[Jewelry making - Article 01184] - Re: [Orchid] Sizing joints in the 'new' white gold

[David L. Huffman]

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Hi Tracy;

    Although some new, whiter white gold alloys are on the market, I
    doubt it's the white gold that's changed. It may be the solder that's
    different. Eight years ago, there was still a lot of solder on the
    market that contained cadmium. Most solders now don't. And I can
    clearly see a difference in color between the cadmium free and the
    whiter cadmium bearing solders. But I would rather not use cadmium
    because of its carcinogenic risk. 

    When you say the solder seams are visible, is it because of the
    color or is it pits in the solder seam? Pits will be a problem if
    there is not a good fit in the joint. And the old fluxes used to
    contain fluorides whereas many now don't. But I don't know that this
    would cause problems unless you had oily contaminants at the time of
    soldering. Fluoride fluxes clean better, but again, they are
    carcinogenic. I too used to use 19K white weld to size white gold
    rings. But it's cheaper to use 14K, and I don't have problems with
    solder seams showing. The 19K weld is tricky to use too, because of
    it's higher melting temperature. The main reason I used to use 19K
    weld was because it was less likely to drag out of the seam during
    polishing. I think better polishing technique has removed that
    problem for me. Whenever I polish a sizing area on a ring, I always
    polish across the seam, never in line with it. Sand with a 320 grit
    paper, then lap with a hard felt lap charged with tripoli, then a
    quick buff with tripoli just to "read" the area for scratches the lap
    didn't remove, then a final polish with rouge on a buff. If the
    problem realy is about the color, you may have to make a choice,
    either live with it, or get a rhodium pen plater to touch up the
    seam. Forget the old, more dangerous materials, there are enough
    health hazards in our trade. 

David L. Huffman

 
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