Inlaying Green gold?

[DaveAtWeirs]

Looking to have a go at inlaying green gold into steel, I've inlayed 24ct gold and fine silver into steel and brass, is the green gold similar and is there anything I should watch out for? should I just avoid it all together?

I splashed out and got myself a nice watch to engrave and the dial is green so I'd like to inlay some green gold to keep on the theme.

 

[T.G.III]

Green gold is going to be harder than 24k gold and .999 fine silver, the green in the gold comes from alloying the gold with copper, practice inlaying with copper, that should answer your questions.

 

[Travis Fry]

Green gold is going to be harder than 24k gold and .999 fine silver, the green in the gold comes from alloying the gold with copper, practice inlaying with copper, that should answer your questions.

It does contain copper (usually), but so do most gold alloys. In this case it's not the copper that makes it green, it's silver. A gold/copper mix (which usually also contains some silver) gives us rose gold.

So in theory, green gold should be harder to inlay than pure gold or fine silver, but easier than rose gold or copper. Not that I've ever inlayed any of them myself. My comment is purely based on the standard alloy composition.

 

[T.G.III]

I see, my google foo is lacking, that said the point was to inlay copper as a practice material, after that practice green gold should be a piece of cake.

 

[EngraverHand]

I have been playing a little with silver, copper, brass, gold and rose gold.. all fine except rose gold, which is extremely hard. Even brass is easier.. but might be because I did not anneal it well enough. But I know from others that anyhow good it´s annealed, it´s going to be hard!

Anyway, I have some 18 karat green gold wire too, but haven't got to it yet, but from what people say, it´s way easier than rose gold. If you do copper alright, you should probably be good.. but remember to anneal it right.

As Travis said the green comes from the silver in green gold and the red from copper in rose gold.

From my understanding to anneal it well is for green gold heat it red (but not melting obviously) and let it cool down by itself, but for rose gold heat it red but because of the larger amount of copper quenche it in cold water or some have also suggested alcohol. I guess the alcohol for cleaning..

This is what I have heard, so please correct me if I´m wrong

 

[tdelewis]

Cadmium can be added to gold to make it have a green color. Cadmium is very toxic. Always know what you are working with.

 

[mtlctr]

It does contain copper (usually), but so do most gold alloys. In this case it's not the copper that makes it green, it's silver. A gold/copper mix (which usually also contains some silver) gives us rose gold.

So in theory, green gold should be harder to inlay than pure gold or fine silver, but easier than rose gold or copper. Not that I've ever inlayed any of them myself. My comment is purely based on the standard alloy composition.

If….the channel is cut correctly it shouldn’t be a problem. Any of the alloys mentioned are much softer than the punch used to do the inlay.so…..the inlay metal cannot resist the force of the punch.I’ve done copper wire in steel despite warnings of difficulty . …….it wasn’t. Try a piece of copper wire in steel if you’re unsure of your ability . Good luck
kent

 

[EngraverHand]

Also another thing, when working with more hard metal I make more teeth´s especially in the beginning and the end.. in the middle too, but I want to make sure it sticks at the first hit, unless I´m just making a lot of extra work for myself. Just to make sure Also depends a little if it´s "only" a channel or wire by wire.. it´s easier to get it to stick in a channel than wire by wire. For me anyway..

Copper is easy, and soft gold a lot easier.. so you should think rose gold would be easy, but nah.. but defiantly possible. Looking forward to see what you do with green gold, which was your question.. I think I would make some extra teeth´s with green gold too

 

[DaveAtWeirs]

Thanks so much for all the advice and tips. I've inlayed copper into steel before so I might be able to do it but for this particular project I might just stick with fine gold and silver cuz it's a pricy watch (well, pricy to me cuz I'm the one paying for this one, lol).