Problems with Turkish puzzle rings
Friday, September 23rd, 2011 01:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lethargic_manMany of you who have met me will have noted my predilection for Turkish puzzle rings. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have much luck with them. My first one (a cheap affair, made of base metal) dropped off my finger somewhere in Ashkelon in 1991. I bought a replacement from a shop in Jaffa a short while later. That one lasted until I lost my passport in Schönefeld Airport in Berlin in 2005, whereupon I slammed my hand against the wall in frustration, and one of the bands snapped.
To my later surprise, it took me until 2008 to get a replacement, this time an eight-band ring made of sterling silver. This is, IMO, an extremely poor choice for puzzle rings: it's too soft, too easy for the individual bands to bend out of shape. After having bent them back several times, after about six months, one of them snapped. I went to get it repaired, but a few months later, it snapped again. It had cost me £10 to get it repaired; given that the ring itself only cost £13, I thought it wasn't worth getting it repaired again, and just put up with it as it was.
Unfortunately, the broken ends of the band kept snagging on things and bending, and a few couple of weeks ago, the band snapped again, into two pieces.
I thought I'd get a replacement, and see if I could sell the original for scrap silver. What I wasn't expecting is that in the last three years, the price of the same ring has gone up to £29. (Apparently the price of silver has more than trebled; don't ask me why.)
I suppose I'll just have to bite the bullet if I want it replaced. (The shop I bought it from won't add a replacement eighth band, as they say they do not have workshop facilities.) Still, it seems likely that if I do, sooner or later the replacement will break too. It would be better if I could get a ring made out of something stronger, but silver and gold seem to be the only metals available, that I could see online.
The alternative is to get a four-member ring instead of an eight-band one; the individual bands there might be thicker, and hence stronger. But I've become used to my eight-band one; and besides, it looks pretty. (If they weren't so expensive, I'd get both!)
I suppose another alternative is to do without, but I like puzzle rings. *sigh*
To my later surprise, it took me until 2008 to get a replacement, this time an eight-band ring made of sterling silver. This is, IMO, an extremely poor choice for puzzle rings: it's too soft, too easy for the individual bands to bend out of shape. After having bent them back several times, after about six months, one of them snapped. I went to get it repaired, but a few months later, it snapped again. It had cost me £10 to get it repaired; given that the ring itself only cost £13, I thought it wasn't worth getting it repaired again, and just put up with it as it was.
Unfortunately, the broken ends of the band kept snagging on things and bending, and a few couple of weeks ago, the band snapped again, into two pieces.
I thought I'd get a replacement, and see if I could sell the original for scrap silver. What I wasn't expecting is that in the last three years, the price of the same ring has gone up to £29. (Apparently the price of silver has more than trebled; don't ask me why.)
I suppose I'll just have to bite the bullet if I want it replaced. (The shop I bought it from won't add a replacement eighth band, as they say they do not have workshop facilities.) Still, it seems likely that if I do, sooner or later the replacement will break too. It would be better if I could get a ring made out of something stronger, but silver and gold seem to be the only metals available, that I could see online.
The alternative is to get a four-member ring instead of an eight-band one; the individual bands there might be thicker, and hence stronger. But I've become used to my eight-band one; and besides, it looks pretty. (If they weren't so expensive, I'd get both!)
I suppose another alternative is to do without, but I like puzzle rings. *sigh*
