Experts: What causes pitting in white gold jewelry?

[Mara]

I have a white gold ring that last year, suddenly turned up one day to be pitted on the outside of the shank on the inside of my palm. It seemed as though literally one day it was fine and smooth and then the next it was pitted and scratchy. What could have caused this? I didn''t recall doing anything ''special'' that may have caused it at the time though I was traveling in Vegas when I noticed it changed.

I have lagged on taking it into the jeweler since it is still wearable, I figured they could repolish it or something to get rid of the pits? Any other suggestions from the experts/industry people? How to prevent it in the future?

Thanks!

 

[AndyRosse]

Chlorine possibly? Like did you go into a pool in Vegas with it on? Hmm, just a thought.

 

[Maxine]

Rock Doc said pool chemicals can do that....a current post under RT.....not the vacation thread, another one....

 

[Maxine]

OK...it was on the rings on vacation thread...he said it could cause metal to be brittle....think I''ve also read that pool chemicals can cause pitting.....

 

[Mara]

Yes I thought about chlorine but I hadn''t gone in the pool yet when I noticed it .... we only went to the pool on the last day (it was a business trip so we were in meetings the rest of the days!)....and this was on the 2nd or 3rd day we were there. It was actually almost right as we were walking out of a jewelry store where I''d tried on a Roberto Coin pendant...then I felt my RHR and it had all these pits!

 

[MissAva]

Did you have it cleaned while in the store?

 

[Mara]

No, I didn''t have it cleaned in the store, actually.

Feydakikn PM''d me and noted this below...I hope he doesn''t mind me posting it but figure it can benefit us all:

"The pitting you are seeing is most likely pourosity that has finally worked itself to the surface of the ring through wear.. It really can''t be polished out and must be filled with a laser or similar technique.. "

Then he told me to have it checked out, which I will do, but my Q back to him was ''does this happen to all plated white gold pieces at some point?"

I am pretty unfamiliar with white gold, most of my pieces being platinum...so I''d like to know for the future if this is a common occurrence on all WG pieces at some point or if it''s just the ''quality'' or lack thereof of the piece?

 

[loupe]

Chlorine based cleaners will do the same damage but more quickly because of the concentration.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 7/3/2005 3:19:57 PM
Author: Mara

I'd like to know for the future if this is a common occurrence on all WG pieces at some point or if it's just the 'quality' or lack thereof of the piece?

The flaws (porosity) result from casting in any metal. Most likely some metals are more prone to this and casting techniques / practice makes porosity and pitting more or less severe.

Avoiding casting gets rid of the problem, but the solution is too severe and restrictive IMO.

Surely this is just a very smallpart of the possible discussion of what makes jewelry metals stand wear or not. Aside metalurgy there seems to be an aparently endless list of handwork and technology solutions involved. Quite a few jewelry shops and brands advertise one solution or another (e.g. Moore and Klepka).

Just my 0.2...

 

[loupe]

Mara,

Valeria101 is right. There is internal porosity and surface porosity that occur in the casting process for different reasons. The main reason for this fault is the introduction of oxygen in one of several ways to the melt. Sometimes overheating causes the alloys in gold to overheat and vaporize, leaving spaces that are replaced by oxygen. There are many ways the casting process can go wrong. However, I have never heard of porosity showing up after a ring has been worn unless damage was done by chlorine. Perhaps your ring was rhodium plated after the faulty casting and it covered up what you now see? Just thinking out loud, here. I would have the ring reshanked by the jeweler you bought the ring from or someone else that you trust.






"Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel."










"Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel."