PVC Ring With Stone Inlay.

I have seen a lot of wood rings with stone inlay, but nothing on PVC rings. This is a ring made out of PVC pipe with crushed stone inlay.

Materials:

-PVC pipe that will fit the recipients finger

-Hacksaw to cut the PVC pipe. Lots of other tools could work for this also.

-Hammer

-Metal file or Dremel

-Super Glue

-Dremel (optional, but very helpful)

-Stone. I just used a piece of gravel from my driveway.

I could not find a piece of pipe that would fit my ring finger so I chose a small diameter for my pinky finger. If you do not have any scrap PVC then sometime hardware stores like Ace will sell scraps of it for really cheap. If at all possible, try to find PVC that has thick walls so you do not file all the way through.

Once you have the pipe then cut off the size of ring that you want. Your ring will be slightly smaller then this because of sanding so adjust accordingly. You can always take more off, but you cannot put more back on.

Sand the piece of pipe so that it has uniform height all the way around. If it is off a little, then the finished product will be noticeably uneven.

You can use a Dremel or a pocket knife for this step, but i found that a metal file worked the best for me. File whatever shape groove you want into the ring. This step is fairly simple but you must remember to keep the groove straight and in the middle of the ring, unless you want it offset for a reason. Do not file all the way through the PVC or make the walls too thin or it will be very fragile.

I wanted a dark stone in my ring. I looked at some very pretty stones, but they did not keep their color very well after they were crushed so i used a black piece of gravel. You can use whatever rock you want, but glassy rocks may become much lighter after they are crushed and inlayed.

To crush the stone you want, wrap it in a an old sock or cloth and hammer away. Don't hammer too much or you will only have powder and no variety in size. Powder is nice to fill in holes. but I like using mostly medium pieces.

Simply drip a drop of super glue or CA glue into your groove then sprinkle your crushed stone in the groove. Keep doing this all the way around your ring. You may have to do this step multiple times if there are empty spaces in the ring. Let this sit for enough time to dry. I was not sure on how long the thick super glue would take to dry, so I just let it sit for an hour before moving on.

This step is just removal of any stone above the surface. be creative with this step. I used a Dremel with a sanding disk and it went very quickly, but you could also hand sand it, drag it along cement, or file it off.

Filing extra stone off did not work for me, but try it and see if it works on your stone.

This ring is plastic and stone, and so I thought sanding would be a little difficult to do. It went very smoothly though. I just hand sanded it, and it curved the plastic nicely and it just polished and evened out the stone part. I used 220 grit to 1500 grit, and that gave me a really nice shine without a finish.

I couldn't find a natural finish for this ring because everything just rubbed off quickly or evaporated. I did not try a polyurethane, or lacquer finish, but don't really like using those.

Now go show it off, you deserve it. Take some pictures. Post it on Facebook. Give it to a loved one. Just enjoy it.

Remember that this is a soft plastic, so if you are sanding on another project or something, then you might want to take it off so you do not ruin it.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you found it pleasant.

Also go out and make one yourself because its fun to create things.

Please comment below of what you think. If you have any ideas on how it could be improved, then please share.