I used to work with tungsten carbide cubes during my PhD thesis. They're used in multianvil high-pressure synthesis. With the right setup you can reach almost 20 GPa of pressure. Not as much as with diamond anvil cells, but you have more reasonable sample sizes (a few milligrams). And thats still like the pressure pretty deep into Earth's mantle.
I always had fun handing them over to students because everyone is surprised by the sheer weight of these things.
Tungsten carbide is actually quite dangerous after it has been subjected to a lot of stress (Such as being stuck into a 1000 t press for a high-pressure synthesis). They have the mean tendecy to explode into super sharp pieces when you're not expecting it, so wear goggles.
It is, for all practical purposes, impossible to buy an actual tungsten ring; all sold as "tungsten" are really just tungsten carbide ceramic. Really-pure elemental tungsten is not difficult to machine, unlike common tungsten alloys.
A company near Los Angeles, American Metals, will sell you a 0.99999 pure tungsten boule for a few $thousand. You can ask for it to have a nominal (e.g.) 22 mm outer diameter, and slice it up and core out a collection of rings. The boule melt pattern on the outside is really appealing.
You can sell the rest of the rings, then, provided you can find a way to cut through the noise of the $2 tungsten-carbide hawkers. You might be tempted to paint on a design with resist and electro-plate gold where it isn't.
The scrap you cored out is pretty valuable. Maybe have the cores cut out as discs, instead of just drilling, because the "swarf" would be really hard to melt! They would resemble very heavy, thick coins; you can use a CNC machine to mill designs onto them, if you like.
Oh, that's really interesting! I guess the energy is storred in them because they underwent some plastic deformation in the press? Is that from plasticity of the WC itself or from a sintering aid such as cobalt? I would have thought pure WC would have no plasticity at all at room temperature or anything nearby.
I got one as well, around the same time actually, as a gift. I also fell into a strange fascination with it and find it fun to hold in the exact same ways as the author. Folks tend to get me 1" element (or sometimes non elemental but interesting in another way) cubes as gifts now which works out as it gives a great range of price to choose from while maintaining surprise with the guarantee I'll enjoy it.
I've had my sites set on something this size https://midwesttungsten.com/tungsten-cube/ for a while now. (about as much as I would feel safe setting down or handing to people considering the hard edges and chance of accidents) I've more than had the spending money to do it for a long time but much like the author I've just had a hard time justifying it. I suppose it's still less ridiculously than what many spend on car hobbies or whatnot. I'm sure I'll eventually get something of the nature.
I'll also add I was extremely surprised others enjoyed it as well. Of all of my desk toys/models/prints it's generated the most talk amongst friends and coworkers.
I'd like to experience a sizeable amount of iridium some day as well.
Edit: One of the most fun gifts I've received (beyond the tungsten cube) was a 1" magnesium cube. Apart from being a ridiculous fire/blinding risk capable of easily melting through the tungsten cube if set off it is even lighter than an equivalently sized aluminum cube.
> Of all of my desk toys/models/prints it's generated the most talk amongst friends and coworkers.
I'm not joking when I say one of the things I miss most about office life is decorating my desk with objects and having people react to them. Even before Delta, when things were opening back up, my office was doing "hot desks" which meant you didn't really get to personalize your space. It's understandable, but a bummer.
Another interesting fact about tungsten is that its density is 99.75% of that of gold. So essentially you can model how heavy something is if it was made out of pure gold with tungsten.
Additionally, apparently gold counterfeiters sometimes put tungsten inside of gold bars to fake gold
We use blocks like this in our electron beam welders to set the beam power, shape and focus on older machines (newer machines use a CPU/DSP controlled system). A small 25x25x50mm block sits on an adjustable height stand which is set to the height of the weld joint. You dial in the settings, hit the block with the beam and using the optics, visually check the focus and alignment. Then you move to the weld joint and start welding. For big power jobs we break out "the brick" which is 75x50x155. Its so heavy you need two hands to hold it and sometimes two people to place and line it up in the vacuum chamber.
Tungsten is the only metal you can reliably use as our machines have beam powers up to 15kW which can precisely deliver an enormous amount of heat into a pencil point sized area. Even at the common 1-3kW ranges the tungsten instantly liquefies when the beam turns on. Ive seen 1/2 thick aluminum turn into a puddle while the tungsten just gets a dent in it. You'd think copper is a good second bet but nope. Its good at heat sinking but melts way quicker.
