9K Palladium white gold alloying

Hi All,

I’m in a bit of fix; my usual metals supplier doesn’t carry 9K white
gold, and I need to re-shank a ring that is 9K white. Now what I do
have on hand is some 24K, fine silver, tru-Pd (950Pd) and a bit of Pt
(probably 900Pt/Ir) scrap.

So what I was thinking was to alloy up some of the Tru-Pd with the
fine gold to get the 9K white, now I can either cast the alloy
straight into a half round form or I can do an ingot and mill it to
shape. So which is the better route given the simple alloy
375Au/625Pd (as Tru-Pd), given I don’t know what else is in the
Tru-Pd along with the Pd to make up to the full 1000 parts?

Now the real down side is that this is a rush job (aren’t they
all?), I was hoping to do the alloying up bit over the weekend while
I have fewer distractions in the shop and have the repair ready for
pickup Monday lunch…

Cheers, Thomas Janstrom.
Little Gems.
http://tjlittlegems.com

I'm in a bit of fix; my usual metals supplier doesn't carry 9K
white gold, and I need to re-shank a ring that is 9K white. 

If you don’t normally use or stock 9K, then I’d suggest using the
next higher karat you DO have instead. I would think that unless the
ring is unusually heavy, the minor increase in metal value of the
higher karat shank would be less than the time and trouble and you’ll
go to in alloying up a matching karat, not to mention that then
you’ll have left over metal you might never again need. I wouldn’t
expect the color to be all that different, and I’d be very surprised
if the customer were at odds with you using better quality metal.
It’s possible, of course, that you’re working with a ring that is for
some reason important enough to warrant that trouble, such as a fine
hand made piece or something of significant emotional value to the
owner, or the like, where the match in karat is essential. But most
such pieces are higher karat, aren’t they, while most lower karat
pieces tend to be quite commercial. Still worth doing a good job, of
course. But do you really have to go to extremes matching the karat?

Peter

Why not just use 14kw that you might have, there is about $10.00 more
gold in 14 that 10 per dwt. not worth the time and hassle to make
10k. The palladium white gold will be softer that the old 10k so if
you use it be sure to work harden as much as possible, I see future
problems so I would use regular nickel white gold even if it cant be
ready monday. Also try a pawn shop that buys old gold, they might
have a wedding band you could use and they might sell it to you at
scrap prices if you tell them whats up.

Bill Wismar

I should clarify a bit, 9K was and probably still is rather common
over here in Australia, just not the white version (at least in my
experience) which was confirmed when my supplier said no, not that
colour…

I’ll have a look in the pawn shops (don’t know why I didn’t think of
that one!) Monday, and save my gold etc for a better use. Oh yeah I
checked and she is ok with a 14K shank to replace the 9K one.

The piece is (so I’ve been told) a family heirloom which after many
years is starting to show its age wit cracks in the shank and severe
thinning on the inside of the ring, either one would be reason enough
to do the work, but as at right now the ring is broken and needs
urgent work. Good thing she brought it in for cleaning…

Cheers, Thomas Janstrom.
Little Gems.
http://tjlittlegems.com