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We hand pour all our alloys

for the best quality....

Video of Karating Gold (Broadband Only!)

Be sure to tell us HOW you cast. Torch? Induction? Atmosphere controlled with nitrogen? Pressure over vacuum?

Alloy #

Karat

Mfg. Use

Color

Notes for your consideration

#34

10-14

Casting

Light Yellow

Our in house metal. Best for all applications in casting.

#34ND

10-14

Fabricating/Stamping

Light Yellow

No additives for fabrication.

#35

10-14

Casting

Light Yellow

Highly proven production formula. Excellent re-cast gold.

#33

10-14

Casting

Medium Yellow

Formulated between #34 & #32. Ruddy and less light.

#32

10-18

Casting

Dark Yellow

Reddish tint. Copper rich. "Hamilton" color.

#21CE

10-14

Casting

Medium Yellow

Stone in wax alloy. Great for induction casting.

#21CE-ND

10-14

Fabricating/Stamping

Medium Yellow

No additives for fabrication.

#134

10-14

Casting

Medium Yellow

Stone in casting alloy.

#611

10-14

Casting

Medium Yellow

Great for casting items for channel setting

#711

10-14

Casting

Light Yellow

High silver mix. Very workable.

#711ND

10-14

Fabricating/Stamping

Light Yellow

No additives for fabrication. Our rolling alloy.

#1

10-18

Casting

Dark Yellow

Dark color, ruddy. Rolls with additives.

#303

10-18

Casting

Light Yellow

Nice alloy for setting or bending.

#152

10-18

Casting

Dark Yellow

Slight reddish yellow."Hamilton" color.

#152ND

10-18

Fabricating

Dark Yellow

No additives for fabrication.

#67D

18-22

Casting

Light Yellowgreen

Our in house alloy for 18kt. Slightly green tint.

#67ND

18-22

Fabricating/Stamping

Light Yellowgreen

No additives for fabrication.

#751

18-22

Casting

Light Yellowgreen

Green 18kt. High in silver....

#751ND

18-22

Fabricating/Stamping

Light Yellowgreen

No additives for fabrication.

#75

10-22

Casting

Dark Yellow

Slight ruddy color. Less silver than most 18kt.

#75ND

10-22

Fabricating/Stamping

Dark Yellow

Granulators dream.

#91

10-18

Casting

Green

Green gold ....no matter how you play it.

#007

14-18

Casting

Light Yellowgreen

Strong European color. Beautiful metal.

#63

10-14

Casting

Light Yellow

Slightly high silver for a easy to set mix.

#811

10-14

Casting

Light Yellow

Very popular for 14kt & 18kt, great color in both karats.

#58

10-14

Casting

Peach Yellow

Super rich copper alloy, reddish yellow. Very hard metal.

White Gold Alloys

Alloy #

Karat

Mfg. Use

Color

Notes for your consideration

#3

10-18

Casting/Rolling

White

Our first roll able white gold. Our standard for karated grain.

#100c.w.

10-18

Casting/Rolling

White

Casting nickel white gold.

#40

10-18

Casting

White

Nickel white for casting only.

#41

10-18

Casting/Rolling

White

Easy melt nickel white gold.

#43

10-18

Casting/Rolling

White

Extra easy melt nickel white. Softer than most.

White Spring

10-18

Spring gold only

White

Nickel Spring White.

Low Palladium

10-14

Casting/Rolling

White

Palladium white alloy.

High Palladium

10-18

Casting/Rolling

White

Palladium white alloy.

#51

10-18

Casting/Rolling

Rose

High copper / Low silver mix.

#52

10-18

Casting

Rose

High copper / Low silver mix.

#55

10-18

Casting/Rolling

Rose

High copper with some silver- Soft Rose.

#56

10-18

Casting

Rose

High copper with silver and zinc. Easy melt.

Soviet Red

10-18

Casting/Rolling

Rose

Originally from the old Union, here by popular demand.

#80e

10-18

All karats, zinc free

Dark Yellow

Enameling formula.

#AGSPG

N/A

Heat treatable

White

Spring silver for clasps.

