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Is 20K gold ring too soft to chanel set diamonds with?

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zhuzhu

Ideal_Rock
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In my home country, we use 24K down to 18K gold to set gem stones. I am thinking of making a channel-set diamond ringusing 20K gold. Is it going to be too soft and not safe to do so, for everyday wear? Thank you!
 
Why not just use 18K and be safe?? Yanno??
 
Date: 4/8/2010 11:56:48 PM
Author: Kaleigh
Why not just use 18K and be safe?? Yanno??
cuz zhu is Chinese,and most Chinese loves to wear high kt gold.
 
It all depends:

1> how hard you are on rings
2> the alloy used
3> most of all the skill of the goldsmith.
 
We used to use 22 karat for some parts of our rings featuring yellow diamonds.
We found that it was too soft.
Since there''s such a small percentage of alloy, changing that aspect would not seem to solve the softness problem.
If the ring is an all the way around channel set- in other words, made entirely of 22 karat, my feeling is that it would not be stable enough for daily wear.
If there was a platinum ring with a 22kt section, that might be a different story, but I agree with Kaleigh- go with 18kt unless it''s really important to you to have 22.

It''s also possible to plate the yellow gold with 24kt.
This wears off over time, but looks very nice when it''s just been done....
 
Date: 4/9/2010 10:21:47 AM
Author: Rockdiamond
Since there's such a small percentage of alloy, changing that aspect would not seem to solve the softness problem.

Disagree, since Pt alloys routinely have a composition of alloying metals much lower than that, Pt 900 is approx 22k and Pt 950 is 23k by the same terminology, and still maintain the strength, even the same 950 composition level can have very different strength and hardness depending on the alloying metal/s used. Steel has an even smaller carbon content than that, typically less than 2.1%, above that steel becomes cast iron. Saying that changing to different alloy metals/material of 22k Gold alloy will not do anything is just wrong.
 
Not sure if you should decide based on my answer but I used to have a 24k gold ring in my childhood. It was so malleable I could use my fingers and mold the shape.
 
20-22k is not really sturdy enough for a channel with most designs. It’s fairly common to use different alloys for different components of the ring, partially for this reason. Are you talking about a channel holding several stones along the band or a single channel set stone in the center? The approach will be different between these two. They may be able to build the structural part out of 18k or platinum and the balance of the ring out of 20, 22 or even 24k for example.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver
 
Line the inner walls of each channel with a thin ribbon of platinum that was just a tiny bit shorter than the yellow gold channel wall height, and then the diamonds will stay set. Once the yellow gold walls were hammered over, the platinum would be completely invisible to observers, but it would give real re-inforcement to the channel walls. Of course, this would add labor and costly materials to the job, but if price is no object, it might be worth consideration. The metal will still be soft and get dinged up easily, but all high karat gold items do the same thing. There would be little issue with the diamonds remaining secure.
 
Any grade gold from 20K and up and just too soft, at least from what I read so far. I guess they will be okay for a pendant where there isn''t that much impact but on a ring it will easily get dented or damaged which could result in diamonds getting loose or missing.

I agree with the 18K gold with 22 or 24K plating solution.
 
I have never heard of platinum inlay to be done in my home country. I can ask though. I don''t think the color of the 18k look like 20K or 24K at all.

I know this is not a ring style that is popular here in US, but I just want to show you a family ring that is made entirely with 24K. All the stones are either channel- or prong- set, and the channel set ones has not fallen out yet....

The ring I hope to have is only 1/3 full, one level channel, I hope as long as the wall is "thick" enough the stones hold up.

P1020149.JPG
 
I don''t know about 20K gold, but we have 24K necklaces. They are too soft to handle and get scratched up so easily. IMHO, I don''t care for the intense yellow color and dullness of 24K... For any jewelry I would prefer 18K or 14K for yellow gold, but I think I''d rather have white metal like WG, Platinum or even silver
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The experts here say it is not strong enough because they probably feel they have a responsibility to the consumers to best protect them. That said - if you like it and you can get someone to do it and it works for you - there''s no problem here. If you''re willing to repair and/or replace any damage, what''s there to lose? 20k is not 22k either so I''m not sure which you want. I want to buy a high gold ring while I''m here in China, I think they''re beautiful and I think the ring you posted is beautiful too.
 
i agree that 18K does not look like 22 or 24K at all. 20k, I don''t know, I never saw that. I don''t know how yellow it is and whether or not it has that kind of ''glow'' that 22K and up that (but 18K doesn''t--it''s not just the color that looks different). But diamonds are very hard and high karat gold is soft. I have an emerald set in 22k and I stopped wearing the ring because the stone just pops out of the prongs--they bend back and it pops out. I decided I like 22kt and up but not for rings with stones. I have earrings and pendants with stones and they are fine, but not the ring. However it does have prongs. I heard that bezel setting works well with high carat gold and rings. Would channel setting be similar to this? Since there aren''t prongs to bend back?
Something to check out also--there are ways of working with purer gold that make it harder. I don''t know the technical terms. But you can anneal it or cast it or something and then its more stiff. I have a 22k bangle made in this way and it''s not bendable at all. Maybe you can follow up on this. Good luck.
 
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