Ti designs was started because one of the so-called "titanium experts" said something couldn't be done, so having a "don't" and "can't" page doesn't seem right. Perhaps I should call it the "I don't have the tooling for that yet" and "I can't figure out a way to make that, but I'm working on it" page. But that would make the title kinda long and ugly.
Mass production:	Don't even ask. If you're looking for a place that has a warehouse full of product somewhere in Jersey, find a place that has a warehouse full of product somewhere in Jersey.
Exception:	I have gotten requests for wedding band(s) and a few copies of a simple piece for the wedding party. Special projects like this I will consider.
Wholesale/ direct retail sales:	I get a lot of requests to sell my work on some home shopping program - not interested. The segment of the jewelry market which understands and appreciates titanium is still very small. The appeal of titanium is lost on the average consumer. I also get a lot of mail from direct marketers (the spam people). I don't ever want to be responsible for sending millions of junk e-mail in the hope of getting a small percentage of interest. I find it insulting that companies would market weight loss programs, printer supplies or any other products or services, why would I want to do that to a million other people?
Exception:	Art galleries are a way to show my work to those people looking for unusual or unique items. My rules apply to galleries just as they apply to individual customers, I will not copy past work. In most cases I have samples of my own unsold work which I will have a gallery display. Just as my rules apply to the gallery, so do the gallerie's rules apply to Ti Designs. If a customer is referred by a gallery, any item ordered will be sold by the gallery with the agreed upon mark-up. A gallery's value in showing my work is worth more than my loss in selling a piece at wholesale.
Inlay work:	I work in titanium, my shop is set up and tooled for work in titanium, that's what I do. To add gold to a piece would mean having the means to work in gold, which I don't have. The two are very different metals, the process by which they are worked is also very different.
Exception#1:	If a design for a unique piece requires the use of gold or platinum I can do the titanium work and hand the project off to another jeweler. The piece will be sold under the Ti Designs name and a non refundable deposit will be required to cover the cost of the added work and material.
Exception #2:	If you look at the page on men's rings you will see a wedding band with three segments of wood inlay. In that case the machining work was done on titanium, the wood was set in place and the titanium was finished as if there was nothing there. if it doesn't require any special tooling I'm happy to add it.
Titanium alloys:	All the work you see on my page is CP or commercially pure titanium. CP has a yield strength somewhere in the 40,000 PSI range, it's tough stuff. I don't see the point in going to a stronger alloy, there's no point to it. There is a reason NOT to use the higher strength alloys - safety. There is great concern about getting a ring stuck in an emergency. A CP ring it can be cut off; a stronger alloy may not make the process so simple.
Exception:	I have made sushi knives from surgical grade 6/4 ELI. They don't hold an edge well at all, but they're better than CP in that respect.
Sales outside of the United States:	Shipping outside the USA has become too much of a liability. Within the making of a single piece a package will often be sent back and forth a few times (sizing the blank, checking the width, checking the setting height...). Shipping overseas has risks and the insurance takes forever to pay for lost product.
Complex repeating patterns:	There are some things best left to computers. This holds for titanium jewelry as well. Some of the patterns that you see offered by other titanium jewelers are cut by computer numerical control, or CNC. Using a CNC milling machine or lathe they can cut complex repeating patterns all day long. At this time I don't use CNC machines. The signature look of a Ti Designs piece comes from the use of hand files and hand finishing.
Cast pieces:	I've gotten hundreds of request for celtic knot rings. That's an example of a piece which is easy to make by casting, next to impossible to make using a negative process in a hard metal like titanium.
Inside corners:	As a rule, I can only work on a metal surface if I have a clean shot at it with some kind of cutting tool. I can make outside curves with hand files, I can make round indents using an end mill, I can make football shaped cut-outs with a angled shell mill. I can't do much with inside corners because there's no way of getting a cutting tool in there to leave a smooth edge. An example would be surface lettering, say the letter "D". In wood I would route out the inside with a spiral bit and clean up the two inside 90 degree corners with a chisel. Chisels don't work well with titanium.
Plain stone settings:	I get a lot of designs sent to me where there are stone settings, but no indication of how those stones are held in place. I have seen other titanium jewelers offering rings where stones are set all around the ring. That's not a mechanical setting where the metal is holding the gemstone in place. The stone is glued in place with a clear jeweler's cement. I am experimenting with that method along with my own form of two piece titanium bezel setting, but I feel that the bond between titanium and stone is clearly the weak point of the piece. I don't want customers telling me their gemstones are missing, so I don't offer glued-in settings. Any stone setting I offer is going to be a mechanical setting of some sort.