Custom ring or no...

[valeria101]

Date: 1/25/2006 7:37:39 PM
Author: MINE!!

Old and sntique rings were not made of platinum... but I have seem some that I think would give platinum a run for its money.

... which must be nickel or palladium WG. W/o the yellowing and 'scheduled maintenance' issues.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 1/25/2006 7:32:32 PM
Author: flyfisher

WG is tempting, but doesn''t it have to be redipped every few years?

No. make that ''months''

... if the alloy used needs plating to begin with.

 

[flyfisher]

No. make that 'months'

... if the alloy used needs plating to begin with.

See? WG=scary.

Pd WG is an option, though, according to my wiser half.

 

[Rebemdee]

It may be painful, but another solution would be to wait until you have the budget to get her the perfect ring. Or, if you want to propose now, use a temporary setting while you save up for the one you really want. It just seems like for the specific things you want, and to have a quality platinum/diamond setting within your budget, something has to give. I can imagine how exciting it is to have that beautiful stone in your hand and want to put it in the perfect setting, but if you can''t get the ring created the way you want because of budget right now, perhaps waiting a bit will save you both frustration and disappointment, and there will be no "do-overs" later.

 

[flyfisher]

It may be painful, but another solution would be to wait until you have the budget to get her the perfect ring.

I''m already shopping a few months in advance here. Unfortunately, as a student, there''s not so much in the way of income, so waiting longer won''t help. I have savings that could be used to go a little over, but at some point it becomes a question of nice ring vs. our financial stability post-engagement. We''re also going to be in school for the next 5-6 years at least, so buying a simple setting and upgrading later would be a long wait, not to mention running up against the sappy sentimental part of me that wants this to be the ring forever.

 

[Angel7]

Date: 1/25/2006 8:01:28 PM
Author: flyfisher


See? WG=scary.

Pd WG is an option, though, according to my wiser half.

WG doesn''t equal scary. It''s just may need to be dipped once or twice a year. A good jeweler would do it for free anyhow. If I had too choose between a plain platinum band or a wg with pave and engraving because of price, I''d go with the pave-HANDS DOWN.

To me, the metal isn''t visible to the eye, but beautiful pave and great engraving are. Just my thoughts!

Good Luck!

 

[widget]

I wouldn't discount WG either....I think it can look quite beautiful, and unless you're totally anal, often goes years without dipping.

Is there someone here who can address which alloys are best for keeping WG white? The Doctor, maybe? Ana?

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[MINE!!]

I have had my rings for about 8 months now and I am NO WHERE close to needing them redone. And I am anal about them. I clean them EVERY day and I wear them ALL day. Maybe there is a certain mix involved, but I think that WG is beautiful and there is no need to steer someone away from it just because Plat. is the new rage.

 

[TheDoctor]

I''ve written about this elsewhere, but I''ll have to repeat it so that everyone has a better grasp of the issues involving white gold.

White gold has been given a bad reputation because of the cheap alloys that some or most of the manufacturers use.
What do I mean by cheap?

Instead of paying $2.00 per gram more for a high-white formula from a refiner that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on formulating colour-specific mixtures containing a higher concentration of precious metals, they opt for the lowest price, pre-alloyed karat mixtures which pour easily and fill moulds consistently. In short, these alloys are Idiot-proof. They are softer,the prongs bend with less effort, but the colour is bloody awful. So, they plate it.

The best refiners have new alloys which have much better characteristics, but these mixtures require special care during manufacturing proceedures. This require people who know what they are doing. Sure, it ain''t rocket science, but it ssure separates the truly skilled from the posers.

I have read many justifications from manufacturers about their usage of certain alloys that don''t contain nickel, but mixtures of copper, zinc, silver.......and need plating. Even in 18 karat, the colour is a sick-looking pale yellow.
These alloys are cheaper to buy and use. Nickel makes for a better, brilliantly-white alloy when used in low proportion, but it requires a high karat.
These manufacturers don''t want to pay the higher costs. They don''t want to change to an unknown product. They don''t want to learn anything new. They ask their customers to put up with the plating, or buy platinum.

Once again. nickel, being the best whitener, will never make a white gold mixture off-white. Cheap alloys like copper are the culprits, and are used because they''re relatively cheap, and makes prongs easy to bend.
For those of you who may have accumlated volumes of misinformation about people''s reaction to nickel alloys, here''s a short story.

A woman called me a couple of years ago about her daughter''s nickel allergy, and her desre to have some earrings which wouldn''t make her ears fuzz over.
I sggested that I could use 19 karat white gold and she wouldn''t have a problem, but she wasn''rt convinced.

I told here that if her daughter reacted to 19 karat, I''d replace the earrings in platinum at no cost to her.

Success story. No reaction. It wasn''t a hunch. I know what I''m talking about.

 

[flyfisher]

So from everyone''s comments, it seems white gold has gotten a bad rap through poor quality worksmanship. Are there places known for doing high-quality WG work (that would still be approx. within budget)?

Also, TheDoctor how does the nickel WG you described compare to Pd WG?

 

[widget]

I know that David Keeling (the doctor) specializes in high karat, high quality WG....why don''t you give him a call? I don''t know about budget constraints...

www.davidkeelingjewellry.com

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[TheDoctor]

...........how does the nickel WG you described compare to Pd WG?


It''s much harder, whiter, (pd white can be grayish) and firm enough to produce finer goods that don''t bend under normal wear.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Widget, but I shy away from work that involves client''s gemstones purchased elsewhere. I don''t cater exclusively to big spenders by any stretch, but I can''t feed my family on scraps either. I still think that the young man is going to have to make some serious compromises in order to get what he thinks he wants at a palatable price.
Colored stones of the size he purchased almost always require custom settings, as they won''t fit well in generic, commercial ones.
Sorry, flyfisher,I can''t open your P.M., it''s not there to open. You may try again.

 

[flyfisher]

I still think that the young man is going to have to make some serious compromises in order to get what he thinks he wants at a palatable price.

Fair enough. That''s why I''m on here asking. And I certainly don''t expect to starve anyone''s family!

Will have to ponder the various compromises before making a decision obviously. Everyone has given me much to think about. Thanks again.

 

[princessv]

Little off topic...so its not nickel I''m allergic to but copper??

 

[TheDoctor]

Date: 1/26/2006 9:34:13 PM
Author: Princess V
Little off topic...so its not nickel I''m allergic to but copper??

If your allergic reaction is to white gold, period, generic in makeup, you need to seriously adapt a scientific approach to attaching blame to specific alloys.
Copper is awful. It is used as a cheap filler. It colours the alloys badly. It causes adverse reactions when soldering components together. It takes on oxygen and doesn''t let it go.

The cheap 14 karat white alloys contain a fair amount of copper. Even the 18 karat commercial alloys contain copper in sizeable amounts. I cannot work with it, it uses up my play time.