Meet the Workbench Ring Designer

Honest Hands' new tool lets you design a custom ring from scratch, before any commitment is made.

Honest Hands just launched the Workbench Ring Designer, a new tool on our website that lets you build a custom ring from scratch before we ever touch the bench.

Some rings come together fast. The customer knows the metal, knows the material, and sends us a sketch in the first email. More often, though, the best ones start with something looser. A color. A texture. A material that showed up on a hiking trail or in a shop somewhere and stuck. The ring isn’t fully formed yet, and that’s fine. That’s where some of the most interesting decisions happen.

Honest Hands Ring Co. owner Ben Bosworth holding a finished custom ring with whiskey barrel wood inlay in the Morrison, Colorado workshop.

Photo: Honest Hand Ring Co.

Designing something intentional takes a little trial and error. You think you want something minimal until you see what a wide band looks like with a full inlay channel. You decide on one material and end up pairing it with something you wouldn’t have predicted. A wildcard decision turns out to be the right one. That process is part of what makes a custom ring worth wearing.

The Workbench Ring Designer is built for that process. Work through the choices the same way we do in the shop: material by material, decision by decision, with the full picture updating as you go. No jewelry background required, and no commitment on the other end. Just a ring taking shape.

Inside the Tool

The tool goes through the same decisions we make with every custom ring customer. Band shape and width, then metal, then inlay style and materials, then any extras. Each choice informs the next, which means the picture gets more specific the further in you go.

Start with the metal

The metal options break into two categories, and the pricing updates live as you pick, so there are no surprises at checkout.

For everyday durability, titanium is the lightweight option, good for anyone who hasn't worn a ring before and isn't sure how they'll feel about the weight. Tungsten is heavier and holds a polish longer. Stainless Damascus is made by folding and layering steel during forging, creating a grain pattern that runs through the entire band. For precious metals, gold comes in yellow, white, and rose across three karat options, and platinum is the densest choice in the lineup, heavier on the finger and built to develop a patina over time rather than scratching through to a different color underneath.

Custom ring with whiskey barrel wood inlay mounted on a lathe at the Honest Hands Ring Co. workshop in Morrison, Colorado, during the finishing process.

Photo: Honest Hand Ring Co.

The pricing in the tool updates live as you make selections, so you're always looking at a real number, not a starting-from guess.

Flat lay of Honest Hands Ring Co. inlay materials organized in red compartment trays, including Lapis Lazuli, Moss Agate, elk antler, native copper, and various crushed stones and gemstones used in custom ring builds.

Photo: Honest Hand Ring Co.

Then build the inlay

The inlay is the part of the ring that carries a place, a memory, or just a material you've always liked the look of. There are over sixteen options in the tool across wood, stone, gemstone, metal, organic, and synthetic categories, and you can layer multiple materials in a single ring if you want to run them side by side.

Woods like Koa, Walnut, and Redwood Burl each have their own grain and color range. Stones like Moss Agate, Lapis Lazuli, and Black Emerald Opal read completely differently in a finished ring. The organic category includes materials like Elk Antler, naturally shed and responsibly sourced, with grain that varies from piece to piece.

Honest Hands Ring Co. craftsperson examining a custom Damascus steel ring with whiskey barrel wood and gold inlay on the workbench in Morrison, Colorado.

Photo: Honest Hand Ring Co.

At the end of the materials grid, there's a tile that says "Your Material." That's the option for anything not on the standard list. We've used it for guitar strings from a customer's favorite musician, sand from a specific beach, a dog tag, and Kapton foil from the Apollo 11 spacecraft. If the material has a story, that tile is where it starts.

No jewelry background required, and no commitment on the other end. Just a ring taking shape.

Add the details

The last section covers the details that make a ring feel finished. Engraving on the inside of the band, a precious metal sleeve on the interior, and a hidden inlay that only shows when the ring comes off. These are the touches most people will never see. The ones who matter will.

Before you submit, hit "Visualize My Design" and the tool generates an AI-rendered image of your ring based on exactly what you built. For a fully custom piece, being able to see it before it exists is a bigger deal than it sounds. If the width feels off, or the inlay color isn't what you pictured, that's the moment to change it.

Photo: Honest Hand Ring Co.

From the Tool to the Bench

When you're done building, the tool generates a full summary of your design with a price estimate. Hitting the submit button sends the build to our team, and someone will reach out within 24 hours to review the details, answer questions, and discuss any adjustments before production starts. The submit step is the start of a conversation, not a purchase commitment.

You don't need a finished idea to get started. The tool is just as useful for seeing how a dark metal and a warm wood interact, or figuring out whether you want something narrow and close to the finger or wide and present on it. Either way, you'll leave with a clearer picture than you came in with.

Otis, the Honest Hands Ring Co. shop dog, resting on the workshop floor in Morrison, Colorado.

"Visualize My Design" AI Rendering

Head to the Workbench Ring Designer and start building. And if you want to see the whole process from the first decision to the finished ring, watch our owner Ben walk through his own build below, with some help from his dog, Otis.