^^ Your friend is correct: titanium cannot be cut off in an emergency. I'm sure that's ok with most people, but since both my step-dad and FIL have had to have their rings cut off in the last two years it would scare me.
At any rate, I'd go with white gold. Platinum scratches so easily and a WG ring will hold up better. My husband wanted plain, plain, plain, and is very happy with his (plain) WG 5 mm band.
Titanium and tungsten CAN be cut off in emergency situations.
http://www.e-weddingbands.com/store/tungsten_rings.html
Can a Tungsten ring be cut off?
Yes! Please be aware that in any situation where there might be a medical necessity to cut off or remove a tungsten ring--for instance excessive weight gain, hand injury, etc.,--removing a tungsten ring doesnt pose much more of a challenge than cutting through a gold or platinum wedding band. In our own jewelry shop, as in many other jewelry shops, we have a cutting tool designed for cutting titanium and tungsten wedding bands. In addition, tungsten bands can be fractured into pieces using vise-grip pliers. When we contacted our local hospital emergency room and asked if they were equipped to remove tungsten wedding bands in an emergency, they told us that most hospital emergency rooms are prepared to handle almost anything, and assured us that it would be no problem for them.
During our 30 years of jewelry repair experience, we've only seen a dozen or so rings that have been cut off in hospital emergency rooms, and in most of those cases the rings had been bent out-of-round and were putting painful pressure on the finger. Tungsten rings will not crush or bend out-of-round, so if you shut your hand in a car door or drop a heavy object on it, a tungsten wedding band is likely to fracture into several pieces and fall off your finger freely. You might be safer wearing a tungsten ring than a precious metal band! Nonetheless, check with your local jeweler or medical facility if you have concerns.
http://www.e-weddingbands.com/store/titanium_wedding_bands.html
Can a Titanium ring be cut off?
Yes! Please be aware that in any situation where it might become necessary to cut off a Titanium ring--for instance excessive weight gain, hand injury, etc.--cutting through titanium will be more difficult than cutting through gold or platinum. However, it can still be done.
In our own jewelry shop, we used a separating disc and flexible shaft tool--items commonly found in nearly all jewelry shops that work with gold, silver, and platinum--to cut through one of our 5mm domed and comfort fit titanium rings. We placed the ring in a vice and were able to cut all the way through it in 20 seconds. That speed generated too much heat to be comfortable if the ring was being worn, so one of our goldsmiths used a separating disk to cut through another 5mm domed and comfort-ft titanium band while wearing it on his own finger. He used the separating disk at a much slower rate so as not to generate too much heat, and frequently submersed his finger in cool water to keep the band cool. He safely cut through the band in 3 minutes with no discomfort or injury to his finger. Next, we contacted our local hospital emergency room and asked if they were equipped to cut off a titanium ring in an emergency. Most hospital emergency rooms are prepared to handle almost anything, and ours assured us that it would be no problem for them.
During our 30+ years of jewelry repair experience, we've only seen a dozen or so rings that have been cut off in hospital emergency rooms, and in most of those cases the rings had been bent out-of-round and were putting painful pressure on the finger. Titanium rings are less likely to crush or bend out-of-round, so if you shut your hand in a car door or drop a heavy object on it, it might be safer to be wearing a titanium ring than a precious metal band! Nonetheless, if you ever need your titanium ring cut off, just contact a local jeweler that uses separating discs. Please check with your local medical facility if you have concerns.
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Neither can be resized, however.
