Why all the fuss about white gold?

I notice a lot of fuss on Orchid about (nickel alloyed) white gold and
the assumption that it's so difficult to work with, i.e., cracking and
stuff.
I have no problem with it whatsoever.
I wonder what all the brew-ha-ha is all about?

Frosty

--

Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!

On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 22:55:16 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry Frosty
wrote:

I notice a lot of fuss on Orchid about (nickel alloyed) white gold and
the assumption that it's so difficult to work with, i.e., cracking and
stuff.
I have no problem with it whatsoever.
I wonder what all the brew-ha-ha is all about?

Frosty

A lot of this depends on just which alloy you're trying to work with, and in
what karat.

The longtime "standard" 14K white gold, such as most standard die struck
findings are made of, isn't so bad to work with. But it's color isn't optimal
either. White golds vary from those with somewhat "softer" or warmer colors
(ie, they're noticably yellow tinged) to those that are icy white, as white as
the platinum group metals. Some of the original white gold alloys, often found
in antique items from the early part of the 20th century are pretty white. But
if you've ever worked on these things, you know that metal is rather hard, and
quite brittle sometimes. And many times, these are 14K. In general, the 18K
white golds, if very white, are even worse. it's not that they cannot be
worked, it's just that they're tempermental and sometimes unpredictable.
Annealing technique is critical to whether it's reasonably soft. Do it just a
little wrong, and you can cause fracturing, or even increase the hardness. And
Casting these alloys in simpler equipment (torch melt, for example) is
difficult in terms of getting consistant castings without porosity problems
(something that's variable in perception, since some goldsmiths simply aren't as
pickly about porosity, often due to preferences for finishes on the jewelry that
don't show it as much, or simply that they've never worked with white gold that
doesn't do that, so they take it for granted)

For some time, in our shop, we tried multiple variations of the super white, or
at least white enough so as to not need rhodium, 18K white golds. They all had
problems somewhere. Few could be cast consistently, using an electric melt,
graphite crucible furnace or a torch to melt, with vacuum casting. Just too
high an incidence of castings with too much porosity. And the castings that
weren't too porous, or those which we'd manage to repair sufficiently via lots
of burnishing and/or laser welding, were still problems when it came to setting
the stones. A constant stream of nasty language from the diamond setters, due
to just plain hard metal, hard enough to make raising beads and bright cutting
difficult, or metal that just didn't want to move even with pretty aggressive
hammering. And just when they'd think they about had a ring all set, they'd
find one or two beads cracking off. That, at least, we could fix with the
laser, but still...

We finally gave up on the very white alloys. We're now using a "soft" white
gold alloy from Stuller. Still occasional problems with porosity, but not so
amazingly bad all the time, and the castings, once annealed, can be set without
too much trouble. The downside is that the stuff very much does need an rhodium
finish when done, if you want the color to be truly white, as most of our
clients want it. And even this alloy isn't totally predictable. Every now and
then we find odd inclusions in the metal. Whiter and harder than the gold, but
more aggresively attacked by acid. Not magnetic. Slightly crumbly when cut with
a diamond grinding point (the stuff tends to dull a bur). Not sure what it is.
Either some unalloyed componant that Stuller didn't fully melt, or nickle
carbides forming from the crucible (not sure about that, but someone mentioned
the possibility once...) or? Annoying. Usually found in chunks coming to the
surface which, by the time I've ground out the whole offending inclusion, leaves
a 2-3 mm wide cavity in the ring I then have to fill in with the laser.

So if you have no trouble with nickel white golds, thank your lucky stars that
you happen to be working with one of the more tractable versions of the alloy.

And if you'd like some physical exercise, obtain some of any of the superwhite
18K alloys. Cast an ingot, roll and draw down to fine wire. Just see how hard
you have to work to do that, compared with yellow golds... Then melt the wire
down into an ingot again, and repeat. See if you can get it to work the same
way, twice or three times in a row. Or, for real fun, use some of that wire to
fabricate a nice cluster prong head for a half dozen stones or so, and put a
shank on it. Polish up, feel proud, and THEN try to set the damn thing with
emeralds or something else a bit brittle. See how much that damn springy wire
makes it hard to get stones tight without breaking them.

Have fun.

Peter

I downloaded new messages from rec.crafts.jewelry on Sun, 15 Oct 2006
06:19:56 GMT, and "Peter W.. Rowe,"
vomited forth this bit of wisdom :

On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 22:55:16 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry Frosty
wrote:

I notice a lot of fuss on Orchid about (nickel alloyed) white gold and
the assumption that it's so difficult to work with, i.e., cracking and
stuff.
I have no problem with it whatsoever.
I wonder what all the brew-ha-ha is all about?

Frosty

A lot of this depends on just which alloy you're trying to work with, and in
what karat.

