To All,
Anyone wanting to know a very good way to improve the color of lower
karat gold alloys that originated in France please email me.This method
is quite easy. I found it detailed in a book that went out of print in
1896.It works very well on articles soldered with low karat gold solder
as well and brings about a fine deep yellow
color…@Gavin_Gilmore
Hi,
Please share us all with the method you found, and please let us know
in which book you found this info.
Best
Dr. Aspler
To All,
Anyone wanting to know a very good way to improve the color of lower
karat gold alloys that originated in France please email me.
Yes! I would be interested in this
Sandra Good
@Good_Gal
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Life is good.
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Dr. E. Aspler wrote:
Date: 30 Sep 96 at 5:58
Hi,
Please share us all with the method you found, and please let us know
in which book you found this info.
Best
Dr. Aspler
To All,
Anyone wanting to know a very good way to improve the color of
lower
karat gold alloys that originated in France please email me.This
method is quite easy. I found it detailed in a book that went out of
print in 1896.It works very well on articles soldered with low karat
gold solder as well and brings about a fine deep yellow
color…@Gavin_Gilmore
To all,
This is from the book “The Metalurgy of Gold” by Sir T.K. Rose who was
knighted for his work with the English Mint regarding gold and it’s
chemistry.His book was published first in about 1896 if memory serves
me correctly…
There is a reason I didn’t post to all and it is called liability
law.Okay so a disclaimer I suppose first.If you burn your pinky or your
big toe or some other part of yourself I am not to blame.Okay here it is
and believe me it really does work…Be careful because the solution
needs to be heated to near boiling hence the disclaimer.
Take a pyrex beaker or an old pyrex coffee pot add a couple of pints
or so of hot tap water and mix 1 tablespoon of Potassium Nitrate
(Saltpeter is the common name)which you can get at a drugstore with two
tablespoons of non-iodized table salt and one teaspoon of alum(this is
found in the spice section of the grocery for use in canning pickles).
Put your jewelry item without stones(ruby or diamond or hard stones
are okay to put in the solution but avoid putting malachite or lapis or
similar softer cabs in this stuff)Heat the solution with the jewelry in
it for an hour or two on a hotplate adding more water if necessary.The
best temperature is just below the boiling point of water or about
190-200 degrees F…This solution works well on sterling silver also by
the way.What this does is dissolve the base metals near the surface of
the item leaving a fine gold or fine silver outer layer.Rinse well with
hot water and polish with a soft cloth.I usually polish first with rouge
and clean the item with ammonia and then use the solution.
This method was used widely in France before electro-plating became
common.It is much safer than plating with cyanide solutions and the
finish is every bit as good.(For those who are new to jewelry making it
is common for some shops to plate even gold articles after soldering to
cover discoloration particularly on articles with soft solder which
often leaves a gray color around the solder joint.Treatment with boric
acid and denatured alcohol prior to soldering usually holds any
discoloration to a minimum though.)
Remember to wear the standard protective clothing for handling
chemicals,rubber gloves,apron,eye protection and sturdy foot wear with
high tops.
This solution will keep for a long period and can be re-used.If it
seems to weaken add a bit more alum or saltpeter or table salt.If your
water is heavily chlorinated it is not a bad idea to buy distilled water
since chlorine does have the ability to dissolve small amounts of gold
although it is very slow at doing so.Iodine also has this capability of
dissolving gold in small amounts and that is why I recommend non-iodized
table salt for this purpose.
If you have any questions on this process or others I will do my best
to answer them…Gavin
Please send details of gold coloring. Lloyd
Never Did receive the info on how this is done . . . .Wha happen??
Jim
At 06:44 PM 9/30/96 -0400, you wrote: