Yellow Gold Ring, Solder Inlaid Ring
Q: I would like to make a white gold ring with a pattern carved into it, and then fill the pattern groove with yellow gold solder to create a two toned effect. Is this a good idea? I would like to know if it will be durable, because this is going to be a wedding band so it needs to stand up to a lifetime of wear. I am wondering if the solder might wear down or come out? Also, would the solder eventually become discolored? Anyone have any better ideas?
A: I have never tried this, but it does not sound like the best approach to a two tone ring. Solder does tend to discolor more than regular metal, and since it flows when heated if you ever needed repair or sizing it would be a problem. If the pattern is linear, you might try to solder in some gold wire, or hammer it in,or you could saw your pattern our of thin sheet and use a small burr to carve out from the ring where you want the inlay to be, then solder in place. What pattern are you trying to acheive? The only problem I've found with solder inlay is when there is not enough contrast between the yellow and white. Higher carat yellow solder will look better than, say, 14 carat unless you intend an extremely subtle effect. If you solder on clean metal with flux it never comes loose. You sand flat the filled grooves, then polish, so catch that leftover gold! Well, it will be a highly detailed scroll pattern, so I don't think that cutting out the yellow pattern and trying to get the same pattern carved into the white gold will be very plausible. I have been advised that it might be a good idea to melt actual yellow gold and pour it into the grooves, rather than using solder. I'm just not sure how I would do that without melting the ring or just causing a disaster. As for hammering wire into the grooves, I would think that would bang up the ring and mar the design. Hammering the wire in would not "bang up the ring" if done properly. You undercut the groove, so that the wire gets "set" into the channel, there is no need to hammer on the ring itself. I use a hammer handpiece and grind down the tip of a worn out burr to just slightly larger than the diameter of the wire, flatten and polish the tip, and use it instead of the tip provided with the handpiece. I learned the hard way not to try to do this with white gold, it just work hardens and springs back,