Follow along with us as we create a Mokume and Diamond Ring
The first step is to determine the metals that will be used in the creation of the Mokume ring. In this case the design calls for 14 karat palladium white gold and Platinum enhanced silver. The 14 karat white gold is made with 58.5% pure gold and 41.5% palladium, and yields a nice greyish white alloy. The platinum enhanced silver is 92.5% Pure silver, 5% platinum and 2.5% copper. This alloy gives a beautiful bright white color and exceptional ductility, malleability and tarnish resistance.
And then the molten metal is poured into an ingot mold to create a solid rod. The picture at left shows the solid rod of Platinum enhanced Silver as it is removed from the ingot mold. The 14 karat palladium white gold ingot was prepared the same way.
After pouring and removing the ingot from the mold, the irregular ends are sawed off and the ingots are placed in the pickle (a hot acid bath) to remove oxides and flux from the surface of the metal
Once the round ingots have been poured, they are hammered (or forged) into a rough square to allow them to fit in the rolling mill:
Then the rods are deburred with a small abrasive wheel on a flex shaft machine to remove any imperfections and to create a smooth
surface in preparation for the rolling mill. They are carefully cleaned after this to remove any abrasive residue
After the rough square shape has been created with a hammer and the mostly square rod has been smoothed and cleaned, the ingot is rolled through square shaped openings in a rolling mill to create a square rod. Progressively smaller squares are created until the rod is at the correct size
Once the square rod has the correct dimensions, it is annealed. This relaxes the stresses created through cold-working and softens the metal
in preparation for continued rolling
