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You've got it right. As with silver, the actual annealing temp
is slightly below a red heat, and you use that red glow to tell
you you've reached a sufficient temp. Plus, at a low red heat,
annealing is almost immediate, without needing to soak for a bit.
Too high and you start to get increased grain size, which is
counterproductive. 14K yellows can be quenched when they're
still faintly red, but it's better not to, since occasionaly
that will cause warpage or even (rarely) cracking. Similar with
18K yellows and greens, but they are even more forgiving about
quenching while still faintly red. Both qualities, in white,
MUST be allowed to cool below low red heat (about 900 F) before
quenching. All colors will be softer if quenched instead of
allowing them to completely air cool. A major exception is 18K
red gold (only gold and copper). It MUST be quenched above about
800 to avoid the formation of an ordered array structure which
will lead to cracky brittle metal. 800F is below red heat, but
hard to judge, so it's best to quench at just that last trace of
red color.
If you work mostly in silver, then the hardness of fully
annealed gold will still seem hard. Annealed silver, to a
goldsmith, resembles soft butter. Some 18K greenish alloys will
come close to sterling silver, but even they are a bit stiffer.
22K yellow golds are perhaps close to silver...
But rest assured, there is a great difference between annealed
and work hardened gold in both stiffness and hardness...
Peter Rowe
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