Gold Inlay into silver

[BSCOTT]

I tried to inlay 14kyg onto 925. i made sure the wire was annealed. i cut chamfers in the channel and beveled the bottom of the cut but all it did was flatten out a little and smooth out the silver channel. will i need to use 24k wire or is it useless to try? i have inlayed copper and silver into stainless and it held no problem. thank u

 

[oniemarc]

24k will inlay just fine into the 925. 14k is simply way too hard for the softer silver.

 

[Dani Girl]

I've done it with 24k. it was difficult. superglued to something solid will help ease deformation of the silver and setting the gold with one or two taps will help it seat without work hardening. it's a bit of a everything has to be perfect game.

 

[BSCOTT]

I've done it with 24k. it was difficult. superglued to something solid will help ease deformation of the silver and setting the gold with one or two taps will help it seat without work hardening. it's a bit of a everything has to be perfect game.

put superglue in the channel or make sure the piece i am inlaying on is secured? thank you

 

[BSCOTT]

24k will inlay just fine into the 925. 14k is simply way too hard for the softer silver.

Do i need to cut wedges in the channel and undercut sides of the channel like inlay in steel?

 

[Old Gunsmith]

Do not put superglue in the channel or you will be sorry. Superlue sets too fast to allow punching down the gold. It may also degrade over time. She suggested supergluing the silver to something to make it secure for holding.

 

[SamW]

I have inlayed 24k into sheet aluminum. I used a very thin coat of J B weld to fix the aluminum (.040") to a thicker piece of aluminum then pressed the gold wire into the undercut cavity. That way there was no distortion to the sheet aluminum. This was a rosette for a classical guitar. I used a heat gun to remove the sheet aluminum...heating to about 260 degrees and it easily popped free.

 

[BSCOTT]

Do not put superglue in the channel or you will be sorry. Superlue sets too fast to allow punching down the gold. It may also degrade over time. She suggested supergluing the silver to something to make it secure for holding.

ok. i got it secured in pitch. good enough?

 

[Dani Girl]

how thick?

 

[oniemarc]

Do i need to cut wedges in the channel and undercut sides of the channel like inlay in steel?

Yes...same treatment as with steel.