surface finish & titanium

First about surface finishes - which are there in jewellery making, besides
polished, diamond cut, laser cut, matte and oxidized?

And about titanium: how mellable is titanium? I know that it's about 3 times
lighter (less dense) than 14K gold, but don't know anything about it's
melting ability. Heard that pieces of jewellery can be made of very little
amount of titanium, much less than if made in gold. By the way, what is
current price of titanium - I heard that it's somewhere around that of
sterling silver?

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 18:38:26 -0700, in õ "m4816k"
wrote:

First about surface finishes - which are there in jewellery making, besides
polished, diamond cut, laser cut, matte and oxidized?

it depends a lot on which metal, and what you're making, but here are some which
come to mind.

Polished, as you've said, but that can mean highly polished, or a lower soft
polish done with coarser compounds for a softer look.

Matte, you say, but there are many variations. Brushed via steel bristle
brushes, brushed with various abrasive brushes. "satin", done with specialized
abrasives, a hand done abrasive finish just with abrasive paper, which can be
either straight line or random "all directions". And then there's sandblasted,
or beadblasted, each of which has variations. Coarser textures, no longer really
"matte" can be produced with various types of grinding wheel.

You say diamond cut, but that's only one type of engraving done with a certain
machine. There is also guilloche, or engine turned engraving, hand engraving in
many differenet styles, chiseled, etc, not to mention the highly detailed and
wonderful things one can do with chasing and repousse work..

laser cut isn't actually a laser. Tthe finish usually called "laser finish" is
an impact finish produced by a specialized tool, which is a diamond point mounted
in an automatic hammer. the same tool, but with different type of tips, can
produce many different textures. If you DO have a laser welder, it can also
produce a number of intersting textures comprised of many small overlapping weld
spots.

Oxidized, which you mention, also has many flavors, depending on wether it's a
painted on color, or an actual chemical patina. Some of the jewelry metals can
take an enormous variety of chemical patinas in vartious colors and looks.

And, moving away from your list, one can texture the metal with hammers.
different shapes of hammer can give you anything from a soft glittery planished
look, to a very rough and abused surface.

Emobssed finishes are had by pressing the metal with some other surface to give
it texture. Rolling mills are useful for this. Imagine, just as one overused
example, what metal looks like once a piece of window screen has been pressed
hard into the surface, and then removed again. Ordinary paper, when roll printed
into the metal produces a wonderful soft random matte texture quite unlike other
matte textures

Anodizing can be used on some metals, (titanium, aluminum, niobium) to produce
bright colors with a variety of appearances.

One can etch most metals using acids or cyanides. If an etch mask is used,
complex patterns can be obtained.

And of course one can use the metal as the base for enamels, which provide a new
wide range of colors, images, and effects beyond just metal by itself.

I'm sure I've just scratched the surface (oh, another texture... (grin)), but let
it just be said that there is an almost limitless variety of surface treatments,
limited mostly by your imagination. If you can imagine it, there's likely a way
to do it.


Peter
..

And about titanium: how mellable is titanium? I know that it's about
3 times
lighter (less dense) than 14K gold, but don't know anything about
it's
melting ability. Heard that pieces of jewellery can be made of very
little
amount of titanium, much less than if made in gold. By the way, what
is
current price of titanium - I heard that it's somewhere around that
of
sterling silver?

Titanium's melting point varies on alloy. Lots of rings are made from
6AL/4V which has 6% Aluminium 4% Magnesium and is (mostly) otherwise
Titianium. It has a melting point around 3000 deg. F - although it
reacts with oxygen when melted so is unsuitiable for casting unless you
have some very fancy equipment.
Here's the main point though - it is VERY tough. Tough to work with
grinding, filing, polishing - even after heating a peice 1/4" square
cherry red you will have to beat it with a (I use 22oz) hammer to bend
it. That's why they make rocket casings out of it!
That's also why so much Ti jewelry has a mechanical look to it - it is
not worked with traditional jewelry tools but rather with engineering
machine shop tools.
I love working with Titanium because it can take shapes other metals
could not and still be strong - but it is not easy.
Price of Ti? The last time I bought some was a 6 inch wide x 3 foot
long plate and it cost 80$ US. Look on Ebay for better bargains.
PS. Aluminium may look like a 'softer' alternative but is (my
opinion)unsuitable for jewelry: 1. Health considerations of wearing it,
2. Rubbed against the skin during wearing will blacken skin 3. Most Al.
alloys are brittle to work. 4. Cheap and nasty
Good luck - hope that was helpfull

