I know there was a discussion recently about annealing red gold,
which interested me because I’m going to have to draw down some red
wire…
I would also like to know if 18K red behaves like 9K red in other
ways (and I know this is probably a how long is a piece of string).
Cookson’s (I’m in the UK) doesn’t list the melting point of their 9K
red, but does list the 18K red melting range as 875 - 900 degrees C.
I’ve been asked to make one of these:
in 18K and agreed straight away; but before I get started on what’s
potentially a huge expensive mess if I get it wrong I would love
some advice from Orchid!
Hoover and Strong has a good discussion of annealing and drawing 18
and lower kt. red golds in their catalogue- the high copper content
requires annealing it at about 1300 F and then quenching to either
black heat ( 850-900 F) and then water (preferred without a furnace)
or, by air cooling, or water quenching (although that’s my least
recommended method as it can cause some cracking in rolling or
drawing as the crystalline structure is forced to compact too
quickly given the high Cu content) If you have access to one, a
furnace is the recommendation for a wire coil. If you look online you
can find their article in the H&S catalogue. If you can’t find it
write me and I’ll send you an article or two- it’s too late and cold
to go to the studio right now!..rer
Cookson’s do list the melting range for their 9K red alloy. It’s
900-960 degrees Celscius. Go to the bottom of the web page and click
on “knowledgebase”. Then on the left hand side of the new page,
there’s a menu. Click on “alloy datasheets”, click on the one you
want and you’ll find every bit of you need.
Hoover and Strong has a good discussion of annealing and drawing
18 and lower kt. red golds in their catalogue- the high copper
content requires annealing it at about 1300 F and then quenching to
either black heat (850-900 F) and then water (preferred without a
furnace) or, by air cooling, or water quenching (although that's my
least recommended method as it can cause some cracking in rolling
or drawing as the crystalline structure is forced to compact too
quickly given the high Cu content)
18k Reds or pinks need to be quenched in water or alcohol (I only
mention alcohol as certainly someone will recommend it but if you
are not very careful alcohol quenching can cause a big fire
instantly, so I don’t suggest it). As for an interrupted quench there
are two problems, first the above suggested temperature of 850-900 F
is too hot to stop the rapid cooling at if that is what you mean in
your post. The danger area for creating brittle intermetallic
compounds(AuCu in 18k alloys) is between 400-800 F (210-410 C). So
if you did want to do an interrupted quench or two step quench you
would want to slow cool to something above 800F then rapidly cool by
water quenching to get through the danger zone. So if you wished you
could slow cool to 850-900F say in a furnace but then you would need
atmosphere controls to prevent serious oxidation of the alloy.
The info from the Hoover and Strong catalog is indeed good and it
says water quench from 1300 F, that is the best and most straight
forward advice.
thank you very much indeed - I’ll look for the article. Cookson’s
I’ve found has the data sheet for their alloy which says heat to
cherry red, air-cool to black heat then water quench and gives a 70%
reduction before re-annealing is necessary. I wish I had access to a
furnace, but I don’t…
I haven’t had a problem working withe the 9K, but there again, I
haven’t had to draw it!
The info from the Hoover and Strong catalog is indeed good and it
says water quench from 1300 F, that is the best and most
straight forward advice.
Boy I’ll second that it’s good advice (if you follow it). I had a
goldsmith working with me years ago that was doing sizing’s
primarily. She had damaged something by quenching it, so I had
instructed her to generally let things air cool (with some
exceptions). She wanted to make her wedding ring and chose 18K rose
gold as the material and was setting it with yellow diamonds. She
soldered in a bezel for the center stone and let it air cool. The
entire ring was covered with fine crack lines. It was bad (I felt bad
for not catching it before she did it), but it was sort of cool and
interesting too. We made a new ring and she quenched after she
soldered and all was well. Lesson learned.
A nice substitute for 18K rose gold is Hoover and Strong’s peach
gold. The color is sort of in between yellow and red and it’s easier
to work with. It still gives you a slightly red tone that makes you
think of rose gold but it doesn’t look like the color of a copper
pipe.
A nice substitute for 18K rose gold is Hoover and Strong's peach
gold. The color is sort of in between yellow and red and it's
easier to work with. It still gives you a slightly red tone that
makes you think of rose gold but it doesn't look like the color of a
copper pipe.
{laughs}
I like the copperyness, though. And the thought of the customs duty
if I had to import gold makes me feel slightly shaky…
i am jumping into the middle of this thread so if i am rehashing
somthing please ignore the following but any alloy used in gold or
alloyed gold has its performance under certain conditions enhanced
to react in a certain way to a particular process, positive or
negative depending on what results the goldsmith intended in his /
her mind. When you cast deox white alloy you get the results of a
bright casting if you try to roll the same metal you get a work out
and lots of cracked and failed sheet ! When the persons who sold you
the stuff dont give you the info on the product try to find the
persons who designed the alloy you are using, if they can’t answer
your questions then start looking for a new supplier or alloy, and
another thing be prepared for them to dance around the issue and not
know what you are talking about if thats the case then you really
need to find somthing else to work. PM west is the only precious
metal company out there with decent alloys i really do not
understand why people fool around with anything else thier rose gold
nondeox is an ultimate product and they have different shades of it
as well - goo
