Was this a commission piece or just for fun? I've been working silver for a little bit, but I can't bring myself to buy gold to experiment with. Too much downside to f-ing it up.
This was a just for fun piece. If you make sure you're on a surface that won't foul your gold, making sure you're keeping the gold clean from crap, you can experiment and melt it down and experiment and melt it down forever!
Burnish the outside on a fairly frequent basis to maintain a work hardened surface. Work hardening is your number one tool to prevent and fix shallow surface marring. Burnishing is easy: rub the gold with a smooth metal tool (burnisher). Prevent deep gouges with your brain: dont drag your gold on sharp metal. -jacob
I am in the process of doing this but with older gold jewelry melted down and ONLY a hammer and a vice. The gold keeps cracking even though I have it into a long strip
Youre probably butting up against a few different issues if you're not annealing enough. Make sure to heat your gold up to relax the crystal structure so you can beat it more. Cracking indicates overworking the metal past it's ductile limit. If you're not protecting your metal from the atmosphere (mostly the copper in the alloy) you may be also making copper oxides and embedding them into your gold. Copper oxides are going to weaken your structure. Use a flux to protect your metal while melting (classically borax). Take a video and upload it if you're really stuck!
@@tattoofthesun yep, anneal as needed. once you have cracks, you've gone too far and annealing will not help. Once you get cracks, you'll probably need to remelt at least the surface... its like annealing but you let the metal slightly melt.
Rolling mills have two rolling surfaces that go up and down on rails controlled by a single large screw. My mill can go from 0.1mm (extremely flat) to around 5mm opening. My mill also has a square section that makes perfectly square wire. Using a pair of digital callipers will help you maintain perfect dimensions.
Best chance: make it yourself. Next best chance: Commission it from a local jeweler who you trust. Noone should be charging 1k over spot for a simple ring like this
@@mustachemetalworks how can I get a list of tools and supplies needed to make things myself using 24k? Is Boric acid the same one used to kill roaches?
To start: watch my other 24k gold ring videos. List of tools: hammer, propane torch, cutting tool (chisel or jewelers saw), file, anvil (any big piece of metal), ring mandrel (various sized metal pipes or round sticks), fire-proof surface (potato or charcoal block), eye protection, water in a jar. Don't look at Boric acid... you might have been thinking about borax, which is used as a flux. There's no need to use any flux nor solder while using 24k gold.
@@mustachemetalworks if you melt brass you have to wear a respirator bc of the zinc, zinc is toxic. If you melt karat gold you should wear a mask bc of the other metal contents, but I would assume pure 999 gold and pure 999 silver you would not have to.
I've never used Karat gold up to this point, but when I start, I expect to make my own alloys from copper,silver,gold so I don't have to worry about trash metals being incorporated into the alloy. I do use carbon room filtration when I solder because the smoke that comes off that has.... a special blend.
Water! When using charcoal, I always soak it. Charcoal is a pretty amazing tool in this case. It won't foul your gold, even if the gold melts. Carbon and gold don't mix. Mineral soldering blocks will foul melted gold with gross crap. Mineral Soldering blocks are less heat absorbing than charcoal but charcoal has a tendency to.... burn. That's why I soak it; to make the charcoal last much longer. It stops the burn inside the block. Eventually the block will turn into CO2 but hopefully no faster than necessary. Thanks for asking.
Thanks for the quick reply. Was curious about the "wet look" since I haven't seen anyone do that. I like how charcoal helps limit oxidation. I asked about the weight you used as I am about to make a gold "surround" to fatten up a skinny platinum / rough diamond ring I made. Going to forge a fat rustic band, cut a groove and inset this skinny platinum band. I liked the way you forged, and with gold as pricey as it is right now, I was trying to gauge the weight I will need to do that. Will probably alloy to 22K for a little extra strength. Thanks again!
In my opinion, gold should be melted in a non-tainting vessel that doesn't absorb heat from the torch. Graphite is a terrible material to heat metal in because it grabs all the heat. Thermal Conductivity of Graphite = 168 [W/(m K)] Charcoal is a great material to heat metal in because it doesn't absorb much heat at all (and gold doesnt react with carbon). Thermal Conductivity of Charcoal = 0.084 [W/(m K)] see www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_thermal_conductivities
From a structural standpoint: probably a 2mm x 2mm square wire band. From a design standpoint, I would think the minimum masculine band would be a 4mm wide band with 1.5mm thickness.
