If it is rhodium plated, why not stainless instead of gold

[TristanC]

Just wondering - why do people not rhodium plate stainless steel or other metal with desirable characteristics?

Since it is completely plated, and replated occasionally when the plating degrades - why even use gold as a base?

 

[yssie]

Re: If it is rhodium plated, why not stainless instead of go

They do, apparently - http://www.overstock.com/Worldstock-Fair-Trade/Stainless-Steel-Bouquet-Black-Pearl-Necklace-4-8-mm-Thailand/5688325/product.html?cid=123620

who knew?

 

[denverappraiser]

Re: If it is rhodium plated, why not stainless instead of go

There's nothing wrong with stainless steel and the fact that it's less expensive is certainly an advantage but there's a certain amount of tradition associated with using gold for jewelry that appeals to people. If steel fits your budget or you otherwise like it, I see no problem although there are certain designs that couldn't reasonably be manufacured in steel. The properties of gold in terms of manufacturing are substantilally different from those of steel. It's also worth noting that steel is fifficult to manufacture one-off types of job. By this I mean custom designs. Making the first doodad in steel is quite difficult but it then becomes easy to make 100,000 like it. This lends itself to making wedding bands and belly button rings but not so much to diamond rings.

 

[denverappraiser]

Re: If it is rhodium plated, why not stainless instead of go

There's nothing wrong with stainless steel and the fact that it's less expensive is certainly an advantage but there's a certain amount of tradition associated with using gold for jewelry that appeals to people. If steel fits your budget or you otherwise like it, I see no problem although there are certain designs that couldn't reasonably be manufacured in steel.

The properties of gold in terms of manufacturing are substantilally different from those of steel. This includes that steel is difficult to manufacture one-off types of job. By this I mean custom designs. Making the first doodad in steel is quite difficult but it then becomes easy to make 100,000 like it. This lends itself to making wedding bands and belly button rings but not so much to diamond rings.

 

[TristanC]

Re: If it is rhodium plated, why not stainless instead of go

Interesting... I believe that you Could hand forge stainless, but the workmanship might actually be more tedious than working with gold... I'm not sure.

Just that if it is always plated, then just get something cheaper and plate it... why plate something expensive and then not show it at all? I guess if silver is easier to smith, then silver plated rhodium might work too...

It was more a hypothetical question.

That necklace looks handmade and fairly complicated. Quite pretty!

 

[druidtime]

Re: If it is rhodium plated, why not stainless instead of go

Tradition, purity, symbolism, etc.

If that were 100% true we would all be wearing soft, 24k gold rings.

It is a truly a matter of preference! We now see tungsten and other metals getting popular too.