Palladium vs wg for intricate design.

[stepcutgirl]

Ok, I have searched the forum with every word combo I can think of to learn about this. While I found many threads comparing palladium to wg to platinum and why people like each, I can find nothing that discusses how either is affected on millgrain or engraving.

If I understand correctly platinum and palladium need to be repolished to maintain the new look, but that polishing can smear the design and blur millgraing. For this reason I was considering wg until I heard this too can happen over the years with wg. So now I'm confused. I'd like to hear from people with experience with either of these metals and engraving or millgrain and possibly see pics. I am really confused.

Also I'm not seriously considering platinum, just wg and palladium. Thanks.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 4/16/2009 11:38:24 PM
Author:stepcutgirl
Ok, I have searched the forum with every word combo I can think of to learn about this. While I found many threads comparing palladium to wg to platinum and why people like each, I can find nothing that discusses how either is affected on millgrain or engraving.

If I understand correctly platinum and palladium need to be repolished to maintain the new look, but that polishing can smear the design and blur millgraing. For this reason I was considering wg until I heard this too can happen over the years with wg. So now I''m confused. I''d like to hear from people with experience with either of these metals and engraving or millgrain and possibly see pics. I am really confused.

Also I''m not seriously considering platinum, just wg and palladium. Thanks.

There will not be enough difference to write about if the millgraining is on a part of metal where diamonds or gems are set because the properties of all metals that diamonds can be set into are all malleable and ductile (otherwise the beads / prongs break off or result in broken gems).

So dont fret - choose based on budget and color preferences (some people dont like the light feel of palladium).

 

[stepcutgirl]

There will be millgraining on the part where gens are set but also on both outer edges of stone, as well as around a inner and outer bezel. There will also be engraving on the shank of of the ring. I''m confused as to if polishing would smear or blur out both the engraving and millgrain if I went with palladium and concerned about how redipping would affect it is I went with wg.

 

[soycoffee]

Palladium, being newer in the jewelry world (relatively) compared to WG is more prone to casting/production issues at this point in time (hopefully it won''t always be that way). I''ve seen a lot of poorly cast palladium, and I have known plenty of people who had problems with it. I''d really go with white gold just because it is more fool proof, by some accounts it is more durable, and it''s easier to get it fixed/resized/repaired/etc.

 

[stepcutgirl]

But if I go with wg and have to have it redipped at some point, will that alter or affect the millgrain and engraving?

 

[oldmancoyote]

If you do it in the order of several hundreds of times, yes. Typical plating thickness is about 0.1 micrometers; a good plating is twice that; maximal visual acuity for a human eye is about 50 micrometers.

The mechanical effects of cleaning, rubbing, polishing, bumping into things etc. will be many times more visible than plating thickness.