Hi, I have recently embarked in working with 14k gold. While laminating the ingot, the metal sheet started to display cracks. I thought I was annealing properly, but I am not sure. I am afraid I made some mistake, perhaps quenching right after the annealing was too abrupt? Let me know if anyone in the forum can suggest me the right process.
Do you mean rolled when you say laminating? Cracks around the edges can happen if you don’t anneal often enough. Cracks on the interior may mean that there is something in the melt that shouldn’t be there or you didn’t forge it enough after you cast the ingot. After I anneal, I just let the ingot sit on the bench for a bit or put it on my anvil, then quench and pickle. 14KY gold should be fairly easy to cast and roll. 14KW may behave differently. I hate working with it. I think that I still have a link to a PDF on my website that takes you through the steps that I use to recycle Sterling. Most of it would be the same for 14KY. This is a common topic that has been discussed forever. Do a good search to find other advice…Rob
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Hi Rob, thank you a lot! The sheet is 14K Yellow, yes, but I mostly work with silver, and the behaviour in annealing and quenching slightly different than gold. I think I damaged the surface because of my torch. I better melt it again and restart. I will check your website, thank you for mentioning.