Scratch finish on gold

Jewelry Discussion
1

I like the hand-made look of a scratch finish on 14k gold and I’ve
been using diamond files to get that finish.

But now I have realized that while the texture holds up, the glimmer
and shine of the scratch finish does not; several months later, the
gold looks to be dirty.

Any thoughts on how to maintain that initial luster and gleam?

Thanks;
Carolyn Tillie

2

  1. polish with a fine grit rouge that leaves a matte finish after
    the initial scratch

  2. 3M radial bristle discs to maintain the look without ruining the
    effect

  3. refiling- but the metal loss seems not worth the effort…gold
    shouldn’t be tarnishing, unless its a low karat alloy (5-14) or gold
    filled material… so you may try using a higher karat gold and/or
    not abrading so deeply

  4. use a florentine finish bur instead of a diamond file

  5. use a highly polished bur for burnishing the finish after filing
    your material

  6. 3M anti-tarnish strips if the alloy has a good amount of copper
    (8-14kt.) it seems to not only work on silver but copper as well

  7. make sure you aren’t storing the pieces near rubber, or any other
    sulfur containing rocks, or minerals, that are “off-gassing” around
    the pieces that may be one environmental culprit. Sulfuric things
    tarnish and can etch the surfaces of coppe and zinc containing
    alloys… rer