Would some of you with more experience than I have give me some
advice about a project I am starting. A customer wants a pair of
silver cufflinks with a gold strip (18K) and a garnet. My plan
is to use 20 gauge silver and 26 gauge 18 K gold (that’s all I
have) and I have not mixed the two together before, nor have I
had much experience with gold. I have purchased the silver cuff
link part, and thought I would use hard silver solder to attach
the bezel and the gold strip to a flat piece of silver and am
undecided as to whether to use medium or easy solder on the join
between the silver cufflink part and the part I have prepared
with the strip and bezel. I would use Handy Flux and pickle with
Sparex because I have them available, unless someone tells me I
shouldn’t do so. When should most of the polishing (hand or
Dremel) be done?
Any tips you might give me would be apprecialted. Thanks, Sue
I have purchased the silver cuff link part, and thought I
would use hard silver solder to attach the bezel and the gold
strip to a flat piece of silver and am undecided as to whether
to use medium or easy solder on the join between the silver
cufflink part and the part I have prepared with the strip and
bezel.
Sue, You did not mention wether the bezel would be in 18k gold
also but if I were you i wouldnt use hard solder on the gold
since neither joint will be subject to any stress. I would use an
easy or med gold solder to join them to the silver
sheet.Soldering gold to silver is a bit tricky as the gold will
come up to temperature before the silver so be sure to play the
flame of your torch around the silver to bring it up to soldering
temp first.If you heat the gold to much it will alloy and sink
into the silver and all but disappear leaving a gold smudge on
the silver and yes i am speaking from experience. As far as the
link portion i would use med on it as it will be under stress
from wear.
Sue, I often apply a little bit of gold onto sterling. I always
use Medium silver solder. This might change depending on how and
where you are applying the gold. I have done gold wire on the
edges of silver rings. Silver solder works great! Good
luck…Gini
I use silver solder to join gold to silver, that way you don’t
get a smuge of gold on the base silver, any silver solder that
jumps onto the gold is easier to sand or polish off. I certainly
do know the sinking feeling of having the gold melt into the
silver after working hard to make and then position everything.
Soldering from underneath helps. Just my two cents. Jan
I’d use medium silver soldier for the whole job (obviously close
your gold bezel with gold solder).
I know a lot of people would use gold solder to join gold and
silver. I used to do it that way too. A wise man, talented
jeweler, and hilarious joke-teller (ok, it was Jurgen Maerz) once
told me to use silver solder when joining anything to silver, and
I’ve been very happy with the results.
One warning though…Make sure you don’t over-heat the gold, as
it will sink right into the silver leaving you with a gold smudge
rather than a band. You’re working with a very thin piece of gold
and you’ll need to be very careful here. If in doubt, solder the
finding on first with medium, and then use a little double easy
solder to attach the gold. Good luck!
Hello: I was under the impression that Hard,Medium,and easy
solders were equally strong and that the difference was simply
the melting point. Am I misstaken?
Hello: “One warning though…Make sure you don’t over-heat the
gold, as it will sink right into the silver leaving you with a
gold smudge”.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried to use this as a
technique to make a finished piece of jewelery. I mean cut a
design in gold ,lay it on silver and sink it in with heat. Would
it polish up to show the gold patern? Just wondering.
Easy solder tends to be rather brittle. I wouldn’t use it for
findings that will be under stress (such as cuff links), or on
overlay bracelets, as it tends to crack when the bracelet is
bent.
I finished a wedding band yesterday that was a platinum casting
(from J A Henkel, very low porosity) and fused 22k into the
surface. The model was a Zuni wave form that I made in sterling.
John cast a wax from a mold that he cut from my model. I cut
rough shapes to fit the waves and melted them into the surface
by heating with a torch on the inside of the band. The 22k alloy
(Hoover & Strong) simply melted into place- no flux, rather fun
for this hectic time of year.
Rick
Richard D. Hamilton
Martha’s Vineyard
USA
Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography
sirs;I have used combing copper and silver.First make a ring out
of wax it would look like an ordinary wedding band,cut or put at
least 4 or 6 holes in the wax band and cast in copper,which melts
at about 1940 f.Clean up and polish.Take ring you made and fill
the holes with wax and sprue each one with 18 or 20 ga.wax wire.
so that you have 4 or 6 sprues coming out of the inside of the
copper ring.Cast and clean up cut off sprues and I call it my
magic ring since there are now two different metals in the ring
and a person would have perhaps a magic electric flow of hope and
power…If this makes sence let me know.In answer to the gold
ring with white os silver in the same manner yes it shows up…try
it and let me know how you do… thanks for reading @wburnett
You are creating a technique used so well by the Koreans and
mentioned several times in recent postings on this network. It is
called Kum Boo (as I learned the spelling) and was described very
nicely in an old issue of Metalwork magazine when they were still
doing How-to things. Sol K.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried to use this
as a technique to make a finished piece of jewelery. I mean cut
a design in gold ,lay it on silver and sink it in with heat.
Would it polish up to show the gold patern? Just wondering
You can inlay a piece of gold into silver I do it all the time.
But to just heat it up and allow the gold to melt into the silver
just leaves a gold smudge with no shape and it is not very
interesting. Michael
Hello: I was under the impression that Hard,Medium,and easy
solders were equally strong and that the difference was
simply the melting point. Am I misstaken? >>
Michael, I don’t know whether “equal strength” is a true
statement, I’ve always been told NOT to make repairs using easy.
So, I try not to use it often.
If you are looking for a thorough description of Kum-Boo, there
is a section on it in “Metals Technic”, a collection of twelve
metalsmiths presenting various techniques (including patination,
anticlastic raising, niello, photoetching, sterling granulation,
etc.) The book is edited by Tiim McCreight, and published by
Brynmorgen Press, copyright 1992. A nifty compendium.
You are creating a technique used so well by the Koreans and
mentioned several times in recent postings on this network. It is
called Kum Boo (as I learned the spelling) and was described very
nicely in an old issue of Metalwork magazine when they were still
doing How-to things. Sol K.
For more on Keum-Boo see the article on the Tips page: