Mixing platinum with other metals?

[jkil0313]

I have read thru many of the posts about mixing platinum and while most say platinum will eventually wear, I was just curious if there is any metal that is BEST to mix with platinum for a short time.

My e-ring is a platinum solitaire and our wedding is a few years away (finishing school) but I want to put two bands on each side of the e-ring as a "ring guard" until I have my wedding ring. While my wedding band will be in platinum, the cost of buy two extra platinum bands for about two years is too much.

I have read about Platinum Clad Silver, White Gold, Palladium...etc. just thought I would ask PS for opinions?

Thanks!

 

[John P]

Platinum is traditionally and successfully alloyed with Iridium or Ruthenium in many jewelry applications. Most commonly 950Pt-Ru and in both 950 and 900 Pt-Ir (meaning 950 or 900 parts-per-thousand platinum by weight). These are noble alloys; Pt Ir and Ru are all in the platinum group of metals. Many designer pieces and custom creations involving hand-work use either Pt-Ir or Pt-Ru.

Platinum is also alloyed with Cobalt, most popularly in mass-manufacture applications. While not in the PGM, cobalt has proven good for casting when alloyed with Pt.

Palladium has made a comeback in recent years. It is lighter in weight than platinum but a fine jewelry metal. It's important to make the distinction between "Palladium" (typically 950 Pd-Ru) and "Palladium White Gold" (75% gold, 25% palladium). Two very different alloys.

If you are talking about unconventional alloys there are infinite variations. Those above are fairly common.

 

[jkil0313]

Thank you so much for your response!

My e-ring is PT950. Just curious if it is safe to put white gold, palladium, or even platinum clad silver next to it for a short time without damaging my platinum e-ring. I am not concerned about my e-ring wearing down the two rings I place next to it, as it is just a temp ring guard (cheapy, so to speak) until I wear my platinum wedding band. I just don''t want my platinum e-ring to get scratched up by doing so.

 

[John P]

Date: 2/3/2009 9:38:42 AM
Author: jkil0313
Thank you so much for your response!

My e-ring is PT950. Just curious if it is safe to put white gold, palladium, or even platinum clad silver next to it for a short time without damaging my platinum e-ring. I am not concerned about my e-ring wearing down the two rings I place next to it, as it is just a temp ring guard (cheapy, so to speak) until I wear my platinum wedding band. I just don't want my platinum e-ring to get scratched up by doing so.

You're welcome. Any time you have metal (or diamonds) rubbing against each other there will be wear. Platinum is softer than gold so, all things being equal, a platinum ring will scratch more easily and show more wear if worn next to each other. Of course all things may not be equal. Every person is different and the variables are incalculable. The way you flex, grasp, wave & high-five people...what ring is worn where...what they are exposed to...etc...all have influence on wear.

The good news is that your Pt 950 is so dense that typical scratches won't result in metal loss; the metal is only displaced. The tiny nicks, scratches and dings it gets over time dilute the original polished look and the ring will take on a grayish appearance called patina. The groovy thing about platinum is that you can have it repolished again and again to restore its original "like-new" look with practically no loss of material.

 

[jkil0313]

Thank you again for you help, very informative.

I had heard you can have platinum polished and scratches removed. Just wanted to be sure that there wasn''t a particular metal out there that could irreversibly damage my e-ring more so than another, therefore defeating the purpose of the ring guard.

I am generally not rough on my ring but it has started to show some normal wear over the course my engagement thus far (about a year) and it is knife edge so I tend to notice it around the point of the edge the most, so I thought I would add some bands to reduce this and give me some versatility with looks. Just prefer to be safe than sorry.