"Barrel Bands" are rings made from shotgun barrels

[milliefink]

Our bands are sourced from decommissioned gun barrels that would otherwise be discarded or destroyed.

“decommissioned”

[euansmith]

@BillB

Only things that come to mind are the Canadian Engineering Tradition of the iron ring on the writing hand of the graduate engineer.

Roman Citizens had an Iron Ring to show their status; while the Patrician Rank needed a Gold Ring to command respect. At least that is what I remember from Lindsey Davis’s Falco books.

[tcg550]

It does sound like there are some skilled craftsman and jewelers involved and it includes a fancy wooden box.

Etsy has a bunch made out of gun barrels for less money but if you search for barrel rings you get some way cooler rings made from whiskey barrels.

The ones on Etsy seem to be a more involved making process.

Here’s a mix of both.

Rifle Barrel Ring - Etsy

[Carbonman]

How can a thing that kills things also symbolize love?

Lots of folks wear a cross on a chain around their neck.

[Akimbo_NOT]

Pro execution?

[Tamsin_Bailey]

You did good there but

[VeronicaConnor]

@Barrel Bands

would never cut one up if it could still be used by someone.

This text is working very hard to fend off this specific criticism. Are there really people who would be upset about guns being cut up for this? There are millions of shotguns in the world and very few are special. If someone wanted to make rings out of Honda Civics, I wouldn’t yell at them, despite being a pretty serious car enthusiast.

@Barrel Bands

so you can be just as comfortable crouching in a duck blind as you are sitting in a church pew

What about kneeling on a prayer mat? I bet they’re totally okay with that person buying their product, right? crickets

[Tamsin_Bailey]

@Barrel Bands

so you can be just as comfortable crouching in a duck blind as you are sitting in a church pew

I didn’t think people took shotguns to church.

[Mister44]

1. Steel is a horrible thing to make jewelry out of. Maybe stainless steel you could get away with, but shotgun barrels are usually carbon steel.

2. Steel rusts. They say they coated it, but don’t say what they coat it with. It is probably a nitride coating. Still - those finishes make them resistant to rusting. I can’t imagine a ring like that being worn every day that the salts in your sweat don’t start causing issues. I’ve had things with stainless or nitride coatings produce mild surface rust due to prolonged contact with sweat.

3. Jesus, that is a lot of money for a ring of steel. Like, a lot. Even if you have fancy coating and some hand work to size and smooth it out, that’s a lot.

How can a thing that kills things also symbolize love?

I see it as a swords to plowshares sort of thing.

[VeronicaConnor]

@Tamsin_Bailey

I didn’t think people took shotguns to church.

Only for certain kinds of weddings.

[Bonivus_elderheart]

Of the two rings I have and wear frequently, one is apparently titanium, but given it was sold from amazon, I have my doubts. The other is black PLA, fabricated on my printer. both of them have writing on them in elvish script. The language is of Mordor, which I will not utter here- coughs

wait, wrong script. The 3d printed one is a reproduction of the LOTR prop, and it is precious to me.

[LurksNoMore]

I could understand this kind of a thing, if both people getting married were eager hunters, or skeet shooters, or something similar. Otherwise, it feels rather weird.

[awfulhorrid]

@boingboing

so you can be just as comfortable crouching in a duck blind as you are sitting in a church pew.

My first thought about this was that I would not be comfortable in either of these situations, although I guess if I’m bird watching the duck blind might be temporarily acceptable and I’m more or less ok with sitting in a pew to participate in a social function, just don’t expect me to join in with the chanting. On further reflection, however, I’ll note the phrase is “just as comfortable,” to which I must grant these situations are equivalent in terms of comfort to me.

[KathyPartdeux]

What do you mean?

Someone took a hacksaw to a pipe - that’s some fine, old world craftsmanship.

[FGD135]

One Two Three 1961 James Cagney

[Brainspore]

@boingboing

How can a thing that kills things also symbolize love?

“With this ring I thee DEAD.”

[ddmone]

What is this? A belt for ants??

[ddmone]

A couple years ago the Oregon based knife company Benchmade used its foundry to help law enforcement destroy some guns. The 2A crowd lost their “minds” and started a Benchmade boycott.

[spetrovits]

I’m all for bilking gun nuts out of their money, but this is just a dumb product. As pointed out upthread, carbon steel isn’t a great material for something that sits against your skin, regardless of whatever undoubtedly painstaking process they use to finish the rings. After all, they used “a completely new procedure to size the rings and not compromise the integrity of the shotgun barrel,” including…let me see…something called “cutting” and something else called “tack welding,” both of which sound like exotic procedures they clearly took a lot of time developing. I can only imagine what kind of unobtanium they added to the surface to keep it from rusting.

[MonkeyT12]

@Mister44

I see it as a swords to plowshares sort of thing.

But it still allows the wearer to proclaim to all “DAMN I LOVE MY SWORDS!”