Honest answer

Are tungsten cubes worth it?

We sell them, so treat this with appropriate suspicion. But the honest answer is that it depends entirely on what you want from an object, and there is a clear line between the people who love these and the people who quietly regret it.

You will probably like it if

You find physical facts about the world genuinely interesting. The appeal of a tungsten cube is that it makes an abstract number, 19.3 grams per cubic centimetre, into something your hands disagree with.

You work with materials. Machinists, engineers and physicists tend to have a much stronger reaction to these than the general public, because they know what the number means before they pick it up.

You like objects that are exactly what they claim to be. A tungsten cube has no features, no branding and no story beyond the material. Some people find that restful.

You will probably regret it if

You want something decorative. It is a grey cube. It is well made, but it is not beautiful in any conventional sense and it will not improve a room.

You want a gadget. It does nothing. There is no mechanism, nothing moves, and the novelty of the weight is front-loaded into the first week.

You are buying it as an investment. Tungsten is a commodity, and a machined cube trades at a large premium to the metal in it. You will not get that premium back.

Which size, if you decide yes

The 1.5-inch is the one to start with, and it is the size most people should buy. It is heavy enough to be genuinely startling, small enough to pass around, and it is the size the entire category is built around.

The 1-inch is the better travel object and the better gift at a lower price, but it does not produce the same reaction.

The 2-inch and 3-inch are for people who already own a smaller one and know they want more. Buying straight into a 3-inch is usually a mistake, because the experience does not scale the way the price does.

Common questions

Are tungsten cubes worth the money?

They are worth it if you value the physical experience and find material properties interesting, and not if you want something decorative, functional, or an investment. A machined cube trades at a large premium to the raw metal and will not return it.

Which size tungsten cube should I buy?

The 1.5-inch for most people. It is heavy enough to be startling and small enough to pass around. The 1-inch is a better gift at a lower price, and the larger sizes suit people who already own one.

Does the novelty wear off?

Partly. The shock of the first lift is front-loaded, but the object stays interesting to other people, which is most of why it keeps earning its place on a desk.

Check the weight of any cube size, compare tungsten against every other metal, or see the cubes we offer.