteorite section below
ENDURA silicone	Made for it	Soap and water, as often as you like

If yours is a sleeve ring, the antler or oak forms the inside of the band, so it is against your skin all day and will pick up sweat rather than splashes. Give it a dry wipe when you take it off at night and let it air before it goes back in the box. That single habit is worth more than any product.

Meteorite: the one that needs a little attention

Iron meteorite will oxidise if you let it get wet, which is why every meteorite inlay we set is protected with an electrophoretic coating during manufacture. That is an industrial process that bonds a protective layer to the surface, and it cannot be reapplied at home.

To help it along, work a very small amount of Renaissance Wax into the inlay every six to twelve months with a soft cloth, leave it a few minutes, then buff gently. It is a museum conservation wax, widely available online, and it is the only extra product we would ever ask you to buy.

Chlorine is the real enemy here, more than water alone. Swimming pools and hot tubs will accelerate oxidation and can compromise the coating, so that is an ENDURA occasion every time.

A gentle darkening over the years is normal and, we think, rather good: the Widmanstätten pattern tends to read more clearly as it ages. If you see rough texture or oxidation spreading, that is different. Email support@foundoria.co.uk and we will advise on resealing.

When to wear it, and when not to

Wear it

Work, driving, daily life
Handwashing, if the ring is plain metal
Light exercise
Dinners and formal occasions
Cooking

Switch to ENDURA

The gym and weights
Swimming and water sports
Manual work and machinery
Contact sports and climbing
Hiking and camping

Take it off

Showering and bathing
Pools, hot tubs, saunas
Cleaning with chemicals
Painting or decorating
Sleeping, ideally

Tungsten is exceptionally hard, which is why it resists scratches, but hardness and toughness are not the same thing: it can crack under a sharp blow rather than bending. Titanium does the opposite, taking a knock and picking up scratches instead. Neither is a flaw, and neither is a reason to be precious about ordinary wear.

Things that will damage it

Chlorine and household chemicals. Bleach, ammonia, drain cleaner, acetone. Also worth keeping hand sanitiser off a natural inlay.
Ultrasonic cleaners. The vibration works loose exactly the thing you do not want loosened.
Abrasives. Scouring pads, steel wool, baking soda, polishing compounds.
Wood oils and conditioners. The wood is already sealed. Adding oil tends to discolour it.
Temperature extremes. A hot car dashboard or a freezing garage will make natural materials expand and contract.

Storing it

Use the box it came in. The lining prevents scratches and the closed lid keeps dust and humidity out, which matters more than it sounds if you have a natural inlay. Keep it on the nightstand rather than the bathroom shelf, since a bathroom is the most humid room you own. Travelling, keep it in hand luggage rather than the hold.

What to avoid is throwing it loose into a jewellery box with everything else, where it will scratch softer metals and get knocked about by them in return.

A monthly two minutes

Look along the join between the inlay and the band for any sign of separation, check the band itself for chips, clear any grit out of the grooves, and put it on to confirm it still fits the way it did. Fingers change over years, and a ring that has gone tight is easier to deal with early.

Where the warranty sits. Our Lifetime Warranty covers manufacturing defects, structural failure and inlay separation under normal wear. It does not cover moisture damage to a natural inlay, chemical damage, impact damage, or loss. In other words it covers our mistakes rather than a ring worn in the shower, which is the whole reason this page exists.

If something is wrong, email support@foundoria.co.uk with photographs and your order number. Do not try to glue a loose inlay yourself, as it makes a repairable ring unrepairable.

One thing to know about sizing

Our rings cannot be altered after the fact, and the inlay is the reason. Resizing means cutting the band and closing it back up, which a natural inlay will not survive: meteorite, antler and barrel oak are set in as one continuous ring, so cutting it cracks the material or breaks the bond holding it. Tungsten cannot be resized in any case. Titanium and zirconium are more workable in a plain band, but not with an inlay in place.

So if the fit is wrong, the answer is a different ring rather than an alteration. Which is why we post free ring sizers to anyone who asks, with no obligation to buy, and why UK size exchanges are free for 30 days.