[Jewelry making - Article 00288] - Re: [Orchid] 14k and platinum

[John Donivan]

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>         Hello All, I'm hoping to get some advice mixed metals
>     soldering. I'd like to know if 14ky and platinum can be soldered end
>     to end. Picture two rings, one gold and one platinum, same size,
>     width and thickness. Saw them both in half and then put the gold
>     with the platinum half to form a ring. Can these two halves be
>     soldered together? I've gone thru the archives and I've read some
>     mixed comments, including one that I suspect may be true. Would gold
>     solder be able to flow far enough into the platinum to keep the
>     ring together? Thanks in advance for your help. Don't know what some
>     of us would without this collective brain. 


    The simple answer to your question is - no, it won't. You can solder
    the two together, finish it off just like gold, polish it -
    beautiful.  But if you put it on a mandrel to round it, or size it,
    the seam will surely pop.  Prongs, too - if you solder platinum prongs
    with gold solder, they will just snap off, or try to.  The heat at
    which platinum gets that "sweat" where solder permaeates it is, like,
    double the melting point of 14k.  I would suggest making a key in the
    platinum half - a dovetail- "North-South" would give you a design
    element, "East-West" would be unseen. Then, if you have finesse with
    the torch, you can fuse the gold half on, or, more risky, you can wax
    the gold part onto the  platinum and cast it in place (better if you
    don't vacuum the flask)  Platinum is nice that way - If I do an
    "inlay" ring - some pattern of gold on a platinum band, I don't fit
    pieces and solder, I just make a gold rod and melt it into the 
    spaces, and then file it down.....


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