Help, please: Gold wire inlay

castagnos&s · Mar 19, 2014

I am trying my hand at a little bit of gold wire inlay and was wondering what was recommended. I got 14 karat in 16 guage. How do you guys anneal? It seems to be springy even after I tried to anneal it to dead soft. I am using a round graver for my channels and have done quite a bit of fine silver wire inlay.

dlilazteca · Mar 19, 2014

I made the same mistake I bought 18 karat not that this is impossible but I heard that mostly everybody uses 24 karat, just easier to work with.

If you are practicing I recommend that you get dead soft silver which is still very cheap but others would recommend that you start with other cheaper metals.

I'm using silver for practice, I think it was like 20 feet for 20 bucks. Once I'm done I pull it out to see how well I inlayed and then I'm just going to recycle it

I recommend Baptiste DVD and book or Lynton Mackenzie's DVD advanced.

I see that you're using a round for your main cuts but what are you using for your undercuts.

Carlos De La O III

dlilazteca · Mar 19, 2014

As far as annealing I recommend you use a search button there are many topics on this subject.

Look what a quick search turns up.. become familiar with it

http://www.engraverscafe.com/showthread.php?t=8195 Easy annealing of precious metal

Carlos De La O III

castagnos&s · Mar 19, 2014

Thank you Carlos I am using my stipple punch to undercut. It works surprisingly well on silver. I am finding out that 14 karat really isn't suitable for inlay applications I believe I will have to trade it for 24. I should have thought it out better before ordering 14

tim halloran · Mar 19, 2014

Castagnos&s: I would not try to inlay anything lower than 22K. Preferably 24Kgold, or copper works pretty well if annealed.As Carlos said pure silver works also if annealed. I've inlaid 18K yellow, green, and pink gold before but it was no fun, and that was after it was properly annealed.

castagnos&s · Mar 19, 2014

I am going to get a hold of some 24 or 22 karat. I checked on rio grande and they have 24 karat but its 1/4 hard how does that anneal?

tim halloran · Mar 20, 2014

castagnos&s: You can anneal,depending on the wire size, with a butane lighter, a candle, or for big stuff a Propane torch. Some people use an alcohol lamp, whatever gets the job done. You will know when its annealed as it is quite soft, and use a brass punch with the end frosted on a diamond wheel or emery paper. This will keep the gold from squirting out from under the punch and won't damage the metal you are inlaying into, usually steel.I've inlayed gold into sterling silver so you may want to use a punch that is made of something softer than brass, like aluminum. Hope this helps.

Thierry Duguet · Mar 28, 2014

Hello,

1) As most people I use 24K
2) Annealing 24K gold is simple, I use a lighter and run the flame along the wire until the heated space is dark red, no scaling on 24K, lol
3) Why use 16 Gauge when one can use something thinner. I usually order 24 gauge and reduce it to .23 mm, gold is use to add color not to add value, using smaller gauge will save you a lot of money
4) All metal will "work harden", when you hammer it of course but also when you manipulate it, do not hesitate to anneal it every so often, it cannot hurt.
5) I do not understand: "I am using a round graver for my channels"

Good luck

Help, please: Gold wire inlay

castagnos&s

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