Ring Sizing for Surprise Proposals and Awkward Knuckles

55 minutes ago

3 min read

If you can simply measure the finger, our ring size guide covers the methods. This page covers the two situations where that isn't possible: buying as a surprise, and fingers where the knuckle is the problem.

Getting a size without asking

Borrow a ring she already wears on the correct finger. Take it to a jeweler, or measure the inside diameter yourself: 16.5mm is roughly a US 6, 17.3mm a US 7, 18.2mm a US 8. Return it before it's missed.

Press it into soap or clay. If you can borrow the ring only briefly, press it flat into a bar of soap and measure the impression later.

Recruit an accomplice. A friend or sister can go ring shopping "for herself" and get her sized. This is the most reliable method by a distance.

Compare hands. If a friend has visibly similar hands and knows her size, that's a usable starting point.

Use the average as a last resort. US women average around size 6 to 6.5. Ordering a 6.5 and resizing afterwards is a common, workable plan.

What not to do: guess from a ring she wears on a different finger. Index, middle and ring fingers differ by up to a full size, and the dominant hand runs about half a size larger.

When the knuckle is bigger than the finger

This is more common than most people realise, and it changes the approach entirely. The ring has to pass the knuckle, but if you size for the knuckle, it spins loosely at the base.

Options, roughly in order of preference:

Size for the knuckle, then add sizing beads. Two small beads soldered inside the band hold it steady at the base while still sliding over the joint.
A slightly wider band. Wide bands sit more snugly and spin less.
A hinged shank for significant differences, which opens to pass the knuckle and closes below it. More expensive, and worth it.
Accept a slightly loose fit and wear a ring guard in cold weather, when fingers shrink most.

The rings you cannot resize later

This matters most when you are guessing.

Full eternity bands have stones set all the way round, so there is no plain metal to cut. They generally cannot be resized at all.
Rings with stones set into the shank can usually only move a size or so before the setting is compromised.
Plated and gold filled rings cannot be resized, because cutting breaches the gold layer.
Tungsten and titanium cannot be resized either.

Solid gold plain and half-set bands are the forgiving choice: any competent jeweler can move them a size or two. If you are proposing on a guess, that flexibility is worth building into the choice.

Timing

Fingers swell in heat and after salt, alcohol and exercise, and shrink in cold. If you are having a ring made to a measurement, take it at the end of a normal warm day, not first thing on a winter morning.