I make custom wooden rings using a wood-bending technique that allows me to create totally sweet jewelry. These rings are beautiful, lightweight, and durable. Each ring is one of a kind. And with the variety of common and exotic woods that I have available, there are infinite possibilities when it comes to designs. Laminated wood combinations, stone inlays, custom carving… even simple bands have a unique and natural elegance that you just don’t get with traditional jewelry materials.

Of course, every story has its beginning. The Bentwood Forge story starts with my wife and I. When we got married, we spent an enormous amount of time looking for wedding bands that were simple, but still spoke to our desire to have a unique flare about us. Ultimately, we chose a pair of matching rings made of tungsten. They were dark, durable, and very cool looking.

Unfortunately, tungsten rings are also very heavy. It took five years, but eventually my wife’s hand started hurting. The weight of the ring was no longer something that she should bear. So we re-started our hunt for wedding bands, but now with a new requirement: light weight. In the course of our search, we stumbled upon wooden rings. In particular, bent wood rings seemed to tick all of the requisite boxes. They’re unique-looking, durable, and lightweight. The connection with nature was also a big attraction for us as well.

As we’re looking through the various ring designs that people have made, I did something that nearly all arrogant buffoons do. It went something like this:

Me: Pppffffhhh! I can make that.

Her: OK. Do it.

Me: Dammit.

So I set about trying to make her the perfect bent wood ring. There were a lot of experiments. Some turned out really well. Quite a few were failures. There was even that one time that I nearly glued my hands together. Eventually, though, I made her a ring that she loves and wears every day. And in the course of all of that, I found that I really enjoy making these little round pieces of jewelry made of wood.

Moreover, it seems that a bunch of other people appreciate the results as well. I started getting requests for commissioned rings from people. Some were just for the look. Others were wedding bands of their own. So now I’ve found another thing that I enjoy: putting smiles on people’s faces with bent wood rings.

What can I do to make you smile?