Do you need flux to solder 24k Gold? does that even work? Hand Forged Pure(?) Gold Ring
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- I soldered a 24k gold band using 22k solder, and the resulting ring is pretty nice.
Join me on this science experiment for a wild ride of learning what not to do.
The ring is 2.33g of pure 24k gold and a tiny fraction of a gram of 22k gold solder, so the resulting karat is somewhere around 23.995K. I LOVE FRACTIONS!
00:00 prep and design talk
02:06 melting an ingot
03:25 drawing wire rolling mill
04:42 pulling round wire drawplate
06:41 setting up the ring
08:58 soldering
10:42 solder joint clean up
11:50 hardening and sizing
12:26 burnishing and polishing
13:10 recap - Jak na to + styl
I literally had the exact same issue this morning with the soldering. You just made my day knowing I’m not alone.
I admit I watched the video to learn to better solder gold. 😂
We're all learning separately, together
@@mustachemetalworks your ring ended up looking very beautiful though and I learned quite a bit. I didn’t realize that gold didn’t have to be molten to mold it. I have mainly soldered up until this point but want to get more into metal working this year. I’m a complete newbie. Thank you for your video, will subscribe. 😁
I hate the idea of soldering 22k into 24. I'm just going to keep being stubborn and learn to fuse like there is no other way! Great vid, I'm subbing!
I love watching your videos; you clearly aren't putting yourself out there as a master jeweler, rather a guy dicking around and seeing what works. (And I mean that with admiration.)
As a similar experimenter, I've been working with silver for a little while. I don't know if gold works the same way, but I get a lot of mileage in pulling wire by rolling it down to about 0.2mm shy (across the flats) of the diameter I want. That way I don't have to pull it so many times. I also spritz the puller with WD-40; the wire slips through like buttah.
I'm working up the nerve to try working with gold. I'll keep watching your videos to pick up tips.
Keep ‘em coming man, I bought 10grams of gold gonna make the wifey a wedding ring for Christmas. Your videos are gonna make it happen. I appreciate it, and I’ll let ya know how it turns out.
Heck yea, this is what I like to hear. Go for it, I'm excited to hear results. Throw any questions in comments sections (to help the algorithm) and I'm happy to throw ideas your way.
@@mustachemetalworks I surely will, are you on instagram as well?
Under the same name. Hard to miss
@@mustachemetalworks ha! Got cha!!
Following, some beautiful pieces over there. Thanks again!💍
As others said you’ve made me feel much better about my soldering issues, so thanks lol
I have learned a lot and been very lucky
"How did you get so cute?!" Haha. Subscribed!
It isn't necessary to use a third hand. Lay your ring down on a solder pad with the seam on a pillion of solder and heat from the top, sucking the solder up through the joint. I always flux regardless of karat. I know you just wanted to experiment with the solder but this is so much better if you just hammer out a thin pillion of 24k and fuse it in the joint.
Alright, I'm going to try that
Ayeeee making 24solder. I always fuse without additional metal and it's often not how I intended. Lol. I've tried to mill out flat 24k but have trouble putting the gold on the seam holding it and blahhh. I'm going to set the joint on top the solder and see if it will pull as you stated. Gonna upload my results today. Thanks for the tip!!!
you should make the Preshus
I found when drawing the wire that running the end through the Durston mill for an inch and making it smaller saves all the hammering and works just fine. I have done hundreds of yards of silver and a good few yards of 18k gold that i smelted from 3/4 9999 gold and 1/4 9999 silver. Try putting your draw plate into a vice and pulling with draw tongs, I draw 7metre lengths like that, the only limit is my workshop width. Also a 12v winch makes it effortless if your doing kilos of wire.👍🏴
P.S. you should consider a smiths little torch with oxy propane as its important with gold solder to get it melted in quick as I'm sure you know, definitely way more flux as well it never does any harm.
I concur, I think drawing tongs might be an important part missing from my setup. Do you recommend the durston tongs? I see good reviews of the durston tongs and very bad reviews of the "knockoff amazon" offerings.
Smith little torch is somewhere in my future, not sure how near. Maybe once I graduate from my little workstation to a real studio :)
@@mustachemetalworks Too be honest I recommend anything and everything from Durston, I have my stuff in a crowded workshop and also in my sun room. I'm going to mill the wood to make a nice big jewellery only workshop. I am a relative beginner at jewellery but have always worked with metal in different ways. I actually enjoy doing every part of it and it isn't too taxing to do. I have invested a fortune in tooling.
Nice 👍
I seens ome in depth videos about the flux is a must before soldering cause it pulls the heat to that area on top of other reason but that's what I seen alot
Thank you! I learned I rather silversmith. 😅😃
That solder felt really bad. Good work! 🙂
It was a struggle. Thank you for watching!
