Gold Inlay Help

[rmattson]

I am getting married next spring and I'm making my wedding ring. It will be turned out of titanium. I inherited my grandfathers wedding ring that is 14k gold. I want to re-purpose his ring for an inlay in the titanium. The inlay will be a simple straight groove that I will likely undercut on the sides. I've made a number of rings similar to this but using crushed stone for the inlay. On those rings the groove has been in the neighborhood of .030 deep.

My questions are,
What is my best bet as far as getting an already made gold ring into a groove?

Cut it into a strip? Little pieces? Stretch it out over the top of the ring and hammer it in? Cut and solder together?

Does heating the gold assist at all in the hammering/shaping process?

Would making the groove shallower reduce the material needed, be easier, or help any?

I'm open to any ideas.

Currently my last resort is to make the titanium ring in two pieces and press all three together but I'd prefer a one piece ring for the base.

Thanks!

[Wallace]

not sure if this will help, as a starter - I am sure James or someone else with a lot of experience may come along and offer some advice.

I have only done it a couple of times, but used a ball burr to start and then a graver to make a channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zECMFQOoaqc

on the engravers' forum there is this info: http://www.engravingforum.com/showthread.php?t=2232

good luck on the wedding!

[trialuser]

This bloke make something similar look easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03J3R3vnW1I

[Dennis]

Gold is softened by annealing i.e. heating for a few seconds to dull red, allowing to cool a little and dropping into a solution of warm alum, or safety pickle, or diluted sulphuric acid.

Once you have made a suitable groove in your titanium ring, so that the gold will be slightly proud, you can cut the gold one with a jewellers saw, fit it into the groove and start tapping at one end to spread it.

Hopefully you will have enough gold to fill the groove and fit the ends together invisibly. When tapping your inlay the titanium ring will have to be supported on a ring mandrel (a tapered rod ) and will probably increase in size slightly, depending on how vigorously you tap.

You will need to keep a close eye on sizing. Dennis.