Hi I am sure some of you know the answer to this question. I am in the process of making a Russian wedding ring (no I am not getting married). The threee colours of PM will be Rose gold 18ct Yellow gold 18ct Silver 999 pure silver I am starting off bullion so all PM are pure. 24ct is way to soft, so I alloyed the gold to make it harder. by adding copper or silver Rose gold at 75au/25cu was way way too hard, yellow gold at 25ag/75au too soft, so added extra silver or copper in the ratios below. Rose - 4gm pure gold, 0.7gm copper - which makes 21ct (85% gold weight) Yellow - 3gm pure gold, 0.3gm copper and 0.7gm silver - which makes 18ct (75% gold) Yellow I got it to the right hardness, but my Rose Gold is still too hard, so can I add silver to soften my rose gold and bring it back down to 18ct or will adding silver to au and cu mix make it even harder? I dont mind adding extra gold to rose gold to make it softer, but rather not. Note: I dont have a roller, so the band will be hammered, hence requiring reasonable softness to work the gold into a band plus pure silver band will be sacrificial in the middle (not brave enough to make white gold) thanks in advance
Annealing should be the key to making it softer and workable - frequent annealing to keep it workable especially after using hammers mandrels and tumblers. Adding silver will change the colour but won't make it softer.
refer to Oppi Untrachts book Jewellery Concepts and Technology I think around 840 pages, there's not much more you will ever need to know if you can get this reference book, although an extension of this book is by the same author entitled Metal Techniques for Craftsmen with these two books there is very little else apart from hands on experience. Page 38 All karat alloys are listed, even listings for lowering and bringing up known karat alloys in the first mentioned book, I have always alloyed to the amounts used in this book and never had an issue with work hardening when following the according to type annealing techniques. These 2 books are my bibles for jewellery making and are the ducks nuts. I cant really post pics of the tables for alloying and annealing without breaching copyright, if you like to dabble in the jewellery trade as a hobbyist through to trade professional these books are a must have. These two books don't come cheap new, but are a must have, many topics are doubled over in both but some crucial material is not and both books are needed for your reference. Be certain your quality of copper is at 99% grade or at a minimum from an electrolytic source. Australian current ebay listings: Metal techniques for craftsmen, and Jewellery Concepts and Technology http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/METAL-TE...753209?hash=item4b06fc6bf9:g:AacAAOSw9NdXvS81 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-Jewe...448168&hash=item33b1d0310e:g:5SUAAOSwFNZWxDON Cheap UK listing with free postage: Jewellery Concepts and Technology: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Jewelry-...448168&hash=item41cb910947:g:rUEAAOSwGcpZeWJ6