> Tungsten is the only metal you can reliably use as our machines have beam powers up to 15kW which can precisely deliver an enormous amount of heat into a pencil point sized area. Even at the common 1-3kW ranges the tungsten instantly liquefies when the beam turns on.
I'm sorry - is there an error here? As I understand the rest of your comment, you use Tungsten because it does not liquify?
I have a collection of thin tungsten cylinders if anyone is in the market!
Glassblowers use tungsten rods to pierce borosilicate glass. When you get tungsten and a piece of glass hot, you can push the tungsten through the glass fairly easily. Tungsten doesn’t get “wet” and stick to glass at these temperatures (~2000F), unlike other metals we use such as steel or brass. We tend to buy these at the welding store (arc welders use them as electrodes or something).
Note that if you're buying welding tungsten as a plaything, avoid the oneswith the red paint on the end - they contain thorium to improve the electrical arc and as such are a bit radioactive, and shouldn't be directly handled for long periods.
One excellent application of a block of tungsten is as a bucking bar for metal riveting. Due to its density, tungsten bars can be much smaller than steel ones, easily fitting into your hand, and fitting into tight spaces. I’ve got a number of tungsten bars and use them almost 100% over my steel bars.
We put a $600 tungsten sphere on our secret wedding registry as a joke, along with lobster flavored pillow mints, etc.
It arrived in the mail. My husband's high school friends had pooled their resources.
Now it's on the mantle, resting amongst warm woolen pom-poms.
Cool cube and I want one. But a metalworking friend of mine warned against getting a ring made out of tungsten.
Apparently a climber had one on and broke his ring finger, and the EMTs couldn't get the ring off because the finger had swollen and they couldn't cut the ring due to the strength of the metal. They ended up having to amputate and re-attach the finger (much longer and it would have had to be amputated anyway, it seems).
I bought a tungsten wedding band and will never again. Not because of its hardness but because I dropped it on the floor and it shattered. Apparently tungsten is very brittle and is useless on a hand that does anything. Luckily it was cheap.
Exactly this. That was my first reaction when someone upthread wrote that they made a ring out of tungsten. I can only imagine that it would lead to misery at some point. You really don't want this kind of metal for Jewelry that surrounds you (wristband, ring, ankleband). You're going to get hurt sooner or later.
Tungsten is about the only minimally-hazardous substance I could find that could max out the 70-pound weight limit on a (US) Priority Mail flat-rate envelope, but that would be an expensive stunt.
I had a neighbor a few years back who was a retired mechanical eng & machinist and as a retirement gift someone gave him a calibrated high percision gauge block set. There was some weird brain tingle I would get handling them, I think simply due to the extreme percision of them, I wonder if the sensation from handling the cube is similar?
This reminds me of the infamous cube of saguaro rib wood from Dwarf Fortress
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:WOOD:WOOD_TEMPLATE]
[STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:saguaro rib wood]
[STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:saguaro rib]
[PREFIX:NONE]
Density was determined experimentally. Contact Uristocrat for a sample if you want to verify this yourself.
A 6g (+/- 0.1g) piece of dry Saguaro wood had a volume of approximately 14 cm^3 (+/- 1 cm^3)
[SOLID_DENSITY:430]
[STATE_COLOR:ALL_SOLID:ECRU]
What's not 100% clear to me, after reading through some descriptions, is which metal cubes I could handle semi-regularly without damaging them (iron? will it rust?) or endangering myself (lead? how likely is handling it to poison me?).
It seems to me that the point of buying a cube of some metal is to feel its weight and texture, to see it respond to light. If you're just going to keep it in a capsule and never take it out, you could just have a photo or video of the metal.
What elements can you hold in your hand without either you or the element taking damage?
My dad owns both a tungsten cube and a tungsten sphere. I slightly prefer the sphere, the smoothness and lack of corners, combined with density, makes it really try to slip out of hour hand.
Can be a bit dangerous for your floors, but lots of fun to hold.
I bought a set of 1cm element cubes awhile ago. There is definitely a change of perspective of density when you see several things of one generic size, and yet they are dramatically different weights.