Perform volumetric analysis for a man, feed him for a day. Teach a man volumetric analysis, feed him for life. Put in your dimensions, convert to volume in cm3, then convert your volume to grams using gold's density. www.omnicalculator.com/math/hollow-cylinder-volume www.aqua-calc.com/page/density-table/substance/gold
I used a plumber's MAPP gas torch to melt the ingot. I used a plumber's propane pencil torch to fuse the joint. My MAPP torch outputs many more BTUs than propane and also burns at a hotter temperature. The propane torch is colder and less powerful, which is perfect for delicate fusion.
@@mustachemetalworks More like $6 bro hope you didn't get scammed... www.aliexpress.com/item/32553998080.html This is not real gold... Real 24k gold is actually reddish yellow. Gotta say looks pretty sweet bro and no chance of bending.
What now? I buy 0.9999 gold ingots from APMEX and melt them down. Is there a conspiracy I don't know about? Is APMEX somehow manufacturing an ingot with the same density, thermal properties, chemical resilience, tensile strength, and durability as elemental gold? Is the Perth Mint in Australia in on this conspiracy? Is the Valcambi Mint in Switzerland in on this conspiracy? Alert the press
Where are you from? Perth mint would say stralia somewhere. Can I borrow some gold? I don't have quite enough to make my wife earings! Lol! I have 2 grams I refined myself.
I have made a very nice large man's 24k gold ring at roughly 15g, which is roughly half a troy ounce. A full ounce ring would be very substantial but could be very nice with thoughtfully calculated proportions.
@@mustachemetalworks okay awesome! Thanks for the reply. I think I’ll try and make two 15g rings then. What’s your advice on going without the drawing machine? Hoping I can hammer and skip that step somehow?
Hammering out the ingot into an elongated rectangular cuboid is a time intensive but very easy process. You'll be fine! I spent the first year without the rolling mill machine; it was just more tedious. Be patient, rotate which side you're hammering frequently, and make sure to anneal often, especially when it seems like your hammer blows aren't doing much!
I made a 24k gold ring that was as delicate as I feel comfortable making. You can go quite small if you work harden the metal after fusing/soldering. I don't remember the exact dimensions but I started with roughly 12 gauge round wire. See the video here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ID9rKjTV-10.html
24k gold isn't the most convenient karat, i mean, it's the purest but the ring is probably very delicate and easy to break. This is why a lot of jewelers suggest to buy 18k gold(75% pure gold) istead, because the gold is mixed with a more resistent league such as copper or silver.
"delicate and easy to break"......whomever told you this knows NOTHING about gold. Pure gold will not break it will bend and deform but not break. However, if you make it to stout dimensions the mass of the piece will help to avoid deformation. It is not delicate, it is soft, so highly detailed embossed rings are probably not the best use of high karat gold including 18K. For highly detailed rings 14k is best because it is hard but not so hard to be brittle. The two main reason jewelers don't work in pure 24k are, 1. The Cost and 2. They Don't Know How.
Its a rolling mill. I use a pepetools mill. I love it. The big expensive name in mills is durston. There exist cheaper cast iron mills available on amazon and etsy.
Gold is very malleable when it cools from annealing or casting. Work hardening is very important. Since pure gold cant be heat hardened, you can't cast jewelry and expect the structure to maintain its shape under stress. In a few of my videos, I show the work hardening process. You hit the gold with a hammer to make the metal's grain structure change. Work hardening increases the tensile strength and decreases ductility. I have many people wearing my 24k gold jewelry. The metal will superficially scratch and mar but the structure should last a lifetime. I have to design my pieces bigger and "beefier" to withstand everyday stresses. I could not do many intricate designs with 24k gold because of the inherent limitations. However, I do not let that stop me from designing jewelry. Please watch a few more of my videos. I'm not the only one on youtube who makes 24k gold jewelry. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_hardening#Theory
"Money is no object"......proceeds to sweep up every tiny piece of gold dust.... money must mean something there mister "swole af".....come on man, just be real.
