Questions about gold filled.

[SilverBouillon]

I may need to come back to 14K gold filled wire for one particular design, but there is some confusing information online about working with it.

I read that I can sand and polish gold filled.
Well, I've tried it before, polishing (not even sanding), and the pieces I polished a lot, got tarnished because I took too much gold off. I also had problem with thick gauge wire cut ends because they got tarnished. And bending the wire too much was not good idea either, the surface became dull losing gold shine.

I read that people solder gold filled, sanding and polishes. It's confusing. I found gold filled is very limited to work with, very delicate. How people do all those without any damage to gold filled wire or components?

[Dennis]

No Lana you are right. You are limited by the thickness of the surface gold, so you can only treat it very gently or re-plate to hide the damage. Dennis

[SilverBouillon]

Dennis, that means that people who recommend that have no idea that their jewelry sold to customers will live short life? Without plating it again gold filled jewelry will not last long.

What possible substitutes I can get for non tarnishing wire? Aluminum, well polished? I can adapt the design for cold joining.

[Dennis]

You're into shiny, but in your climate I would go for sterling silver Lana, making designs which would look good tarnished, a kind of natural antique look, because the high spots will shine with use.