palladium ring wearers - share your experience

[Mike R]

Hi Oohsparkly, I'll be back in a few hours with a reply for you

 

[Mike R]

by Mike R » 14 May 2012 10:47
I think it is almost impossible to compare the scratch resistancy of the two metals in real life situations, there are just too many variables.
Cast vs Forged, different alloys, different styles (wider, flatter rings will show more scratches than thinner rounded ones) and finally how the ring is worn, one person could wear the same ring on two different days, one day she might not put a scratch on it and then the other day she might absolutely punish it.

I think you have to accept that all metals will scratch, even stainless steal and titanium scratch, and some people even scratch and damage diamonds too.

Hi again Mike R! I think you have nicely summed up a lot of the issues we have been trying to get to the bottom of.

Now you might be interested to know that YOU are responsible for me even being on the palladium trail in the first place!

I rang Morris and Watson when you recommended their white gold as being very white and not grey at all. (You did remember correctly that 'grey' is something I really want to avoid). The lady who answered the phone was very helpful and a jeweller herself. She spent some time comparing all their different alloys and commenting on the color and their long-term properties.

She had silver, pd/wg, two types of plat and 950 pd (couldn't tell me what the pd was alloyed with - their secret formula). So she got them all out and even asked one of her colleagues and whiteness-wise she said that it went from most white to most grey
silver
plat
pd
pd/wg

She said there was almost no difference between the palladium and the platinum, but the pd/wg was noticeably the greyest.

So I thought that since you said their wg was particularly white, and she said their pd was whiter than their wg, then the pd has to be whiter!

She also went on a lot about what a beautiful metal the palladium was.

She also confirmed on a later call after I researched a bit more that pd will go grey if it is heated too high and not quenched. My jeweller also confirmed this and said that if I want pd he will quench it all the way through the manufacturing process to keep it from going grey.

So I am wondering if the grey pd you have seen was not made very well.

My jeweller also particularly likes palladium and calls it the metal of the future. He has not guided me in any direction - in fact he is so into 'letting me decide' that I've mostly gone elsewhere for help in making the decision. Yet at least I know he is very happy with the metal, happy to work with it and knows how to, which appears to be a crucial factor because experience in this metal is obviously thin on the ground.

However I believe it is not too late to change my mind. Do you have any further thoughts wrt the above?

Hi, I do have some more insights, but I would like to say that I'm really not trying to talk you into going one way or the other, you should get the metal that your jeweller feels he can deliver you the best results in and what makes you happy.

The people at MW are great, a few things to keep in mind when processing their advice...
1. They would have been comparing the colour of unpolished metal, I'm sure the type of polish each metal is able to achieve will effect/change slightly the colour.
2. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, also everyone will see colour slightly different.
3. MW are not used to dealing with the mostly very perticular eye of a PS'er.
 
Personally if you were my client and you told me that grey was something you wanted to avoid I would give you only one option for metal, forged 950Pt/Ru, like MW said its the least grey option after silver and any other option will be more grey. Also with forged Pt/Ru you get better scratch resistance, less noticable solder joins, a longer history of trouble free use and it will be easier serviced by a wide cross section of jewellers in the future.

I have seen a lot of Pd, both from the first popularity boom and this time around, the older pieces I have seen were very beat up and looked like it had been work hardened/stressed over time with a very dull grey look. it was also for me a pita to work.
The new pieces I have seen from different makers are polished nicely, but to my eyes (that are very used to spotting slight differences) it all still looked grey.

Because I choose not to work in Pd I'm not really sure I understand the constant quenching thing, when your hand making a ring you have to get the metal extremely hot for the solder to flow, there is no avoiding that.
During the making of any piece in any metal there will be quenching often, I don't have any experience with it affecting the colour, but I'm not a Pd expert.

I think your best option is to tell your jeweller exactly what your looking for regarding colour and wear characteristics and ask him what metal he thinks best suits your requirements. 
From what you say he is very used to working with Pd and delivers amazing results, look at some of his pieces that have been made using the same techniques that you want (cast/forged) and in the same metal you want and make sure you like what your looking at, if you do, go for it!
He might also have some of his older handmade pieces in for repair/polishing that you could look at to compare.

Hope that helps, good luck.

 

[geckodani]

It's funny; I actually find that my engagement ring looks warmer than even my WG due to the fact that it's so shiny it reflects my skin tone, LOL. Grey is not a word I've ever used to describe it. *shrug*

 

[oohsparkly]

Personally if you were my client and you told me that grey was something you wanted to avoid I would give you only one option for metal, forged 950Pt/Ru, like MW said its the least grey option after silver and any other option will be more grey. Also with forged Pt/Ru you get better scratch resistance, less noticable solder joins, a longer history of trouble free use and it will be easier serviced by a wide cross section of jewellers in the future.

