I'm making a wedding band out of Palladium sheet & it will have an 18ct 1mm yellow wire inlaid into the sheet to represent contour lines of some peaks in Snowdonia.
I've been reading up on palladium both here, UKJC and my own books and am not sure on how to work or treat the metal, i think kindly for the latter & i've loads of questions for the former!
Oppi Unctracht Jewellery Concepts & Technology has just frightened me. I read that after using steel tools on the platinum family the precious metal should be pickled in hot hydrocholoric acid before annealing and what binding wire would be used if steel is an issue. what is the general practise or advice?
I use a propane sievert set up, will this be adequate to solder the band then the inlay?
Will the Auflux be suitable for all the soldering steps ( I am thinking of the palladium solder for the shank) including the gold wire or will I have to use Tenacity 125 Flux for both steps?
I used a graver to carve out a groove in the silver mock up for the contrasting wire, will this still be as easy to do in Palladium?
I've just received the brilliant 'Bench' magazine & after reading the article on Palladium I wondered how the inclusion of 18ct gold would affect the hall markabilty of the finished object?
and talking of brilliance what polishing compounds would you recommend?
I tried to upload an image but I'm not sure if I did it right
Had to check my facts hear, (it was as I remembered ). Because the gold is more valuable than he palladium and the gold is visible as non palladium you can hall mark as palladium.
Articles consisting of more than one precious metal can be hallmarked, subject to the following conditions:
• The item can only be marked if, in the opinion of the Assay Office, an ordinary person will be able to determine which part is which precious metal.
• Each precious metal component must be at least the minimum legal fineness for that metal i.e. Gold 375, Silver 800, Platinum 850, Palladium 500 (parts per thousand).
• The full Hallmark (Assay Office and fineness mark) struck will be that of the least precious metal, in order, silver, palladium, gold and platinum. This will normally be struck on the appropriate metal.
I've got more questions, has anyone inlaid gold into palladium?
Can a gold solder can be used for a successfull joint with palladium as I've read that cadmium free solders should not be used with gold & the lower temp palladium solders contain cadmium. I don't want to damage the gold by heating it to platinum solder temperature.
USA sites say to use welding glass when soldering palladium, does anyone practice this & have any advice about it?
I'm worried about the softness of 18ct compared to the palladium when I come to polish it but I thinks that is just a case of being careful I guess.
The brides rings are completed & I'll upload them asap. setting the stones was sweet, the gold was like butter.
can you try damascining (possibly spelt wrong) but this is a technique where you undercut the sides of graved lines and them hammer the gold into the grooves, the undercut holds the metal in and you can then file off the excess to leave a level surface. this is the technique used on shotguns to inlay gold into steel for decoration. Did some at college thirty years ago.
Thanks Vernon, thats a good tip, it was difficult trying to get the wire in place as it just keep bouncing out & awkward trying to bind it all together. I'll go and try it & it should stay in place like you say if its got a bite.
What a really good suggestion Vernon, I don't use palladium, but could see that method being useful in the future!!
Will be interested to hear how you get on sheepy
A future project for me is to use diamond tools and try to inset gold and silver wire into grooves ground into precious or semi precious stones, when I say future it's more of an inkling really!
The groove is cut & after shaping a graver to suit I have done the undercut too. I've annealed the gold wire -18ct hb yellow- to a good red but it feels very springy still, I've also left it to air cool & quenched it at black heat. I'm used to dealing with copper, guilding and silver wire & how soft they are after annealing, so am not sure if the gold should feel the same?
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). Because the gold is more valuable than he palladium and the gold is visible as non palladium you can hall mark as palladium.
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