Regarding 10:02, the steel hand clamp acts as a heat sink such that the gold ring does not heat up sufficiently to melt the solder adequately. Instead try using ceramic tip cross lock self-closing tweezers. The ceramic tips are insulators such that they do not conduct away heat from the torch @ czcams.com/video/Y62j-ZdCFo4/video.html
You're totally correct; I didn't know these existed! I will be purchasing a new set for my workshop asap! Thank you for the heads up.
The Third Hand Tool will clamp onto the Locking Tweezers @ czcams.com/video/aBw1w0_Bh-E/video.html
Hi, What was the solution you were using after heating the gold? Thanks!
Most of the time, I just dip it into tap water to cool it down.
After soldering, I cool it down in 'pickle', which is a mild acid solution. I use a jewelry specific acid but you can also use vinegar (stinky) or whatever you want
@@mustachemetalworks thank you!
The alloy in the soldier requires the flux to flow but it helps even if just fusing fine silver to fine silver, probably same with gold?
I've never used flux to fuse silver but it might help. Do you use flux while fusing?
@@mustachemetalworks yes, just to be on safe side
So jewelers were really right. 24kt is really so soft to work with. That's why they need to alloy it.
Right, they need to alloy it.
That's why I wouldn't wear 24k gold every day, especially a wedding ring. That would be especially dumb.
You were way more successful than i was at almost the identical thing i tried except i started with a 6gram beade of gold of got chemically from electronic scrap. I heated mine with a propane torch then held it with needle nose pliars and whacked it with a hammer 🔨 and the beade fractured in half.
sounds like your gold beade should have been remelted as a whole so the beade was certainly a singular solid piece.
I would recommend putting the two haves into a dug out charcoal block and melting it!
Remember, anneal often while hammering it out!
Cut through the overlap so your ends marry up perfectly, its another tiny bit to go back in the pot that's all.
Yea, you're right. That method usually helps the ends-mating. I have to remember to do that every time!
intertwine the silver and the gold rings together with a copper ring
It's you cutting corners. But that how you learn.
When heating your metal you need to heat the clamp first so whatever is holding your piece is going to be cold and steal all the heat so if you heat the clamp first and then go in a circle motion you'll get the right temperature you need but the entire ring has to be heated at the same time and you have to use flux every time but one of the things I see that you were not doing is going in a circle and you were not using flux you need to heat your clamp each time or it will steal all the heat
You're right, I needed to use flux and preheat my clamp.
I moved over to titanium clamps because they have a terrible coefficient of thermal conductivity; the titanium clamp steals heat much slower.
You don't need to heat the whole ring, that's not how gold works, just spot weld.
@@viv5645 so I have a shop I only do 24 karat gold I don't know what your experience is but if you don't heat all the material you lose heat for flux so you know unless you're a certified jeweler like I am I don't know what you're talking about I only do 24 karat gold I've been doing it for 22 years I went to school jeweler School only people that are self-taught would do something like that again I've only been doing it for 22 years and I graduated from the a top jewelry School but yeah what do I know
@@brian1675 I was not aware of your credentials, I wasn't trying to dis you, just putting my own findings forward. As a successful, qualified jewellery maker, you should not be upset/feel threatened? by our different experiences its all part of the great adventure!
@@viv5645
why do not you make 24k soldering with cadmium ?
I'm fairly certain it's because I don't have a death wish.
www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/cadmium/Acute-Effects.html
If you don’t have a rolling mill, can you just keep hammering it?
Yes! Keep hammering and annealing.
I'm sure it's because it's not hot enough. Maybe map gass 🎉
one doesn't solder 24k gold. You "fuse" (weld, sort of) it with 24k gold scrap or sawdust
Or arc welded
Fuse is the way. But someone mentioned milling some flat 24k as my scrap. Gonna try. 22k solder hurts my soul deeply.
Why add 22kt solder to a 24kt ring when you could have simply fused it together? Laying it down on a charcoal block and fusing would avoid all the tension deformation from holding it in cross locks.. and give you a seamless pure 24kt gold ring..
Fusing is a rough task with the propane torch I own. Once I upgrade to a laser welder or a dual gas torch, I might be able to make delicate fused joints.
Since my torch lays down heat too indiscriminately, most of my fusion joints are messy.
22k solder allows for a joint to be built with a metal that melts before the 24k gold jumps to liquid.
Watch some of my other 24k gold fusion videos.
the solder was to large for the piece. you only needed a tiny bit of solder, always flux
chants quietly* _always flux, always flux, always flux..._
24k sheets not 22. Go full purity 💪🏽
Find me some 24k gold solder and I'll give you the moon