The longtime "standard" 14K white gold, such as most standard die struck
findings are made of, isn't so bad to work with. But it's color isn't optimal
either. White golds vary from those with somewhat "softer" or warmer colors
(ie, they're noticeably yellow tinged) to those that are icy white, as white as
the platinum group metals. Some of the original white gold alloys, often found
in antique items from the early part of the 20th century are pretty white. But
if you've ever worked on these things, you know that metal is rather hard, and
quite brittle sometimes. And many times, these are 14K. In general, the 18K
white golds, if very white, are even worse. it's not that they cannot be
worked, it's just that they're temperamental and sometimes unpredictable.
Annealing technique is critical to whether it's reasonably soft. Do it just a
little wrong, and you can cause fracturing, or even increase the hardness. And
Casting these alloys in simpler equipment (torch melt, for example) is
difficult in terms of getting consist ant castings without porosity problems
(something that's variable in perception, since some goldsmiths simply aren't as
pickly about porosity, often due to preferences for finishes on the jewelry that
don't show it as much, or simply that they've never worked with white gold that
doesn't do that, so they take it for granted)

For some time, in our shop, we tried multiple variations of the super white, or
at least white enough so as to not need rhodium, 18K white golds. They all had
problems somewhere. Few could be cast consistently, using an electric melt,
graphite crucible furnace or a torch to melt, with vacuum casting. Just too
high an incidence of castings with too much porosity. And the castings that
weren't too porous, or those which we'd manage to repair sufficiently via lots
of burnishing and/or laser welding, were still problems when it came to setting
the stones. A constant stream of nasty language from the diamond setters, due
to just plain hard metal, hard enough to make raising beads and bright cutting
difficult, or metal that just didn't want to move even with pretty aggressive
hammering. And just when they'd think they about had a ring all set, they'd
find one or two beads cracking off. That, at least, we could fix with the
laser, but still...

We finally gave up on the very white alloys. We're now using a "soft" white
gold alloy from Stuller. Still occasional problems with porosity, but not so
amazingly bad all the time, and the castings, once annealed, can be set without
too much trouble. The downside is that the stuff very much does need an rhodium
finish when done, if you want the color to be truly white, as most of our
clients want it. And even this alloy isn't totally predictable. Every now and
then we find odd inclusions in the metal. Whiter and harder than the gold, but
more aggressively attacked by acid. Not magnetic. Slightly crumbly when cut with
a diamond grinding point (the stuff tends to dull a bur). Not sure what it is.
Either some unalloyed component that Stuller didn't fully melt, or nickel
carbides forming from the crucible (not sure about that, but someone mentioned
the possibility once...) or? Annoying. Usually found in chunks coming to the
surface which, by the time I've ground out the whole offending inclusion, leaves
a 2-3 mm wide cavity in the ring I then have to fill in with the laser.

So if you have no trouble with nickel white golds, thank your lucky stars that
you happen to be working with one of the more tractable versions of the alloy.

And if you'd like some physical exercise, obtain some of any of the superwhite
18K alloys. Cast an ingot, roll and draw down to fine wire. Just see how hard
you have to work to do that, compared with yellow golds... Then melt the wire
down into an ingot again, and repeat. See if you can get it to work the same
way, twice or three times in a row. Or, for real fun, use some of that wire to
fabricate a nice cluster prong head for a half dozen stones or so, and put a
shank on it. Polish up, feel proud, and THEN try to set the damn thing with
emeralds or something else a bit brittle. See how much that damn springy wire
makes it hard to get stones tight without breaking them.

Have fun.

Peter

Yikes!!

Well, I'll have to pass thanx anyway.
Last year I made a platinum wedding band for my wife.
She said she wished her engagement ring was platinum too.
I rhodium plated her 14KY engagement ring. That was 9 months ago. It's
still nice and white.

Frosty
(Nobody here has ever asked what this following bit of Latin
translates to, but I'll tell you now anyway: "Let's all wear mood
rings!")


--

Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!

Frosty wrote:
I notice a lot of fuss on Orchid about (nickel alloyed) white gold and
the assumption that it's so difficult to work with, i.e., cracking and
stuff.
I have no problem with it whatsoever.
I wonder what all the brew-ha-ha is all about?

Frosty


White gold alloyed with Nickel is the biggest garbage ever foisted onto the
jewelry field. It is crap of biblical proportions. Besides, it is not even
white!

A little historical perspective. The silly concoction did not even exist until
the 40's when the US government declared Platinum a "strategic metal" (it was
needed as a catalyst in bomb making during the war), and metallurgists developed
white gold as a Platinum replacement.

After the war when Platinum was again allowed to be used, it unfortunately never
regained it's popularity. Probably due to the fact that "white" gold was
cheaper than Pt, easier to work with, without the need for special tools and
skills that working with Pt requires. And due to the fact, that with additional
Rhodium plating "white" gold would "look just like Pt".

And let's not forget, that "white" gold is a contradiction in terms!

--
Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

I have to admit, I have quite a bit of trouble with 18k white. I have been
sizing rings for 22 years, but just recently started working for a store
that carries a lot of 18k white semi mounts. Some of that stuff is wacky,
you put heat on it and watch it move!! Really hard to get the rings round
again too, especially when baguettes are so popular now...

One thing I do like is our shop manager keeps a solder called 20k White Weld
around and it is really nice for sizing 14k white, good hard solder that
flows and leaves very few pits, doesn't polish out very easy either.

"Frosty" wrote in message
...
I notice a lot of fuss on Orchid about (nickel alloyed) white gold and
the assumption that it's so difficult to work with, i.e., cracking and
stuff.
I have no problem with it whatsoever.
I wonder what all the brew-ha-ha is all about?

Frosty

--

Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!