utility custom jewelry

Sterling Vs Ti

Why these materials?

4/25/20262 min read

Sterling vs Titanium? Is there really a choice here? Well it depends, what resonates more relevant to your measure of matter? If the honest to god purpose of "OO" in your world is to exist as beautiful clean adornment 88% of the time with that occasional 11% to display an ominous potential then by all means select silver. It's a material that finishes precise & clean with a mirror shine. Its malleability permits useful integrations of gemstones & other varied materials, but it is pricier for what amounts to aesthetic reasons.

Titanium can achieve some semblance of Silver's in adornment circles, and its functional qualities obliterate that of silver while remaining a fraction of the cost. Seems a no brainer. That said, Titanium demands the time to achieve both the fit and finish that silver damn near arrives perfectly. I suppose the production process anticipates this, as lost wax casting produces near perfect replicas of the burnt away wax form for molten metal to fill. There is of course a variance in shrinkage that has to accounted for, but overall, a stable consistent expectation the silver lost wax castings.

A Titanium "OO" sinters or rather melts each titanium alloy layer by layer, creating deviations or artifacts which can impact the output form in very dynamic ways. These deviations create unique puzzles every time I assemble the pieces, so I have to actively, figure out why the parts fight and misalign. I'm sure the technology can produce more precise pieces, but the higher costs mirrors this insane level of precision especially with lower volume production orders. Even if demand supported the 1000 minimum order threshold to acquire "OO" with the required precision & finish & COST, I SIMPLY CANNOT PRODUCE MORE THAN 20 TO 30 "OO" PER MONTH, which means a 1.5 year wait list.

And I got to honest, a 1.5 year wait list sounds like pure torture, granted the better finish & fit will improve my output, the scenario is unrealistic & unsustainable. So the sentiment that "OO" is a historical artifact that will become priceless due to bottlenecked production is not so far fetched. Perhaps in 5 years, I'll have achieved my 1000 "OO"s, which in that time, assuming AI hasn't folded most of us into the fetal position under the weight of indistinguishable data over bullshit, the early "OO" adopters will be remembered as both fearless but real frugal, cause I got to tell you's, Titanium "OO" in completion work alone devours the profit considered sustainable, so anticipate appropriate cost increases.

Sterling Vs Ti

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