I’ve been using David H Fell’s high nickel “winter white” 14k white
gold for casting and rolling for some time now. It is quite white
and is rollable, forgeable and formable. It is, however, a nickel
white gold-- what I call the “Devil’s Metal”, but as far as this
material goes it is quite nice to work with.
I quench the annealed metal in denatured alcohol after it loses it’s
red heat --about 600 F–which blasts off much of the oxide and leaves
the material workable.
For forging and fabricating, I begin with casting shot and pour
ingots. There are some times when I have cracking problems, but much
less so than with other 14k whites I’ve tried. One thing I’ve found
is that when rolling this material-- if not all nickel whites-- you
really need to reduce it by at least 50% before annealing, or it will
crack AFTER annealing, when you’d least expect it.
It pays also to really “listen” to the material. When rolling, you
can feel the changes in the metal being telegraphed through the
handle of the rolling mill. When it starts to feel a little
“chrystaline”, it’s getting close to annealing time. Sounds like
voodoo, but, for me, it works.
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Andy Cooperman
coopermanjewelry.com