Happy Thursday and welcome to my still very new blog! In my first post I discussed why artisan jewelry is priced the way it is. Today I would like to talk about the differences between some of the most popular precious metals from a jeweler’s perspective and why I focus on some more than others.
Silver
You may notice that a majority of my work is in silver. The main reason for this is that silver is beautiful, precious, accessible, and a joy to work with. Silver transfers heat very well, which makes it a dream to solder. It shapes easily and polishes to a gorgeous bright finish. Sometimes I work with pure fine silver, and while it has its place in my rotation, it is incredibly soft and only works well in limited applications.
I have found that I prefer working with traditional sterling silver (an alloy of 92.5 percent fine silver and copper) but have been experimenting more with Argentium silver (a special alloy from Rio Grande Jewelry Supply that combines fine silver with germanium instead of copper). Both alloys have their advantages and downsides, but I would say that silver is a great metal to work with and provides a lot of benefits. It's my bread-and-butter metal, and is only going to get more valuable with time. A solid 9 out of 10.
Gold
Gold is perhaps the most well-known and beloved of the precious metals. Aesthetically, its beautiful color has inspired people to make jewelry since almost the dawn of mankind. As an elemental metal, it also has unique properties that make it a prized material for engineers and scientists. It is very useful and, unfortunately, also highly expensive.
As a jeweler, yellow gold is my one of my favorite metals to work with. It has all the benefits of silver and more, and it is very forgiving in terms of soldering and shaping. White gold and rose gold are a little more difficult due to their alloys. Nickel in white gold causes it to be crumbly if overheated, and the high copper content in rose gold causes it to develop fire scale quickly, which makes soldering difficult. That aside, as a rule gold is a joy to work with, and I would love to be able to make more gold jewelry in the future. 10 out of 10 for yellow gold and 8 out of 10 if we include rose gold and white gold.
Platinum
I have a love and hate relationship with platinum. It is an interesting metal, very dense and strong, with a crisp white color that can polish into a mirror finish. Aesthetically, I love it. In practice, however, it is a bit of a nightmare. It has such a high melting temperature that casting in platinum requires specialized tools. This high melting point also makes it especially difficult to solder. If polished correctly it has a beautiful finish, but polishing platinum is an intensive, multi-step process that takes a lot of time.
Platinum jewelry does have impressive strength, beauty, and staying power, and maybe one day I will be more willing to rise to the platinum challenge. In the meantime, it is still just a little too fussy for me. 11 out of 10 to wear and 5 out of 10 to work with.
Assorted Rare Earth Metals: Cobalt, Tungsten, Tantalum, etc.
These are cool metals in theory, but they are so dense and hard that they require highly specialized equipment to work with. They are generally not suitable for a small-operation jeweler like me. 2 out of 10, would not recommend for a solo bench jeweler.
Conclusion
In general, I hope this has given you some insight into my preferences for metal. Each precious metal has its own aesthetic and chemical pros and cons, and each year I find myself discovering new quirks of each.