NUSPG

10-18

Heat treatable

Yellow

Spring gold .

Deox Sterling

N/A

Non tarnish silver

White

Non tarnishing sterling.

Sterling

N/A

Sterling Jewelry

White

Traditional sterling.

Solder Alloys

6-19

Gold solders

All

Special orders only, please call for details.

#91

10-18

Special color

Green

The best green made from silver and zinc.

999Silver

N/A

Element/Ingredient

White

Pure silver.

Copper

N/A

Element/Ingredient

Red

Pure high grade copper.

Zinc

N/A

Element/Ingredient

White

Pure high grade zinc.

Nickel

N/A

Element/Ingredient

White

Pure high grade nickel.

Yellow Bronze

N/A

Casting

Ruddy yellow

For statuary work or samples.

White Bronze

N/A

Casting

White

For statuary work.

Yellow Brass

N/A

Base metal alloy

Yellow

For samples.

#X10D

N/A

Refresh old gold

N/A

Scrap/old gold rejuvenator.

 MJSA/WGC White Gold Color Index

Alloy # 10kt 14kt 18kt
#00 Grade2 Grade3 Grade3
#3 Grade1 Grade1 N/A
#100c.w. Grade1 Grade2 Grade2
Kristina White Grade1 Grade2 N/A
#40 Grade1 Grade2 Grade3
#41 Grade1 Grade2 Grade3
#43 Grade2 Grade2 Grade3
Low Pall N/A Grade 3 N/A
High Pall N/A Grade1 Grade2
Ultimate Grade1 Grade1 Grade2
Grade1 Preferred Rhodium Not Needed
Grade2 Acceptable Rhodium Optional
Grade3 Marginal Rhodium Required

Since silver and alloy prices fluctuate widely, please call us for accurate pricing information. In general we charge a fixed labor fee above the cost of the silver (or any expensive exotic materials) used in the alloy. 

We have many alloys not listed here. Call Keith or Daniel to discuss other types of alloys and custom formulas.

 

How You Can Select An Alloy

 

First, what karat, and color ? Then ask yourself what processes the gold will undergo Will you be casting and finishing or making sheet or wire for forming or fabrication? Keep in mind that you want "ND" alloys for any rolling, stamping, or fabricating process. Casting and recasting gold requires the silicon deoxidiser we use in the casting alloys. This helps provide cleaner castings and helps avoid cyanide stripping. If you use a gas torch- We suggest natural gas, methane, or hydrogen for gold and silver alloys. Or if you use electricity to melt, we strongly suggest the best available way to keep the air away from hot gold or silver. Protect your molten gold! 

If you need more help, call and ask for our "Basic Metallurgy /Alloy Guide For Jewelers- Written by Daniel and printed by us here at PMWest.
*P.O.V. = Pressure Over Vacuum like Neutec, Yasui, and Galoni Equipment.

Have a formula you like? Bring it to us and we’ll manufacture it with our deox and methodology. Discounts do apply for large orders. Call Keith or Daniel for details. 1-800-999-7528 Daniel@preciousmetalswest.com

Images From Our Alloy manufacturing

 

 

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Tuning Your Gold

Have you listened to the difference the fine tuning makes in a good guitar or piano? Sure they might play alright almost regardless of the fine tuning. But for that wonderful harmony of strings we must have that last 1% of the tuning just right.

Like musical instruments alloy formulae can go back a thousand years and be just a few common metals. Or, they can be from today’s modern metallurgical wisdom. All create wonderful jewelry each and every day. It’s the match of method and alloy additives that makes for success.

O2
Oxygen is life to you, yet destructive to hot gold alloys.
Oxidation is the enemy of fine casting. It is to be avoided when possible and must be removed as best as possible to make the great pieces that sell well. This is the first motive to use additives at all.

