950 Palladium
Working with Palladium Stock
Mountings and Findings
By Mark and Lainie Mann
The reintroduction of white, bright and light palladium for use in the jewelry industry has quickly introduced an expanding assortment of palladium stock items offered in a variety of palladium alloys. These alloys contain 950 parts of palladium and 50 parts of other metals (this portion of the alloy may vary among suppliers). The most common alloy component is ruthenium, which, along with palladium belongs to the platinum group of noble metals. Ruthenium usually comprises about
4.8 percent of the 5% mixture, leaving room for trace elements of other metals that improve working, wearing or casting characteristics. This alloy combination is suitable for general purposes such as casting and fabricating and has an as-cast
Vickers hardness of about 110 to 130 depending upon the specific mixture.
Other 950 palladium alloys may include in their 5% mixture metals such as nickel, copper, silver, cobalt, and various combinations of these. These alloys will range in working characteristics for various bench and manufacturing tasks.
It is very important to know about the 950 palladium alloy that you are working with and to become familiar with their compatible features. Because the ingredients of 950 palladium alloys vary, so may factors such as color and working characteristics. For the best results when sizing, servicing or building jewelry pieces at the bench, use like materials.
This article features stock pieces (in this case, a cast mounting and a die struck setting) that were provided by R-Findings, Rochester, NY. They have a
large selection of 950 palladium mountings, findings,
sizing wire and solder. The provided R-Finding’s palladium products are made from a 950 palladium and ruthenium alloy that is mixed with trace
and pre-finished. There are some
parting lines and other minor details that need removal. For the inside of the mounting (deeply stamped 950 Pd from the supplier) silicone abrasive cylinders from Stuller were used to smooth and prepare for polishing.
To prepare for soldering, the setting is
fit onto the mounting. Next a hole is
drilled to receive a peg type setting. The peg is square measuring 0.90 X 0.90 mm and 1.30 mm across the diagonal. A 1.01mm drill bit was
used so the fit of the peg was snug
and held itself in place for soldering.
Once the fit was adjusted, the setting
and mounting were polished prior to soldering using Bendick white rouge. Then the assembly was soldered
using R Findings’ easy flowing
palladium solder. (Please see the
first image of this article showing the
solder used and the assembly being soldered on the high-heat soldering block).
The grits of these abrasive cylinders range progressively from coarse to
extra-fine. Because the mounting was delivered in a pre-finished state from the supplier, only the two finest grit
cylinder wheels were necessary to complete the job.
Tip: Palladium requires fewer steps for
pre-finishing and polishing as compared to
platinum. Polishing palladium is made more
efficient by pre-finishing with a series of fine
abrasives, which may require a few extra steps as compared to white gold alloys.
The mounting developed a very slight surface discoloration or light oxidation. The discoloration ranges from blue to violet. Though it cannot be removed by pickling, it is simple to correct using a variety of methods.
Tip: Methods for removing surface
discoloration include use of a neutral flame, use of fine abrasives or just polishing.
For the outside of the mounting, 3M’s FX polishing wheels were used. Again, the mounting was nicely pre-
finished so only the extra-fine 1,500
and 3,000 grit wheels were used to brighten the mounting.
Tip: 3M’s FX polishing wheels are ideal for use with palladium. They range in grit from 240 to 3,000 and the unique core material will conform
to the shape of the object being pre-finished. Because the wheels contain fine polishing grit,
they do not require polishing compounds. This makes them cleaner to use as well as more
efficient.
With this assembly, the most
efficient way to eliminate the surface discoloration is to use a neutral flame (a mild flame with equal parts of
natural gas and oxygen). The ring was mildly heated for 20 seconds, after which the mounting returned to its pre-soldering polished luster.
Tip: Use of higher heat palladium solders (medium and hard) will also cause palladium
to slightly discolor. A neutral flame may reduce
the discoloration to a dull white which can be quickly re-polished.
Polishing Palladium Made Easy!
Brenda Warburton of Austin and Warburton in Ann Arbor, MI uses a very effective ONE-STEP polishing process for palladium
jewelry. After doing fine abrasive pre-finishing,
she uses white Bendick Rouge from
C. R. Hill Company to
produce a fine finished
luster. This amazing
rouge eliminates fine
scratches and reveals the natural bright, white color of palladium.
Soldering palladium requires no flux or fire coating
solution (unless gemstones are present). When soldering or annealing always wear protective welding eyewear (A) with a minimum darkness rating of 5. A high-heat or platinum soldering block is used (B) for most soldering applications. Make an effort to keep solder clean and free of debris. Here, chips of solder are prepared for use and kept off the bench on a small clean plate (C). R Findings supplies easy and medium palladium solder in sheet form (D).
The excess peg material is removed
by hand filing and use of rotary
abrasives. Two very small pits were detected in the solder joint around the peg so a rotating, highly polished tungsten carbide burnisher was used as shown to blend them into the ring.
| With the sale of the ring, sizing is | This time after soldering, the ring has | To protect the gemstone from being |
| required. For sizing the ring up, the | much less surface discoloration but | damaged by heat, it is coated again. |
| shank is cut and a small piece of | because of the higher heat solder, the | Then, a neutral flame is again used to |
| palladium sizing stock (provided | area on each side of the joint lost its | remove the discoloration. Filing and |
| by R Findings and made from the | polished luster. | polishing reveals a clean smooth joint. |
| same alloy as the ring) is inserted. | ||
| R Findings advises the use of | ||
| their medium palladium solder for | ||
| soldering of sizing joints. Small | ||
| snippets of that solder were placed | ||
| on each side of the sizing stock and | ||
| the soldering was completed using | ||
| a natural gas and oxygen torch. The | ||
| joints are mildly but quickly heated. | ||
| The shank and the sizing stock reach | ||
| solder melt and flow temperatures | ||
| simultaneously. The gemstone was | ||
| fire coated (but not the ring) with a | ||
| mixture of denatured alcohol and | ||
| powdered boric acid. |
Palladium Jewelry Manufacturing
Frequently Asked Questions
This feature highlights frequently asked questions about working with palladium. E-mail your questions to mmann@ luxurypalladium.com.
FAQ:
Does 950 palladium jewelry require rhodium plating?
NO! Palladium is bright white. For the whitest, brightest results when polishing palladium use white jeweler’s rouge
and then white 8,000 grit platinum rouge as the final step in the polishing process. The acquired finish after these two
polishing compounds are used will rival rhodium plated white gold. Palladium however will keep its natural whiteness over time, unlike most white gold alloys which depend on rhodium plating to become white and to maintain whiteness over the years.
***
The 950 palladium mountings, findings, sizing stock and solder for this article were provided by R-Findings, Rochester, NY. For information about R-Findings selection of 950 palladium products, visit www.rfindings.com or contact R-Findings by calling 800-422-7624 or by e-mail at grozewski@rfindings.com.
