I have a customer whe very much wants his wedding bands to be made of
Iridium!!..I need as much help as possible on the subject! In my 20
years of being a jeweler, this is a first ( and from what a few of my
friends tell me…hopefully it is ‘a last’)…sooo…where can one get
Iridium?(I llive in Northern VT)…and is it even workable??..I am a
fabricator, not a magician!!..answer me someone…out there!!!
Marion Stegner…Greensboro,
Marion hello!
Iridium is a very brittle metal. It is also a bit crumbly in the
state I am familiar, for alloying with pure platinum. I have not
heard of any attempts to solely work it by itself. You may suggest a
higher iridium content in platinum to make your customer happy.
Consult with a metallurgist at one of the refiners. They would have
knowledge of the limits of higher percentages of Iridium content in
Platinum. Good luck!
TimI would contact Johnson Matthey. They are a major supplier of
platinum products internationally. You could probably contact
suppliers like Hoover and Strong as well. I am sure they mix their
own alloys and have at least a contact that they use. They have
always been very helpful to me.
I can’t tell you how iridium works but I am sure it is very hard to
use. It has an even higher melting temperature than platinum.
Addresses:
Johnson Matthey
608 fifth Ave
rm. 507
NY NY 10020
212.245.6790
conlok@matthey.com
Hoover and Strong
10700 trade Road
Richmond VA 23236
1.800.759.9997
hovrgold@ix.netcom.com
Let us all know how it turns out!
Larry Seiger
Hi Marion
I am not sure where Northern VT is, but I assume you live in the USA.
I suggest that you contact one of the precious metal refiners such as
Johnson Matthey in Philadelphia, Pensylvania. They produce Iridium and
I know that it is often alloyed with platinum - particularly for
laboratory ware. Workability of the pure stuff is something I have no
experience in. I would be interested to hear how it works out.
Nils Schwarz
Sua Pan, Botswana