Rings and jewelry
Damascus for rings and jewelry
Stainless DSC® Inox from BALBACHDAMAST® (opens in a new tab): round bar sold by the inch for ring makers, flat stock for pendants, and ring slices made on request. It's approved for direct contact with food.
Forge-ready round bar
Stainless rounds, by the inch
DSC® Inox round bar in Wild and Torsion, cut to the length you order. Rounds ship raw, with their forge scale on, so the finished size comes from your own grinding.
Ø 20 mm
0.79 IN ACROSS
Wild · Torsion
$15.23 / in
Shop the 20 mm stainless round →was $30.45Ø 25 mm
0.98 IN ACROSS
Wild · Torsion
$23.80 / in
Shop the 25 mm stainless round →was $47.60Ø 30 mm
1.18 IN ACROSS
Wild · Torsion
$34.13 / in
Shop the 30 mm stainless round →was $68.25Ø 35 mm
1.38 IN ACROSS
Wild · Torsion
$46.55 / in
Shop the 35 mm stainless round →was $93.10
Made on request
Ring slices
Ring slices aren't kept in stock; they're made on request. Send the steel, the diameter, the pattern, how thick and how many, and you'll have the price and timing before anything is cut.
The steel
Why DSC® Inox
- Approved for direct contact with food
- In the mill's own words, on the DSC® Inox datasheet.
- Two stainless steels
- 1.4034 datasheet (opens in a new tab) + 19C27 datasheet (opens in a new tab), 120 layers as stocked.
- Soft as it arrives
- Soft annealed at about 22-27 HRC, so it saws, drills and machines before hardening.
- Not for cold work
- Damascus usually can't be bent or stretched cold, so rings are cut from round bar, not bent from strip, and made at their finished size.
From the BALBACHDAMAST® (opens in a new tab) DSC® Inox datasheet. The steel numbers link to each grade's own datasheet. Carbon and stainless side by side: the steel guide.
Working it
From round to ring
Pick the diameter
The round has to cover the ring's inside diameter, both walls and the scale you grind off. A US size 9 measures about 18.9 mm (0.75 in) across the inside; with 2 mm walls that's about 23 mm, so the 25 mm round.
Slice and bore
Saw a slice as wide as the band, then drill or bore it out to the finished size.
Harden and temper
DSC® Inox reaches its full corrosion resistance only once hardened, under vacuum or protective gas. The mill's temper for decorative pieces is 2 hours at 572°F (300°C): 56-57 HRC.
Etch
Fine polish, degrease, then etch in fresh sulfuric acid, 15-20%, warmed to 122-140°F (50-60°C). Never ferric chloride on stainless.
The full schedules: heat treatment and etching in the steel guide.
More for jewelers
Flat stock
DSC® Inox · from 2 mm thick
For pendants and other flat pieces: DSC® Inox cut to the inch from 2 mm thick, flat-ground and soft annealed, or pre-cut pieces from 2 mm.
Carbon rounds
DSC® Carbon · Ø 20-35 mm
Round bar in DSC® Carbon too, by the inch. Carbon rusts without oil, so for rings stainless is the easier choice.
Carbon rounds →Titanium, zirconium, mokume
On request
BALBACHDAMAST® also forges titanium and zirconium Damascus, mokume, non-magnetic austenitic Damascus and finished stainless Damascus rings.
Rare and custom Damascus →