Online Jewelry Training Classes for Metalsmiths
Hello metalsmither's,
It is spring here and although winter is refusing to let go, the birds are singing up a storm which definitely keeps the cold at bay!
Friends of ours are keen prospectors, and after some years of dredging and panning they asked me to make some rings from the placer gold. Here they are panning gold in Indiana for their rings. Very tough......RESPECT!
Their instructions were very specific – the gold had to be used as is, – no alloying.
That in itself can be quite challenging.
Generally, placer gold comes in at 22kt with the addition of various other heavy metals like lead and copper and silver, which can cause cracking during working.
In most instances re-melting at high heat can be a solution.
I solved the cracking by melting the gold bar at high heat about five times.
Then eventually cutting it into smaller sections, so that the heat gets to the impurities more evenly.
I used a large amount of potassium nitrate, which reacts with base metals, effectively removing them from the melt.
Stirring with a carbon rod also draws the impurities out.
There was minimal loss of gold in all the melts. This video shows how the placer gold went through the melting and rolling process.
Then I made the rings. Again, the brief was no foreign metal must be added. Also, I told them that high carat gold is very soft and should be worn with care.
I achieved this by "brazing" the gold ie not using any solder.
Their custom rings turned out exactly what they had in mind capturing the essence of their expeditions.
Fusing metal is a technique that opens a great design scope. Here are a few tutorials showing the technique.
This free tutorial shows how to make your own rotary burnishing tools.
These burnishing tools are used in various metalsmithing application to smooth out and cover up porosity holes in metal and come in handy when fusing metal.
