Great talk, not only about the problems but also the outlines of a way forward.

Maple is such dense, hard wood. I thought I'd push it to its limits by trying to carve a wearable ring. I started with a thin slice from a branch I picked up from a neighbour's pile last summer. I used a 1" hole saw drill bit to cut out a circle from that slice, then did some whittling with my carving knife and a whole lot of fine sanding. Got it down to a perfect fit for my wife's ring finger and finished it with linseed oil. It was fun, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

This worked out... Felt nice to grow something in the hard freeze of winter. Made a tasty side dish, too.