• jagungal@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Hospitals will generally have ring cutters like this:

    Picture of a pizza-cutter like implement with an arm underneath the serrated cutting wheel.

    They are hand powered and very cost effective for gold and silver rings. Diamond tipped cutters usually need something like a Dremel to power them. They look something like this:

    Picture of a ring cutter similar to the one above but it has an electric screwdriver like attachment to power the wheel..

    They are much more expensive compared to hand powered ones, and pose a higher risk to a patient so they would require additional training to use it, which is another extra cost.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Also, ummm, titanium gets hot. Like all metal gets hot when you cut it, that’s just how friction works.

      But titanium is gummy.

      When we cut steel it makes a nice clean chip until the tool is dull, then it’ll make ugly chips.

      When we cut aluminum or copper, we have to use tools with fewer teeth so they don’t get clogged up with chips. This is fine because these materials are so soft and we can run cutting speeds so high that having fewer teeth isn’t a big deal.

      But titanium is both gummy, in that it wants lots of space between cuts because it’ll clog up teeth, and very hard, in that it wants lots of teeth making smaller cuts.

      It’s also a shit conductor. Aluminum and copper will whisk away heat. Titanium gets hot and stays that way.

      So your titanium jewelry, wherever applied, that needs to be cut off of you, will need a diamond saw, which isn’t really a cutting tool, it’s an abrasive one. Meaning it works through aggressive, point blank friction.

      My point is if you smash your titanium removed ring on, it’s going to not only require a very uncomfortable proximity to a power tool to remove it, it’s going to absolutely burn the fuck out of your dick.

      • jagungal@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Fascinating! However, the fire department (or whoever is your local IDR unit) will almost certainly run coolant while cutting a ring off of anyone.

      • luciferofastora@lemmy.zip
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        5 months ago

        Thank you for the details! I find the different properties of metals fascinating but rarely have the time to read up on it (which isn’t made easier by having to first read up on and understand a bunch of terminology and underlying concepts, which my ADHD just doesn’t have the patience for), so comments like yours giving a bit of insight are perfect.

        • SeekPie@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          It even deforms into a more comfortable shape and doesn’t react with any liquids.

    • NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Just want to add that we’re talking about a tool that can be used to remove rings stuck on any appendage, not just removeds.

      • jagungal@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Yes! I should have clarified. Wedding rings getting stuck on old people’s fingers will be the main use case for those tools, meaning people will have to buy a lot of titanium removed rings before it’s cost effective for hospitals to have electric cutting tools as standard.

        • phx@lemmy.ca
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          5 months ago

          I feel like dicks would be a less likely candidate as there should be other ways to encourage the trapped member to decrease in size before resorting to cutting implements in close proximity