What do you call a group of jewelers ? A “setting” of jewelers? A
"casting" of jewelers?
Anyway, I have two questions for this erudite community: What is the
best way to size palladium rings? Up or down… We are starting to
do more in palladium, custom and stock stuff, and sooner or later
this will come up.
I have recently been sizing a lot of palladium rings and I do not
like the way the solder reacts compared to Platinum.The solder
bubbles it does not flow like others. I am a contract jeweler and
size these rings often. I ordered solder from Stuller and it had a
lot of Gold in it.I switched to Pald. Hard it works, but still often
having problems. Do any of you fellows have the same problem? I love
Platinum!
I have recently been sizing a lot of palladium rings and I do not
like the way the solder reacts compared to Platinum.The solder
bubbles it does not flow like others.
Many if not all the currently available palladium solders are the
same composition as the low temp platinum solders they just have a
different stamp. The low temp platinum solders (with the exception
of PM West’s “Plumb” platinum solder) are palladium based with little
or no platinum in them. So you can freely use 1100C -1400C platinum
solders on 950 palladium. Also 19k white gold solder works well as
both a color match and easy flow solder. Palladium is a “gas magnet”
and will suck up lots of oxygen and hydrogen from the flame and
atmosphere so the high palladium solders have a tendency towards gas
porosity.
Jim
James Binnion @James_Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
Use palladium stock and for solders, the old/standard platinum
solders in the lower melting ranges. These solders are mostly
palladium, from what I hear. I’ve used them, the 1100 and 1300 grades
(centigrade melting temperatures), and they match for color and the
seam doesn’t polish out. Of course, you could also use a laser welder
and palladium laser wire, if you have one. I haven’t tried my PUK on
palladium, but I have no reason to believe it wouldn’t work just
fine.
I have also been working on more palladium recently. We have been
using the solders from Hoover and Strong. Their hard palladium leaves
no bubbles and works pretty well. I recommend it.
I received your mail from a friend who thought I may be able to
help. My name is Mark Mann and I provide technical consultation for
the Palladium Alliance International.
For sizing palladium rings I recommend the following technique:
Use a high-heat soldering block to place the work being soldered
onto or hold it using high-heat tweezers like titanium or tweezers
with tungsten carbide tips. I use a rated No. 5 welding lens to
shield the harmful bright light. Use an oxidizing flame and directly
heat the area around the joint and then the joint itself. I heat the
opposite side that the solder is placed on and draw the solder
through. If this is not possible, I’m very careful to heat each side
of a joint and then I direct my torch flame directly over the joint.
The preheating will allow the solder to smoothly flow and complete
the sizing joint. I do not use firecoating or flux when soldering.
When you use higher melting point palladium solders, the palladium
object being heated for soldering will oxidize and a blueish-violet
covering covers the piece. This oxidation will not pickle off. To
remove the oxidation adjust your torch to have equal amounts of gas
and oxygen. This flame is a reducing flame and when it’s directed
onto the oxidized piece, it will remove the oxidation within a few
seconds. The piece will need re-polishing.
As a point of interest, easy, medium and hard palladium solders are
either very similar to lower melting point platinum solder or are
exactly the same. Lower melting point platinum solders contain
palladium and gold and very little or no platinum. All of the
palladium and platinum solders I’ve used exhibit a slight
discoloration at the seam, regardless of how perfect the seam is. The
discoloration shows as a slightly darker line at the joint. I burnish
it to conceal the darkened line. For a better color match that won’t
require burnishing you can use 20 karat hard white welding solder
from Hoover and Strong. They also have a nice assortment of palladium
solder, sheet wire and assorted palladium products. You can see some
palladium soldering techniques in articles I’ve written and posted at
the Orchid site. Here are the URL’s:
12 - Wedding Band - Finishing Techniques
07 - Palladium Basics
Thanks for your interest in palladium and don’t heistate to call
upon me for additional