Question: White inlay?

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Commercial platinum alloys 950 are tough.I´ll sugest palladium.The cost is also the half of platinum.
 
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I have also wondered if the use of enamelling, perhaps someone on this forum with experience of this. I have seen an engraved scene from a war in which the American flag is made of enamel, think it was one of the really famous engravers who had done it, maybe someone here knows better.
 

mitch

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Commercial platinum alloys 950 are tough.I´ll sugest palladium.The cost is also the half of platinum.

these are pure platinum inlays. it's not much harder to work with than 24k gold.
 

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Tanks Mitch, I think you're right, it is probably pure platinum, but where can you buy it. Platinum used by goldsmiths contains copper and is too hard to use for inlay.
 

peteb

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panther.325.jpg Platinum when burnished, not polished, appears white as in the example: eyes, mouth and neck areas. The background is brushed platinum.
 

peteb

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This is the answer I received: "The Pt is 99.95% minimum purity although typically is closer to 99.98%. Remember this is for electronics/plating applications so it needs to be very high purity."
This refers to the platinum clad niobium I use for jewelry application.
 

mitch

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Hoover & Strong. it may not appear in their standard listing so you might have to ask for it, but i've been getting it from them for years.
 
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Many thanks for the help. I have managed to buy pure platinum wire here in Sweden, but it is expensive. For 10 cm 0.3 mm wire, I get paid $ 100.
 

SamW

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As to your question about enamel...the Italians do some of that, Terzi comes to mind. Our own Lee Griffiths has done a little of the enamel work. Perhaps he will chime in.
 

Lee

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I begin with the disclaimer that I do not claim to be an expert on this subject and will use some generalizations but I believe it will be sufficient for your answer.
There are two general categories of enameling-fired or glass and cold.
-Fired enameling has been around a very long time and is a process of using different powders heated up to high temps-1000-1500 degrees- to pretty much create glass or a glass like product. This has been done on guns but the high temps make doing it on gun parts somewhat problematic.
-Cold enameling is what is currently being used by Terzi and a few others. In the simplest of terms it is a bonding agent mixed with pigment. Commercial products are available and used quite a bit in the jewelry industry. They reproduced under an assortment of brand names such as Colorit. Youtube videos abound about how it is used for jewelry. It can be as simple as using a slow cure epoxy mixed with either powder pigments or artists oil paints. I don't have a knowledgeable answer regarding it's durability. I suspect it is used on display/show pieces and not working guns.

Attached is a Famars shotgun I did last year.
 

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Thanks Lee. Cold enamel was completely new to me and works well with my knife blades because heat destroys hardening. Corolite is also available here in Sweden I have ordered some for testing. Used correctly, I think the colors used in the engraving can provide an exciting effect, it clearly shows your great example.
 

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