Shrinking a wedding band

Hi Guys,

I have 2 plain wedding bands to shrink. 1 is 14kt palladium white
gold and the other is 18kt rose gold.

Should I anneal the 2 rings and then use the reducer to shrink them?
Or should I reduce them as they are?

Thanks,
Gian.

I have 2 plain wedding bands to shrink. 1 is 14kt palladium white
gold and the other is 18kt rose gold. 
Should I anneal the 2 rings and then use the reducer to shrink
them? Or should I reduce them as they are? 

To a degree, it’s your choice. The reducing dies, unlike stretching,
don’t much risk cracking the metal. If it’s too hard, you’ll simply
find it takes too much effort to shrink the bands. So try them. If
they seem to be too stiff to shrink, then anneal as needed. The
palladium white shouldn’t need it. The rose gold might. If you anneal
the rose gold, quench in alcohol to prevent brittleness or cracking.
Don’t air cool. If you can shrink them without annealling, they end
up harder, and thus better durability.

Peter

How much do you need to reduce them? I would be in favor of annealing
both. The 18k red is a challenge if you are not familiar with working
it. It requires careful handling. If you do not quench it at the
appropriate moment after annealing it can literally shatter if
stressed.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts

Gian -

I would say anneal first. but do some research on the heat/cool
procedure for each alloy. (Personally, I do not know what is the
right way, but the is out there. Don’t assume it’s the
same for both metals.) If a metal is brittle to begin with, then
stressing it more with a ring reducer may cause it to crack. THEN
you have a problem on your hands.

I hope you let us know what worked for you.

best regards,
Kelley Dragon

I would always anneal first. No matter if new or not they have been
work hardened one way or another.