I think it's fairly common to see volume and assume weight. And less volume is often assumed to be a structure issue, like expanded metal vs solid blocks of metal.
I held a neptunium (20.45 g/cc) sphere once. It was about the size of a baseball and I hard the hardest time lifting it. It was like lifting a full gallon jug of milk when you think it's empty - you apply a force and it doesn't budge. I had to lift it as if I was lifting a stack of books to get it off the pedestal.
I have a tungsten wedding ring and the weirdest thing about it is how it bounces (on the occasions when it’s flown out of my hand - I don’t make a habit of doing so normally).
It’s dense/heavy so seeing it bounce so well is somewhat paradoxical.
(Side note: it may be impossible to cut through in case of an emergency but your finger is not.)
I purchased a 35 pound tungsten racing weight about 15 years ago, 70% tungsten if I recall. It's large enough that it's triggered my "why do I have this?" sense, but it is still cool to hold.
It's very important to realize that it's not a safe object, the kind you might leave on your desk at work.
If someone tries to pick it up for some reason, it's quite likely that they'll drop it.
[+] [-] MgB2|4 years ago|reply
I also used the opportunity to snap a neat picture of a polished WC cube: https://imgur.com/C2YiMqb.jpg
I always had fun handing them over to students because everyone is surprised by the sheer weight of these things.
Tungsten carbide is actually quite dangerous after it has been subjected to a lot of stress (Such as being stuck into a 1000 t press for a high-pressure synthesis). They have the mean tendecy to explode into super sharp pieces when you're not expecting it, so wear goggles.
[+] [-] fywacro|4 years ago|reply
But I do appreciate your story about tungsten carbide, too :-)
[+] [-] dvaun|4 years ago|reply
Well, I guess I need to buy a new wedding ring at some point.
[+] [-] ncmncm|4 years ago|reply
A company near Los Angeles, American Metals, will sell you a 0.99999 pure tungsten boule for a few $thousand. You can ask for it to have a nominal (e.g.) 22 mm outer diameter, and slice it up and core out a collection of rings. The boule melt pattern on the outside is really appealing.
You can sell the rest of the rings, then, provided you can find a way to cut through the noise of the $2 tungsten-carbide hawkers. You might be tempted to paint on a design with resist and electro-plate gold where it isn't.
The scrap you cored out is pretty valuable. Maybe have the cores cut out as discs, instead of just drilling, because the "swarf" would be really hard to melt! They would resemble very heavy, thick coins; you can use a CNC machine to mill designs onto them, if you like.
[+] [-] thaumasiotes|4 years ago|reply
This seems understated. Shouldn't you also wear armor?
[+] [-] kragen|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nextaccountic|4 years ago|reply
Will goggles really help? This sounds like it would rip your whole face..
[+] [-] NL807|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _caw|4 years ago|reply
When I bought my cube, I used it as an exercise to fight back against my frugality.
But it wasn't meant to be: it was delivered to the wrong address and I received a full refund.
Then my neighbor delivered it to me.
[+] [-] zamadatix|4 years ago|reply
I've had my sites set on something this size https://midwesttungsten.com/tungsten-cube/ for a while now. (about as much as I would feel safe setting down or handing to people considering the hard edges and chance of accidents) I've more than had the spending money to do it for a long time but much like the author I've just had a hard time justifying it. I suppose it's still less ridiculously than what many spend on car hobbies or whatnot. I'm sure I'll eventually get something of the nature.
I'll also add I was extremely surprised others enjoyed it as well. Of all of my desk toys/models/prints it's generated the most talk amongst friends and coworkers.
I'd like to experience a sizeable amount of iridium some day as well.
Edit: One of the most fun gifts I've received (beyond the tungsten cube) was a 1" magnesium cube. Apart from being a ridiculous fire/blinding risk capable of easily melting through the tungsten cube if set off it is even lighter than an equivalently sized aluminum cube.
[+] [-] brundolf|4 years ago|reply
I'm not joking when I say one of the things I miss most about office life is decorating my desk with objects and having people react to them. Even before Delta, when things were opening back up, my office was doing "hot desks" which meant you didn't really get to personalize your space. It's understandable, but a bummer.
