Question: 22K vs 24K gold

Hi,

I am about purchase some gold wire and I can not decide which one I should buy.

The person who sells gold wire told me that 24K gold will be very smooth to engrave, it is almost as smooth as Play Doh, so you need to be very very careful and sensetive while working on it.

He suggested me to buy 22K and added that 22K will be just a little bit harder than 24K and you will have more freedom.

Which one should I buy, I will engrave a bulino animal and I will not use dot technique but I will engrave it by using line cutting.

will 22K be very hard to inlay, for example is 22K harder than copper wire ?

You will never regret using 24k. It's the most cooperative metal you'll ever use for inlay.

sam said:

You will never regret using 24k. It's the most cooperative metal you'll ever use for inlay.

Click to expand...

Thans Sam,

How soft is 24K ?

SalihKara said:

Thans Sam,

How soft is 24K ?

Click to expand...

It's the most malleable metal there is and it's very soft and easy to work with.

I agree, Ive been part of that discussion many times over the years. Some folks claim that 22 is a little harder and that it stands up to wear better than 24K. Well, maybe, but it doesn't work as easy, and I want my inlays to stay in place. I think 24K sticks in the cavity more securely. 24K is soft even after its been milled or pressed or run through a wire puller. It is easily brought back to "dead soft" with a blue flame from your torch.

Many of my inlays are constructed from a series of wires that are laid side-by-side to gradually fill in the cavity. There was a discussion many years ago about the term "cold welding" 24K wires together when they were used in this way. After a back-and-forth discussion of the issues, one of our FEGA members who was a dentist stood up and said that cold welding was part of the dental curriculum. Although the method not used today, dentists used to fill cavities with "24 gold Foil." The material was 24K that was hammered into ultra-thin sheets (like foil) and then applied into the cavity in successive layers to eventually fill the void. They referred to it as cold welding, and nothing but 24K foil would work. The microscopic grains (as told by our member) actually melded into a single sheet of gold material.

They also continually cleaned and annealed the foil by passing it over an alcohol lamp flame - and I still do the same thing. Perpetual annealing with a soft blue flame keeps everything working easily, and "sticking" together more securely. If you anneal 22K, guess what, the material turns dark brown or black - there is just enough alloy in 22K that the surface carbonizes in the annealing flame....it won't cold weld!

So, in my opinion, engravers should always use pure metals for inlays. The jewelry industry term for a pure metal is "Fine," that way we can order "fine gold," "fine silver," and "fine platinum" to make our inlays. Moreover, this is the way I build up multi-colored inlays; the fine metals also cold weld when being hammered into the inlay cavity.

In the final analysis, 24K does not cost that much more and you can be assured that your inlay is secure.

One more detail about the "cold welding"...

This will NOT happen if you have finger oils or any other grease or traces of oil on or near the work.

It cannot "stick" together well if it is contaminated.

An example would be the lubricants used for drawing the wire or lubricating the graver used for cutting the channel.

On some jobs, you may want to go to the extent of cleaning both the cavity and the wire with alcohol/acetone or some other solvent.

I've even used powder free latex gloves for handling the material on occasion.

Tweezers, Qtips, cotton balls and an acetone dispenser are also handy.


Brian

Thanks for your comments Mike and Brian.

I've used the term for years and have always wondered if it was truly bonding or just fitting together so closely that the seam was invisible. McKenzie used the term as well. I can visualize micro thin sheet gold bonding better than strips of wire, but that's just a hunch. Sure is an interesting subject.

Next time you have some scrap sheet - clean it well and stack one piece on top of another and hammer it together & see what happens?


Steamers and ultrasonics also have a place in cleaning pieces to be inlaid - as well as the wire & sheet components.

I'm not suggesting that you wet parts that will rust - unless you take the time to make sure they are dry after the processes.


Brian

Mike,

thanks for the explanation, i think this should be moved to the tip section, its a question that many have as they graduate to inlay I definitely had it when the time came, i just took peoples advise and read many posts advising to use 24kt, you really dont save that much in 22kt.

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Another important part of inlaying is to have a clean, acid free channel or bur field in which to install the gold, silver or platinum.
Acid residue from your hands can have an adverse effect. Dissimilar metals, steel and precious in contact with acid can create corrosion.
This may not show up for years but there is always that risk
I'ts a good idea to clean the area with acetone, dry with a hair dryer before inlaying.
I also recommend wiping my wire or sheet with acetone as it is inlaid.

You can't get better advice than Mike Dubber has given. I don't like 22K and will never use it. It doesn't take teeth too well at all. It has to be heated a lot hotter to anneal it and like Mike says it oxidizes. I don't see how anybody could do an overlay with it unless the base metal was very hard. I had a friend that was trying to line a flintlock pan with gold. I had taught him how a few years previously. No matter how he tried he could not get the gold to stick. He told me a jeweler sold him some 24K gold sheet for the job. He sent the gold and the lock to me. When I annealed the gold he had bought, It oxidized. The jeweler had sold him 22K and told him it was 24K. Impossible to overlay. You can do anything with 24K. I would like to have some of that gold dental foil. It is almost impossible to find.

使用24k最好:clapping::clapping: