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Comment by alex_c | Hacker News Reader

Random trivia: the "iron version" picture is of my own ring, uploaded a few years back when I was messing around with my friend's new camera. Pleasant surprise not only to see this on HN, but to see that the picture is still there after all this time :)

As far as I know my year (2005) was one of the last years that U of T still offered an actual iron version, as opposed to stainless steel (most other schools no longer did at that time). I'm not sure if it's still possible to get one today. Another option was to get an old ring from retired engineers who were no longer practicing and returned their ring to be used by the next generation... something that I thought was pretty amazing and humbling.

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RE: Getting an Iron Ring vs Stainless Steel

It is still possible to get a ring made out of iron at all Camp One Universities (Toronto/Ryerson, and I believe now York and UOIT as well). I graduated in 2009 from UofT and got one, and I have friends who received their iron one this past March, 2013.

A lot of jewellers would also be happy to make one if you can't get them through a university. Iron isn't so hard to work with.

There's an important difference between mild steel (which is basically pure iron) and wrought iron (which has slag inclusions); the slag inclusions in the latter actually make for significant rust resistance.

You should put something in the picture for size reference (a ruler maybe). I couldn't tell if these were finger-sized rings or if these were more like bangles/bracelets. It doesn't say anything about size in the article.

From the article:

The Iron Ring is worn on the little finger ("pinky") of the working (dominant) hand

The article states that the ring is to be worn on the pinky of the dominant hand.

The explanation I heard for this (from an engineer coworker) was that it's meant to be a reminder that whenever you sign off on a design or report, you are doing so as an Engineer, not merely as yourself, and that it's therefore a reminder to take things seriously.

Maybe a banana.

UBC '10 here, mine is stainless and I don't recall a iron option.

The ring (and ritual) is a great idea for the community and the idea behind it. I strive to include in my professional and non-professional life.

It also makes for good barstool chat since fewer people have heard of it compared to say the Hippocratic Oath.

Only Camp 1 (i.e., Toronto-area) get the choice of iron. Everyone else gets stainless.

I think I had the choice of stainless or iron back in 2003 (U of S). They probably just had an old box of iron ones hanging around. They were pretty clear about the tradeoffs, the iron ones were traditional and symbolic, but they rusted and tended to leave orange marks on your fingers (as you might expect).

Are you still in Saskatoon? I'm always interested when I see other usask grads around places like this.

Nope, got sucked into the US for its tech jobs & stayed: Boston > Minnesota > California > Minnesota.

There was no option to get an Iron version back when I graduated in '97. The story was the iron ones turned your finger black so they stopped selling them.

Still have mine after all these years and it doesn't come off anymore, so I think I'll be taking it to the grave.

I hope you never need an MRI. It really doesn't come off?

I guess it could be cut off if I really needed to :) But other than that, no it doesn't come off. You tend to gain weight as you get older, even on your fingers.

Shouldn't you get it adjusted then? I'd be afraid of losing the finger if it gets too tight.

It's not tight enough to be a real concern, just enough that I can't remove it. I think it's more symbolic than anything...the only reason I made it through school was to get the ring and it's a big part of who I am as a person.

Now it is part of my person.

We can usually get new ones for about 15$. I don't think the adjustment costs less. There is also the option of not wearing it, as wearing rings that keeps touching a mouse is annoying sometimes.

I don't think it's ferromagnetic.

Iron is ferromagnetic.

I was thinking of the stainless steel version, but looking that up looks like the answer is "depends". Depends on the definition of "magnetic" (since all materials are to a degree) and the type of stainless steel.

I just noticed that my own "iron" ring (which is stainless steel) doesn't seem to respond to typical magnets you'd find around the office.

Clearly _iron_ is though, considering it's the element with the symbol "Fe" which is short for Ferrum.

Usually (but not always) higher quality stainless steel is not magnetic, while the lower quality is slightly magnetic.

However even slightly magnetic can be a problem in an MRI - and worse, there is no practical way for the MRI tech to tell how the stainless steel will act, so they will err on the side of caution.

I graduated from UofT in 2011, and they still offered iron as an option.

I had the option of iron when replacing my lost ring through the Toronto chapter a few years ago. Original from Waterloo in 2002 was steel.

Usually you can get a 'retired' ring that is still made out of Iron, I prefer to wear mine down on my own :P

I graduated UofT in 2012 and got a real iron ring.

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