[Jewelry making - Article 00338] - [Orchid] Red Gold Problems for the Forum

[Four Corners Emigration]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========


    I am looking for some advice. I am a novice to the jewellery
    profession and have just received my first red gold commission. It is
    to make an old Portuguese rose gold wedding band one size larger
    (sizing). It had no stamp but from the weight seems like 18k. 

    I tried hammering it bigger but a tiny pit appeared in the join So I
    realised I would have to size it properly, which I had wanted to avoid
    because of colour variations. I couldn't purchase any 18k red soldier
    (apparently it doesn't exist?) so tried so 9k red soldier. Well, the
    ring was fine but the joint warped, bulged and pitted. 

    In desperation, I was then advised to size it, with the small piece of
    new red gold, using 18k medium yellow soldier and use a porosity
    hammer to burnish the pink gold over the two yellow soldier joins. 

    What is a porosity hammer? The ring is half round, surely I will file
    or polish all the burnishing off? in my final clean up. 

    Then I tried to smelt the newly bought 18k red gold (I decided that I
    would have to try 18k) for the little filler piece in the sizing. It
    smelted really quickly and when I tried rolling it through my mill, it
    cracked fairly shortly into the whole process. Time and time again. 

    I am at my wits end, as the same rules that seem to apply to white
    and yellow gold don't appear to work here. 

    My crucible is clean. My mould is clean/ I dont over heat the melt. I
    anneal painfully regularly. (perhaps too much / too hot?) The pressure
    I apply when making my passes through the mill increases only
    fractionally.(what is a good percentage between anneals?) 

    I am now in the situation wheRe: I am not sure what karat I am even
    dealing with; the ring is still not sized bigger; the previously
    perfect soldier join has created a large moonscape; the new red gold
    for the sizing won't even allow me to roll it into a manageable strip;
    Even if I could, I would have to soldier it with yellow soldier
    leaving two yellow stripes and I have been advised to use a hammer I
    have never heard of, in a manner I am not at all familiar with. And the
    wedding day is fast approaching and the starved bride is is very
    cranky about this sentimental old ring. Which still has to be engraved
    and that apparently takes a week. 

    Does anyone have any advice on how I should treat this ring, and what
    such a hammer looks like. Is this normal? 

Thank you

Caroline

____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________