Titanium wire for jewellery findings

[KittyB52]

I have started to use more Niobium and Titanium earring wires for my jewellery making, and was wondering about making my own. I have a few questions:

I have heard that Titanium is difficult to work with - is it beyond beginner level skills to make simple findings such as earring wires and headpins with it (I have made findings before from copper and sterling silver)? I would like to be able to offer earrings with all Titanium findings, as opposed to just using bought earring wires - I don't have metal allergies but I would expect people who do would prefer to have all Titanium rather than silver plated brass headpins on Titanium earring wires.

Also, I have seen shops offering 'jewellery grade' Titanium wire - how does this compare to 'normal' Titanium wire (if such a thing exists)?

I also read that it is possible to change the colour of Titanium using heat - is this something that can be done easily at home (with a small torch such as can be used for silver metal clay)?

Sorry for all the questions - hope there's a Titanium expert on here. :D

[Dennis]

Hi Kitty and welcome to the forum. Titanium can be coloured by anodising, but the wires and pins are so inexpensive, you might just consider buying them in.

The Reactive Metals Studio has loads of information on the subject, as well as selling apparatus and ready made findings:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Reactive+Metals+Studio+USA&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&ei=7hVgV4eaLIHW8AfF-JUY

There is also this:
https://www.ejrbeads.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3 Dennis.

[ps_bond]

I have heard that Titanium is difficult to work with - is it beyond beginner level skills to make simple findings such as earring wires and headpins with it (I have made findings before from copper and sterling silver)? I would like to be able to offer earrings with all Titanium findings, as opposed to just using bought earring wires - I don't have metal allergies but I would expect people who do would prefer to have all Titanium rather than silver plated brass headpins on Titanium earring wires.


Different grades of titanium behave very differently; stick with grade 1 CP where possible. It's still quite hard on tools - tends to blunt files & saws - but nowhere near as bad as grade 5 (also called 6Al4V as it's alloyed with 6% aluminium, 4% vanadium).


Also, I have seen shops offering 'jewellery grade' Titanium wire - how does this compare to 'normal' Titanium wire (if such a thing exists)?

There's no such thing as "jewellery grade" Ti. Grade 1 is the likely candidate.


I also read that it is possible to change the colour of Titanium using heat - is this something that can be done easily at home (with a small torch such as can be used for silver metal clay)?

Yes, although you'll get a more limited range of colours than you can with anodising. Anodising Ti needs a power source that can deliver up to about 120VDC, so it has some safety implications.


Sorry for all the questions - hope there's a Titanium expert on here. :D

There is, but it isn't me :)

Some bracelets in 0.7mm Ti sheet -

Plain:

9018

Torch-coloured:

9019

[Buzby]

Just an add on to this thread.

Does anyone know if a Puk 5 welder can be used with titanium, and if so is it durable enough?

The only person I know who has used one for gold wasn't impressed, but this was a few years back.

Many thanks

Jason