wrote:
And about titanium: how mellable is titanium? I know that it's about

3 times

lighter (less dense) than 14K gold, but don't know anything about

it's

melting ability. Heard that pieces of jewellery can be made of very

little

amount of titanium, much less than if made in gold. By the way, what

is

current price of titanium - I heard that it's somewhere around that

of

sterling silver?


Titanium's melting point varies on alloy. Lots of rings are made from
6AL/4V which has 6% Aluminium 4% Magnesium and is (mostly) otherwise
Titianium. It has a melting point around 3000 deg. F - although it
reacts with oxygen when melted so is unsuitiable for casting unless you
have some very fancy equipment.
Here's the main point though - it is VERY tough. Tough to work with
grinding, filing, polishing - even after heating a peice 1/4" square
cherry red you will have to beat it with a (I use 22oz) hammer to bend
it. That's why they make rocket casings out of it!
That's also why so much Ti jewelry has a mechanical look to it - it is
not worked with traditional jewelry tools but rather with engineering
machine shop tools.
I love working with Titanium because it can take shapes other metals
could not and still be strong - but it is not easy.
Price of Ti? The last time I bought some was a 6 inch wide x 3 foot
long plate and it cost 80$ US. Look on Ebay for better bargains.
PS. Aluminium may look like a 'softer' alternative but is (my
opinion)unsuitable for jewelry: 1. Health considerations of wearing it,
2. Rubbed against the skin during wearing will blacken skin 3. Most Al.
alloys are brittle to work. 4. Cheap and nasty
Good luck - hope that was helpfull

Titanium is a very hard master. the best way to find out is to try it.
get some scrap bits and knock it about. youll soo find out its benefits
and difficulties.
If you like a real challenge titanium is it..

wrote:
(SNIP)
Titanium's melting point varies on alloy. Lots of rings are made from
6AL/4V which has 6% Aluminium 4% Magnesium and is (mostly) otherwise

ITYM 4% Vanadium.

Titianium. It has a melting point around 3000 deg. F - although it
reacts with oxygen when melted so is unsuitiable for casting unless you
have some very fancy equipment.
Here's the main point though - it is VERY tough. Tough to work with
grinding, filing, polishing - even after heating a peice 1/4" square
cherry red you will have to beat it with a (I use 22oz) hammer to bend
it. That's why they make rocket casings out of it!

In my very limited experience forging 6Al/4V Ti, it handles like high
alloy tool steel in the forge. If you get it to a nice yellow orange, it
forges fairly well, if a little stiffly. However if you aren't neutral or
reducing in your forge atmosphere, you will have it scale up immedately,
and the scale is very thick and falls off easily. You can lose a good
percentage of your mass to it if you aren't careful. However, if you want
to forge it, a smithing friend of mine recommends CP Ti (Commercially
Pure), which is unalloyed Ti, which forges very easily, but has a powdery
green scale tha forms on it. Both alloys though have to be worked fairly
hot, because once they cool off enough, they instantly harden up and stop
working between hammer blows. Tap..tap..ding.

That's also why so much Ti jewelry has a mechanical look to it - it is
not worked with traditional jewelry tools but rather with engineering
machine shop tools.
I love working with Titanium because it can take shapes other metals
could not and still be strong - but it is not easy.
Price of Ti? The last time I bought some was a 6 inch wide x 3 foot
long plate and it cost 80$ US. Look on Ebay for better bargains.
PS. Aluminium may look like a 'softer' alternative but is (my
opinion)unsuitable for jewelry: 1. Health considerations of wearing it,
2. Rubbed against the skin during wearing will blacken skin 3. Most Al.
alloys are brittle to work. 4. Cheap and nasty
Good luck - hope that was helpfull

Todd