Have a silly question I’m sure but I’m going to put it out there anyway. Is it possible to texture 14/20 gold filled sheet in a rolling mill? Any info I would greatly appreciate!
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You shouldn’t have any problems using laser-textured paper or other shallow impressing or soft materials like blotter paper.
I’m going to guess you might risk problems with some steel texture plates that make deep impressions and have sharp edges in the design. The sharp edges going deep might cut through the thin gold cladding.
The best thing to do in the case of steel texture plates is to try it on a small piece of scrap. I have no idea how long it might take for the brass to tarnish to see if you have cut through the cladding though.
Neil A
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Hello Kristine! I’m Christine and have rolled my gold-filled sheets several times through my rolling mill and had great success. I have not used deep impressions, but have had some spectacular results.
The impressions leave such a super finish that I have not had to do any extensive filing work.I’ll take some photos when I can get a chance and let you see the results if it will be helpful to you. The trick with Gold-filled is to, of course, avoid breaking the bond… but if you cut it or file it or use punches on it, you will break the bond. So to make sure that you avoid as much oxidation/exposure of the materials used in the ‘fill’ portion of the ‘gold-filled’, you must immediately attempt to close off the areas of the exposed metal This can be done easily with a bright, shiny burnisher! Use it on the areas you just sawed or cut. I punched a series of circles for a set of earrings I was making about five years ago for myself, when I got a commission to do some work for another person… clients come first, so I dug out those punched out circles, each one had been burnished as described on all the cut edges before I put them away five years ago and they were ready to work on!! They had no discoloration on any of them and I was quite thrilled to discover I wasn’t going to spend a lot of time getting them ready to begin working on the new request. I hope this helps… it did help me since I was afraid working with older pieces of gold-filled was going to be a nightmare… it doesn’t have to be! Take care and work slowly and be delightfully surprised at the results!!
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Hello Christine and thanks for this wonderful tip on GF sheet. So you are saying that one can burnish the gold layer over the silver edges after you’ve sawn it or disk-cut it. I wonder what gauges you are using and whether you’ve discovered how thick the material would have to be before this technique wouldn’t cover all of the silver edge…thanks again for your help!
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Wow, thank you all for the great information. I’m planning on using laser paper. And Christine, so happy to know you have done it and have had great results!! Thank you, thank you so much again. You guys are the best!
Kristine
OH YES!! Photos please!!
royjohn,
So sorry to have been so long in sending a reply to your musings on the gauges of 14kt Gold-filled I’ve used… after some consideration I remembered a plain ring band I made from 10 gauge round stock as an exercise in soldering 14kt gold-filled, which is, as I’m sure you know, a royal pain! I also ended up texturing that same band later with a hammer to see what else I could do and how far the gold-filled material would go before the bond broke. I used what was basically a gold-colored silver solder and although it was lighter than the 14kt gold-filled, it allowed me to go back and look at it over the years to see how well it help up… and it has held up! It still amazes me that I was able to solder and texture that gold-filled after everything I had read on the subject!! I used the same burnishing technique I described above to seal the bond over the joint. In fact, I went back later and evened out the color difference between the solder and gold-filled by using a little tiny bit of real 14kt gold solder to cover the area of the previous solder and then I burnished the ‘fix’ until it was as highly reflective as the remainder of the ring and now I’m not sure when I look at it where the darn joint is!! I admit to having some anxiety every time I have to work with gold-filled, but I am also always amazed that when done correctly it really does look like any other true 14kt gold… you just have to keep in mind that it’s not gold throughout and use caution with fire, files, saw blades, etc. Even polishing too much over time can wear into the ‘fill’. But at today’s gold prices? Yeah!
Hello,
I was wondering…I have never “wear-tested” 14k gold-filled, but my niece has some pieces that she loves, and wears often, and she tells me she is observing a “color change”…is this somewhat typical over a 6-12 month period of frequent wear…? or, does it depend on the person and their skin/oils, etc
(she is not wearing in pool/ hot tub, bed, shower…stores in ziplock in closet not bathroom…we are curious…)
julie
Julie,
Hmmm… I would need a little more info on what exactly is happening to the color and because of the inherent problems associated with gold-filled (as mentioned above), I would like to see a photo of one of the pieces if possible. Here’s why: it could be that like me your niece has skin that reacts to some types of gold. Or more likely the metals making up the alloy itself. But with gold-filled it could be the base metal that is being reacted to, causing a chemical change in her skin at the point of contact and thus a color change in the metal as it reacts… But if the gold-filled bond on her pieces is still intact, then she would also react, more than likely, to other pieces of 14kt gold. If that is not the case then, based on the limited info here, I would say that the bond itself is breaking down and that’s what is causing the color change. None of that may be true because without additional input re: the color change itself, what color is it changing to; are parts of the piece itself scratched deeply enough to break the bond; are the pieces rings with a lot of banging around or are they pendants/necklaces with more protection for the gold-filled, etc etc… If you are still wondering and want to know more and can provide additional data please let me know.
Christine
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Hi!
ahh! i will discuss all your comments with my niece!
thank you!
julie