I am making a ring out of 18 kt yellow gold d shaped wire. It is 4 mm wide and 2 mm thick. I am finding it almost impossible to work with as it is not becoming soft by annealing. Does anyone have any suggestions please??
I am making a ring out of 18 kt yellow gold d shaped wire. It is 4 mm wide and 2 mm thick. I am finding it almost impossible to work with as it is not becoming soft by annealing. Does anyone have any suggestions please??
The suggested way, as I understand it is to heat it and hold it at dull red for a few seconds and then let the redness subside before quenching.
However it is always more difficult to bend such a stout piece of wire, unless you have plenty of surplus to gain a purchase on it.
Don't bother to get it anywhere near round to start with. Just make the ends meed neatly and solder them. after that you can round it on a triblet and /or a ring stretcher.
Many hardened ring makers also invest in a ring bending tool. Mine looks like this, but there are many others:
I have used the same size 18ct wire although a long time ago. If memory serves it does need to be quenched quite quickly after heating. So I would keep some water you can dunk it in close by and as soon as the redness goes drop it in. I also think it was annealed a little more than I would have usually done with other metals. I'm afraid my memory is a little rusty.
Rae
If you're using 18k HB, the datasheet should be read too:
http://portalgc.knowledgebase.net/di...=1&docid=23388
thank you, that was helpful
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