[+] [-] divbzero|4 years ago|reply
[1]: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-heaviest-metal-I-can-legal...
[+] [-] justsomeuser|4 years ago|reply
Magnesium only ignites easily when in thin strips?
[+] [-] yrral|4 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O551__3ppM
Another interesting fact about tungsten is that its density is 99.75% of that of gold. So essentially you can model how heavy something is if it was made out of pure gold with tungsten. Additionally, apparently gold counterfeiters sometimes put tungsten inside of gold bars to fake gold
[+] [-] mkaic|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacquesm|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MisterTea|4 years ago|reply
Tungsten is the only metal you can reliably use as our machines have beam powers up to 15kW which can precisely deliver an enormous amount of heat into a pencil point sized area. Even at the common 1-3kW ranges the tungsten instantly liquefies when the beam turns on. Ive seen 1/2 thick aluminum turn into a puddle while the tungsten just gets a dent in it. You'd think copper is a good second bet but nope. Its good at heat sinking but melts way quicker.
[+] [-] e12e|4 years ago|reply
I'm sorry - is there an error here? As I understand the rest of your comment, you use Tungsten because it does not liquify?
[+] [-] hutzlibu|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] code_duck|4 years ago|reply
Glassblowers use tungsten rods to pierce borosilicate glass. When you get tungsten and a piece of glass hot, you can push the tungsten through the glass fairly easily. Tungsten doesn’t get “wet” and stick to glass at these temperatures (~2000F), unlike other metals we use such as steel or brass. We tend to buy these at the welding store (arc welders use them as electrodes or something).
[+] [-] skykooler|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryandrake|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cnees|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamesgreenleaf|4 years ago|reply
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RZKKKAM6FE5AI
[+] [-] devindotcom|4 years ago|reply
Apparently a climber had one on and broke his ring finger, and the EMTs couldn't get the ring off because the finger had swollen and they couldn't cut the ring due to the strength of the metal. They ended up having to amputate and re-attach the finger (much longer and it would have had to be amputated anyway, it seems).
[+] [-] ISL|4 years ago|reply
https://www.larsonjewelers.com/can-tungsten-rings-be-cutoff
[+] [-] dharmab|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frakt0x90|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SoylentYellow|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacquesm|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tshaddox|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frankus|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skykooler|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacquesm|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scrps|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stronglikedan|4 years ago|reply
It's so cool how they wring without magnetism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5XOk1oMFh0
[+] [-] jrumbut|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Natsu|4 years ago|reply
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:WOOD:WOOD_TEMPLATE] [STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:saguaro rib wood] [STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:saguaro rib] [PREFIX:NONE] Density was determined experimentally. Contact Uristocrat for a sample if you want to verify this yourself. A 6g (+/- 0.1g) piece of dry Saguaro wood had a volume of approximately 14 cm^3 (+/- 1 cm^3) [SOLID_DENSITY:430] [STATE_COLOR:ALL_SOLID:ECRU]
Source: the 'raws' link on the page http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Saguaro
[+] [-] Animats|4 years ago|reply
[1] https://luciteria.com/metal-cubes
[+] [-] skyfaller|4 years ago|reply
It seems to me that the point of buying a cube of some metal is to feel its weight and texture, to see it respond to light. If you're just going to keep it in a capsule and never take it out, you could just have a photo or video of the metal.
What elements can you hold in your hand without either you or the element taking damage?
[+] [-] science4sail|4 years ago|reply
https://luciteria.com/metal-cubes/uranium-cube
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] cwkoss|4 years ago|reply
Can be a bit dangerous for your floors, but lots of fun to hold.
[+] [-] vayeate|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alasdair_|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andagainagain|4 years ago|reply
I think it's fairly common to see volume and assume weight. And less volume is often assumed to be a structure issue, like expanded metal vs solid blocks of metal.
[+] [-] Cous_Cous_Cous|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ComputerGuru|4 years ago|reply
It’s dense/heavy so seeing it bounce so well is somewhat paradoxical.
(Side note: it may be impossible to cut through in case of an emergency but your finger is not.)
[+] [-] kakali|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ipsin|4 years ago|reply
It's very important to realize that it's not a safe object, the kind you might leave on your desk at work.
If someone tries to pick it up for some reason, it's quite likely that they'll drop it.