I have seen a lot of Pd, both from the first popularity boom and this time around, the older pieces I have seen were very beat up and looked like it had been work hardened/stressed over time with a very dull grey look. it was also for me a pita to work.
The new pieces I have seen from different makers are polished nicely, but to my eyes (that are very used to spotting slight differences) it all still looked grey.

Thanks Mike for taking the time to reply, it is very kind of you. I do try to think through every possible issue I can, it is not easy for non-experts to decide.

One little thing I am wondering... in my initial thread when I was planning on unplated white gold you recommended MW's white gold as being not grey at all.

Since MW's pd was noticeably whiter than their pd/wg - shouldn't the pd be fine for avoiding grey if the less white pd/wg was itself not grey? (If that makes sense..)

Or is it that you expect the manufacturing process to turn the pd grey?

Or is it just that you are saying the 950 pt/ru is just the whitest of all the options?

Oh and another thing - I'm wondering if for the old pd rings you have seen whether a)the alloys used now are better/different? and b)whether a good clean/polish would restore those old rings?

Yikes - one more thing I'd like to ask - with the nicely polished new pd rings you have seen that still look grey - were they more grey than unplated white gold rings from MW?

 

[oohsparkly]

by geckodani » May 15th, 2012, 6:20 am
It's funny; I actually find that my engagement ring looks warmer than even my WG due to the fact that it's so shiny it reflects my skin tone, LOL. Grey is not a word I've ever used to describe it. *shrug*

That is very interesting to hear gecko. From your photos 'shiny' is definitely the word. I think your rings are a great advertisement for pd!

 

[Mike R]

Personally if you were my client and you told me that grey was something you wanted to avoid I would give you only one option for metal, forged 950Pt/Ru, like MW said its the least grey option after silver and any other option will be more grey. Also with forged Pt/Ru you get better scratch resistance, less noticable solder joins, a longer history of trouble free use and it will be easier serviced by a wide cross section of jewellers in the future.

I have seen a lot of Pd, both from the first popularity boom and this time around, the older pieces I have seen were very beat up and looked like it had been work hardened/stressed over time with a very dull grey look. it was also for me a pita to work.
The new pieces I have seen from different makers are polished nicely, but to my eyes (that are very used to spotting slight differences) it all still looked grey.

Thanks Mike for taking the time to reply, it is very kind of you. I do try to think through every possible issue I can, it is not easy for non-experts to decide.

One little thing I am wondering... in my initial thread when I was planning on unplated white gold you recommended MW's white gold as being not grey at all.

Since MW's pd was noticeably whiter than their pd/wg - shouldn't the pd be fine for avoiding grey if the less white pd/wg was itself not grey? (If that makes sense..)

Or is it that you expect the manufacturing process to turn the pd grey?

Or is it just that you are saying the 950 pt/ru is just the whitest of all the options?

Oh and another thing - I'm wondering if for the old pd rings you have seen whether a)the alloys used now are better/different? and b)whether a good clean/polish would restore those old rings?

Yikes - one more thing I'd like to ask - with the nicely polished new pd rings you have seen that still look grey - were they more grey than unplated white gold rings from MW?

No problem.

You shouldn't use my initial comments in your thought pattern for deciding between WG and Pd, when I was commenting on the lack of greyness in MW WG it was only in comparison to other WG's I have seen. 
I wasn't thinking at that time about how it compared to other metals (I think) if I had of been thinking about all metals then that would have changed my descriptive language grading curve.

Again I'm sorry but in my somewhat limited experience PD is just slightly grey all the time no matter how you treat it, I'm sure there may be very subtle differences depending how you work it but during making the ring you will have to get the metal extreamy hot, you can't avoid that. 
I think you need to convey to your jeweller what you think is going to happen to the colour during manufacturing and see if he thinks the results will match your expectations.
This is why I personally would be recommending platinum to you, there is no guess work on colour and many years of consistant results to go by.

I didn't compare the new rings I have seen to WG but I just remember being able to consistently tell what the metal was before I held the ring or looked at the hallmark, it was the colour that gave them away to me, but I'm looking at platinum all day every day, so subtle differences are easy to spot for me.
Your jeweller will have the two metals for you to look at in person and decide how sensitive your colour perception is, have you looked at them side by side yet?nim sure when you look at the two metals you will easily decide what you like best.

