Gold Wedding Bands: Not For The Indecisive Individual
Posted on | December 13, 2009 | No Comments
If you have your heart set on gold wedding bands, you’ve got several key decisions to make. The first one is about color. Most people pick out in the middle of yellow and white gold wedding bands.
Yellow gold wedding bands continues to be more popular than white gold wedding bands, which I find surprising… I will frankly share that I like white gold improve than yellow gold… in my mind, it has a more simultaneous look. The contra diction in color in the middle of yellow and white gold is zealous by the metals used in the alloy mix. Yellow gold is made by combining pure gold with alloy metals such as copper and zinc. White gold is comprised of an alloy of gold and some white metals such as silver and palladium. White gold rings are typically coated with another white metal called rhodium. Rhodium is a ore exactly the same similar to platinum and has many platinum properties.
The rhodium plating is used to make the white gold look more white. Unfortunately, the rhodium does wear away eventually. This is a obviou down-side to white gold rings–and for the certain of us who like our possessions to be low maintenance. To keep a white gold ring looking like new, it should be re-plated porximately all year to year and a half. However, most local jewelers are able to rhodium plate jewelry for a relatively low price. Now, that I’ve had my white-gold betrothal ring and wedding band for over a year, it really is time for me to seek out a local jeweler to get the rings re-plated.
When comparing the price of the gold colors in the same carat, white gold is usuall a little more expensive than yellow gold If you can’t cosmetic your mind in the middle of yellow gold or white gold, don’t sweat it. You can get a two-tone ring that combines both metals.
The proximate major decision you must make is the number of karats in the gold wedding bands. So what the heck do karats measure? Pure gold has 24 karats and is the estimation unit in which gold purity is evaluated. Unfortunately, you cannot buy a wedding band made of 24 karats as gold at this level is not strong enough to be used for jewelery. Alloys must be added in order to make gold strong enough to be shabby around your ring handle. Typically, you must pick out between 14 K gold and 18 K gold. 14 K gold is porximately 58% pure gold (you can do the math… 14 K divided by 24 K) 18 K gold is porximately 75% pure gold ( 18 K divided by 24 K). So what is the difference? 18 K yellow gold has a somewhat deeper yellow color although it can’t necessarily be marked from 14 K by the naked eye. 14 K white gold and 18 K white gold have a similar white color (as normally both have a rhodium plating finish). As it is more pure, 18K is slightly softer than 14 K…. This may be event to consider if you do a lot of real work with your hands. Also, another intriguing factoid is that 14 K is typically more popular than 18 K gold wedding bands among consumers in the U.S.
Tags: alloy > alloy metals > Color > Gold > gold colors > gold purity > gold wedding bands > middle > Rhodium > rhodium plating > Ring > U.S. > Wedding > white gold rings > white metals









