re shades of14K yellow gold in a catalog I saw

[beaujolais]

I was just looking through a catalog from one of the big setting manufacturers and under Casting Grain it lists many shades of14K yellow gold (for using with your colored stones/had to get that in there, I guess, as I put this tread in Colored Stone).

Now, I'm not totally sure what casting grain is but under 14K yellow it lists, among others:

yellow euro (rich green/yellow)
yellow standard (standard medium yellow)
yellow clean cast (grain refined, deoxidized)
yellow bright (bright color, highlights diamonds)
yellow rich (premium yellow luster)
yellow lemon (light/pale yellow color)

Can anyone lend more info on what casting grain is? I didn't really realize there were different manufactured shades of yellow 14K and they were sold as such. (Although I did realize some 14K yellows do look different.)

Thanks.

 

[minousbijoux]

Maybe Vapid can shed some light? I know he was playing around with making his own gold and had at least one thread on mixing gold to make different colors. He will probably know.

 

[distracts]

Casting grain is the little balls of metal that you melt down when you are casting something to pour into the mold. On the small-scale at-home casting I've done, you just do it in a little ceramic bowl with a torch, but I imagine professionals have, uh, more professional means.

And I'd imagine the different colors of yellow are just different amounts of silver and copper, with the standard one probably being the 50/50 mix.

 

[chrono]

14K means that the metal is 14 parts gold to 10 parts alloy, with nearly 58% pure gold and the remaining 42% made of other metal mixtures. From what little I know, a 50/50 mix of copper and silver will give varying shades of yellow gold alloys. A tiny amount of zinc is added to make it a little harder.

Casting grain Pictures:
http://www.gsgold.com/cart/search_result.asp?CATEGORY=01-CG-CastingGrain

Casting alloys:
http://www.gsgold.com/cart/search_result.asp?CATEGORY=01-CA-alloy

 

[beaujolais]

Thanks all. Thanks so much for the explanations ! What is really cool is with these discussions, is I find I remember & understand it more than if I read it in a book, by myself, somewhere. Again, can't thank you all enough.

I recently got this vintage/antique setting that has a really nice slight pink/red tone to the yellow gold part of it. You can see the color, a bit, in the fourth picture from the left in the gallery. The diamonds in it are not great but they are old cuts, culets and all. Do tell me how you like it if you want. I've got a few styles of vintage in my collection but not one like this, so I thought it was a good addition. I'm really loving it. It has such a vintage feel and truly makes me think of a different era for a few moments. Link for you:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Art-Deco-Mi...=&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

(Note: I've been selling off some of my less loved pieces, lately (meaning I'm not that much of a hoarder).

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Alloying is a huge, complex subject.

Traditional alloys are mainly composed of just gold, silver and copper in varying proportions (14 parts gold, 5 parts silver, 5 parts copper for 14k yellow; 18 parts gold, 6 parts silver for 18k green; etc). Within the purity constraint, there are a lot of variations possible, just by using different proportions of silver and copper. Zinc and nickel are also used for solders and white gold.

However, modern metallurgy has introduced a lot of new alloys, using other elements. Palladium white gold is probably the best known around here, where palladium is used as the bleaching agent instead of nickel. Silicon, for example, is used to improve casting alloys, for better pouring characteristics and less porosity. Germanium is used in both silver and gold alloys to reduce oxidation. Ruthenium platinum is great for milling but it doesn't cast well, iridium platinum is great for fabrication and cobalt platinum is used in casting.

Other alloys are more of a curiosity than workable materials: purple gold (alloyed with aluminum under controlled conditions), grey gold and blue gold (both with iron in different proportions) are too brittle for jewelry work.

These alloys are usually sold already prepared, in casting grain, sheet or wire.

 

[innerkitten]

I was just looking through a catalog from one of the big setting manufacturers and under Casting Grain it lists many shades of14K yellow gold (for using with your colored stones/had to get that in there, I guess, as I put this tread in Colored Stone).

Now, I'm not totally sure what casting grain is but under 14K yellow it lists, among others:

yellow euro (rich green/yellow)
yellow standard (standard medium yellow)
yellow clean cast (grain refined, deoxidized)
yellow bright (bright color, highlights diamonds)
yellow rich (premium yellow luster)
yellow lemon (light/pale yellow color)

Can anyone lend more info on what casting grain is? I didn't really realize there were different manufactured shades of yellow 14K and they were sold as such. (Although I did realize some 14K yellows do look different.)

Thanks.

Thats' really cool. I've never seen those shades before. I'd love to see the pictures. Casting grain is gold or silver that has been refined and is ready to use to cast a ring or other piece of jewelry. The metal replaces the wax. Sometimes though people use scrap and just melt it.