White gold: 14K vs 18K

Hello all,

In the "Thinking of changing over to gold " thread

Richard said:

Choose 18k- it sets you apart from the commercial herd and its
really the best all around metal.

I’ve just started using gold wire in some of my beaded projects.
When I use yellow gold I’ve been using 18k because I prefer the
color.

But for white gold, I’ve been using 14k, because white is white – I
thought – but is my assumption correct that 14k white is essentially
the same color as 18k white?

And, the sales person told me that the 18k white was even more
springy and hard, and therefore more difficult to work with, than
the 14k. (Which surprised me, as it was contrary to my expectation
of more gold = more soft.) Is this necessarily the case? (Perhaps it
is just true of the particular alloy this one company uses.)

When it comes to working with white gold, is there any reason to
chose the 18k over the 14k other than the cache of the “18”?

I won’t even go into all the problems I’m having removing the black
the torch… I’ve been researching the archives for info on this,
but the solutions seem laborious when one is doing many tiny balled
wires!!! (i.e.: flux coat, heat, coat, heat, coat, heat, alcohol
dunk, pickle? Pickle in…[misc. recommendations]?)

(Opps, guess I did go into it… :slight_smile:

Thanks much,
Carolyn

Hi

18kt white (I assume you use nickel white not palladium white) has
so much gold alloy makers must put a larger proportion of nickel (or
any whitener) into the mix. This is a major league generalization
here, alloys vary widely. Call one of us white gold makers and ask
about your options, if perhaps next project with your alloys to begin
with.

Daniel Ballard
PMWest