14k / 18K white gold facts please

[mbn]

A jeweller told me 18K white gold has more gold parts but gold is white, so wedding band will stay white longer than 14K gold. Is this true?

white gold will turn yellow only if ring was yellow to begin with and plated with rohdium. If white gold to begin with, it will stay white. true or not?

 

[gumbystoned]

Wedding bands should not be plated. If it is plated, then it is a piece of CRAP!!!. If you have a two tone, or three tone wedding band, then it should be individual pieces, soldered together, that way the color won't scrap away from banging it against something.

No such thing as a white gold. When it comes from the ground, it is(gasp) GOLD color. It is white, because of the other metals it is mixed with. Which was why I told you about how it should be soldered together, and not plated. If it is plated then any wear and tear will take the color off.

 

[pricescope]

Hi Gumbystoned,

Welcome to the board

You sound like an expert. Could you tell us more about yourself?

 

[oldminer]

All pure gold is yellow. White gold is white because of the alloy that is used which makes the final product stay whitish. Many items of white gold are rhodium plated when new so they look very bright, white and shiny. This rhodium disappears rapidly upon wearing of the rings. White gold is not a pure white, but a bit yellowish white. Platinum is also not pure white, but a greyish white. Platinum sometimes is also rhodium plated when new for the same reason white gold it plated. To make the item look bright, fresh and shiny...

14 karat gold is 14 parts gold and 10 parts alloys by weight.
18 karat gold is 18 parts gold and 6 parts alloys by weight.

An interesting topic concerns the actual gold content of karat golds. When one mixes gold and alloy by WEIGHT there is more alloy by volume in 14 karat gold than there is gold. Why? Because the usual alloys are of lower specific gravity than pure gold and BY WEIGHT there is actually more cubic volume of alloys than gold in a 14 karat gold item.

When you follow many recipes for cooking you use volume measurements such as cups and tablespoons. Some large volume, production type recipes do use weights of ingredients rather than volume. But when you think about GOLD and VALUE it is really a bit misleading to say that 14 karat gold is 14 parts gold and 10 parts alloy without specifying BY WEIGHT. Because, BY VOLUME less than 50% of 14 karat gold is really GOLD...

Now that you are educated or thoroughly confused we can return to the other topics...

 

[pricescope]

Thank you David for the thorough comment on the subject.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

just to add to Dave's comments, 14K has the potential to be whiter than 18K because you can add more nickel or paladium (the metals that make the gold color subdued).
We have a 9K alloyw (we use 9 not 10K) that is the next best thing to platinum in working quality, melting point and color. It cost 2/3rds as much as 18K, until paldium and platinum went crazy because of catalytic converter legislation in CA.
No such thing as 'antique' white gold. White gold was invented by trained metalurgists who got jewellery industry jobs after world war I. Oldest white gold is 83 years, not 100 which qualify's for 'antique'.

 

[curious]

Re: White Gold

How would I know if a ring was originally yellow gold and just plated or if they used "real" white gold?

I have a ring since December 2nd and it is already turning yellow. Is this normal?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

It is probably off white color with the rhodium plating wearing off.
If it is really yellow then take it back and get the $$$$ back.
This copy is from the engagement ring tutorial here on p/s
Karat Gold

24K gold is pure gold or fine gold (99.99% pure) and is very orange and too soft for most jewelry purposes.

Karat golds are made durable by melting 24ct pure gold with other metals to make an alloy. 18K gold (the best gold for most purposes) is "eighteen twenty fourths" 18/24 or 75% gold. The colour and the intended use of the carat gold will determine what other metals will be melted with the gold.

Gold Colors

The most popular color is yellow which is made by adding silver and some copper. The metals are melted together to an alloy of the desired colour and carat. It is very important that all the ingredients are pure and that the amounts of each are weighed very accurately, otherwise inferior quality jewelry will result.

There are two main types of white gold; those used in bands and those for settings. Nickel is added to gold producing a hard white gold, which is ideal for bands of rings but because it is too tough and brittle it is not used on gem settings.

Palladium is used to make white gold for gem settings producing a pliable metal with a very high melting point so that our jewelers do not melt very fine settings and filigree work as they solder them together. Platinum is sometimes added to these alloys to improve certain features.

White gold was invented after the first world war and until that time all white jewelry was made with platinum or silver. This set off the art deco fashion for white jewelry during the 1920's and 30's. Beware of antique white gold jewelry, by definition, an antique is +100 years old.

Pink gold is made by adding more copper than silver. Pink gold was the only lower carat gold available until after the 1st World War, when trained metallurgists discovered the addition of a tiny amount of zinc made a 10K yellow gold alloy. Sometimes designers use pink gold as an accent.

Platinum >>

 

[torimuse88]

I''ve found an engagement ring (solitare) and solitare enhancing wedding ring to go with it. However, one is 14K white gold while the other is 18K white gold. Can I wear these two together, or would the difference between the karats make it look tacky???

Mary Jo