Si
Silicon (and other deoxidizers) can benefit casting.
For those who cast 10kt or 14kt in ‘open air” with a torch or electric smelter that exposes the melt to the air, be sure to get an alloy that includes silicon or some deoxidizer. This gives you gold that beaks out less dark, less oxidized, and will re cast from sprue metal reliably. Here is why-When copper is hot it reacts with oxygen from the air easily. So for open air casting some clever alloy people learned to add silicon to the alloy. Silicon additives help because of the blocking effect on the copper oxygen chemistry. Remember copper is usually the highest metallic content in alloy next to the gold. In low karats or rose colors copper content can exceed the gold content. Silicon as a copper “deox” is great for torch casting, but it can cause enlargement problems in grain structure of the castings. That can mean brittle castings. This became the gold standard for years and years. These alloys are very common in the inventories of alloy dealers.
Bullet -Here is where silicon will impede your production.

a. The aforementioned larger grain size can be a problem for fabricators who mistakenly use casting gold for rolling. Fabrication process do not need deoxidation. Pickling after annealing and polishing take care of that.
b. Stone in place castings are brittle because they are cooled slowly rather than quenched. This along with the silicon encourages grain size growth.
c. Eighteen karat gold in general should not contain silicon. There is so little copper, the benefits are outweighed by the risks of brittle casting.

Sometimes a caster with very modern equipment needs a different, non silicon alloy-Alloys for closed system induction are different than the rest.

Beyond deoxidizing

Additives do many subtle jobs. Grain refining is how we manipulate grain size usually trying to get it smaller. This is done with high temperature exotic elements. Fluidity and casting flow temperature can be adjusted with additives. Some ordinary materials like zinc, sometimes very exotic stuff like lithium.

Electric casting with some form of atmosphere control like nitrogen or argon in the crucible during heating and casting is common at larger jewelry factories. This technology was originally so promising some companies tried to use unaltered ancient alloy formulas-Just pure gold, copper and silver without any additives. While these alloys avoided the pitfalls of silicon sticking in the newer “bottom pour” electric casting machinery, they were not ‘tuned’ for the new machines. As it turned out certain gas reactions with the investment plaster also prevented the best possible results. This taught us that additives do help a great deal. They always will when applied correctly.

Today’s demanding market sees casters using all kinds of equipment. On one hand we have casting machines that completely isolate the metal from air with exotic gases or a vacuum. Those use resistance or induction for heat. The method varies, but the one thing in common is that air need not get to our gold anywhere near molten temperatures. So, we tune alloys accordingly.

Alloys and casting harmonies-It’s an orchestra like any other. Nobody can be out of tune!
Your alloy maker’s job is to match your alloy to your process. Not just casting, stamping or fabricating, but one must precisely see what equipment is being used. You might use alloys adjusted for “pressure over vacuum” vertical casting systems. Each kind calls for certain alloy tuning.

Karat your gold before casting.
Be sure to blend your gold and alloy, pour it into shot, and only then re-melt for casting. This assure consistent color and karat through the tree. This prevents several potential problems with just a small amount of extra effort

Learn to raise and lower karat in your trees and sprue metal.
Many alloys can be useful in two karats or more. Consider using 1oky sprues by up karating with gold, using some fresh 14kt and casting on less gold overall.

Your Alloy maker as your Metallurgical Guide
Metallurgy is a complex and often counterintuitive science that frankly only a practicing metallurgist can love. Let that person be your guide to enhanced quality in your production. His or her knowledge can save you hours of work and thousands of dollars.

Have confidence in metallurgy, never allow alloy oddities to confuse you.
Today’s most modern alloys are 99% just like the alloys we always could depend on. Gold, silver, copper etc. However, that last 1% makes all the difference in reliable casting. As we use ancient precious metals, we can now use up to the minute technology in that crucial; last, 1% or the gold. That last one percent can contain many additives that make an important difference. These differences include grain structure, ease of filling in small items, hardness, and trapping nickel into the alloy so tightly as to pass certain restrictions abroad.

In the best scenario, your alloy is custom tuned. Not merely adjusted for your equipment but also adjusted further, for whatever you are particular line calls for. Tiny items can be cast with alloys that are far from ideal in larger items like mans rings. More or less hardness as needed. Color tuning for that special look. All of this is very likely in the modern alloy market. Your alloy maker can give your casting gold exactly the tune up you need. Make the call. Send the email. You will be glad you did.

©2009 Keith Weinstein Inc.