 

[geckodani]

Your jeweller will have the two metals for you to look at in person and decide how sensitive your colour perception is, have you looked at them side by side yet?nim sure when you look at the two metals you will easily decide what you like best.

That's an excellent idea, and would put any doubts to rest once and for all for you.

ETA: And thank you for the compliment on my rings. I am rather fond of them.

 

[oohsparkly]

Thanks Gecko and Mike and everyone else who has been helping me on this thread.

I've been reading EVERYTHING I can find on this topic and thinking furiously. It seems that for me the 3 main issues are

1. Cost
Since the pt/ru is vastly more expensive I don't want to choose it unless I know for sure it is going to be a noticeably better option.

2. Color
It seems that pd may be a little greyer than pt/ru, but also whiter than unplated wg/pd, which was my initial option. In fact it was Yssie's unplated ring that caught my eye and it was wg/pd. So getting whiter than that with pd would be a bonus, but is it worth a couple thousand more for slightly more white??

3.Scratching
Very mixed messages on this but it seems reasonable to say that a hand forged ring, worn with reasonable care will not be any/much worse than anything else.

Thbmok's photos on my last thread ([URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/calling-yssie-white-gold-experts-my-head-is-done-in.175144/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/calling-yssie-white-gold-experts-my-head-is-done-in.175144/[/URL]) show a pt/ru ring which (14 months of wear) shows definite scratches and scrapes on the bottom, not a uniform patina.

whereas Geckodani's pd ring after (4 months of wear) does show just little patina scratches on the bottom of the ring, none really standing out.

Anyway my jeweller just called me and said they have some metal in for me to look at, so soon my own eyes will be making an assessment. I will also try to get a clear answer about how much the manufacturing process is likely to add grey to the color.

That's it for now in the continuing saga.....

 

[oohsparkly]

Well, I'm done. For anyone who may still be following this thread, I've made a definite decision.

My jeweller asked his supplier for the whitest version of palladium, it is alloyed with a little silver but don't know what else or the percentages. However I thought it was a beautiful color. I took in my silver Tiffany bracelet to compare it to. When the light was shining on it , it was virtually the same color as silver! In dull light there was a definite, but very light, grey color. My jeweller said it would also lighten up further when polished.

After all I've read and seen, taking into account also the cost and the fact that my jeweller is comfortable working with palladium, and is hand-forging it for greater density and strength in the metal, I chose to go with the palladium.

Thanks to all who chimed in with their thoughts on this topic.

So now after the longest time, my ring is finally be ready to be started. Wohoo!!

 

[geckodani]

Yay! I can't wait to see it! I think you'll be happy with it.

 

[Brownie11]

Palladium price???

Hi all,

I'm posting on this thread only because its the only one related to Palladium, and I figured some of you might have an answer for me.

Unfortunately, the ONLY ring I love happens to be from the Ritani endless love collection. Ritani makes all of their rings in white gold (plated with rhodium), platinum (950 cobalt) and palladium (950 ruthenium) - and I've decided on palladium, for many of the reasons stated in previous comments here. I also don't want white gold because I don't like the thought of needing to get it replated (or the potential toxicity of rhodium), and I don't want the slightly magnetic factor of the platinum/cobalt mix. So that leaves palladium, which I have researched and am happy with.

However - I was ALSO under the understanding that palladium was much less expensive than platinum. I thought it might be a little bit more than white gold. But my boyfriend and I got a bit of a shock when the salesperson we've been working with (at an authorized Ritani retailer) told us the palladium ring would actually be about the same/almost as much as platinum.

So my question: is this correct? (Ritani won't give out any prices or ranges - they say I must get that info from a retailer.) When I check metal investing sites, I find that palladium is currently priced as about one-third of what platinum is. I can't find any other recent posts about Ritani rings in Palladium, so I'm hoping some of you can share some insight.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

 

[Rhea]

I purposely picked a palladium wedding band because it was substantially less expensive than platinum, but wouldn't need plating like white gold. I'm surprised by the price for the Ritani!

 

[Shortstuff]

Hi guys I was wandering if any one could help.
My engagement ring is palladium, I've had it for three years. I was under the impression that palladium was strong so how has this happened.
I was wearing the ring and noticed it didn't feel right so took a look and realised it was squashed, I could barely get it off my finger and I have no idea how it happened.
I didn't think this could happen!
The other ring is my platinum wedding ring which I was wearing at the the same time.

Please help!