What to Know About Gold Filled Wire
Gold filled wire is a layer of solid gold that is at least 10K (.417% pure gold), 12K (50% pure gold) gold or 14K (.585% pure gold) that has been mechanically bonded with heat and pressure to a thicker piece of base metal, most commonly a brass alloy that is 90% copper and 10% brass. The gold layer is fused to the base metal, resulting in a product that has all the beauty of its actual karat gold plus long lasting resistance to wear.
How to Make Soldering Gold Easy
- I make a flux of boric acid and denatured alcohol that I mix and keep in a sealed jar.
- I dip the whole piece in the acid/alcohol solution, and then remove it with tongs and let it dry before I heat it.
- As it dries, a powdery-looking coating forms over the gold-filled piece.
- Paint the areas to be joined with flux and a paintbrush, applying a thin coat to each piece.
Be Sure to Use Gold Solder, Not Silver
- Don't heat the whole piece like you would for silver. Just heat the local area that you are soldering.
- Get the soldering torch on and off quickly; don't let it sit there and don't overheat it. Overheating causes the brass inside to come to the surface, which creates a copper color.
- Use a fairly low flame (but not so low that it takes a long time to get it up to temp) and heat until the solder flows and then pickle your piece as usual. I often solder one side, then flip it over and apply more solder. For some reason, with the gold filled metal, the solder doesn't pull through completely like silver does.
- When you're finished, you can file or sand if you need to, but not too much. You don't want to go through the gold layer to the brass.
- Polish as usual. Buffing with red rouge will get rid of any residual oxidation.
- Super pickle works the fastest (but you still have to sand and polish)
- Half pickle-half hydrogen peroxide, HOT: You can watch the mix turn blue as the copper dissolves into the solution. It must be hot! It only lasts a short while, like 10 minutes or so, because the peroxide just turns to water. But you can always dump it right back into your pickle pot.
15 Comments
Kriket
Hi, thank you for a great tutorial, I have just started working with GF wire and on some pieces copper has raised to the surface of the metal. I tried your super pickle recipe to remove the pinkish colour but it did not work as described above, the pieces looked the same when I took them out as they did when I dropped them in. I used 6% hydrogen peroxide in hot pickle, 50/50. Any suggestion as to why the process may not have worked? Is there any other method for removing the pinkish tone? Thanks in advance, kriket
Kriket
Hi, thank you for a great tutorial, I have just started working with GF wire and on some pieces copper has raised to the surface of the metal. I tried your super pickle recipe to remove the pinkish colour but it did not work as described above, the pieces looked the same when I took them out as they did when I dropped them in. I used 6% hydrogen peroxide in hot pickle, 50/50. Any suggestion as to why the process may not have worked? Is there any other method for removing the pinkish tone? Thanks in advance, kriket
randy
Thanks! I was checking to see if I should use gold solder. I understand now that it probly should be the same karat as the gold part. Great! It worked perfectly and now I will have a happy customer.
Vicky
Thank you for the awesome tutorial. I followed your instructions & my GF soldering has improved greatly. Though, now I need help with polishing my GF pieces. Do you have a tutorial on the subject?
Ashley
Hello, Thank you for this information - very helpful! A question I have is: what happens to the open/exposed end of the gold filled wire? I can see the base metal is exposed. Is there a kind of sealant one can use to ensure the brass doesn't tarnish or blacken and take away the beauty of the gold fill? Thank you!!
sylvia freedman
thanks for the good info helped a lot
Stefan Rice
Stefan Rice
Katie
I have the same question for the ends of earring wires... Thanks! Date 11/18/2014Ashley Hello, Thank you for this information - very helpful! A question I have is: what happens to the open/exposed end of the gold filled wire? I can see the base metal is exposed. Is there a kind of sealant one can use to ensure the brass doesn't tarnish or blacken and take away the beauty of the gold fill? Thank you!!
Melody
Hi, thank you for this great tutorial. Can you tell me what torch should i use for GF bezel?
Jenet
What recipe do you use for the super pickle and half pickle? I've been soldering Goldfilled pattern wires into bangles but it keeps turning pink
Melfee
What happened to the answers to the questions? Would help me a lot too to know these. MFee
Tricia
Hi.Very nice tutorial. Haven't tried it yet, because several of the questions I was reading are ones I would have asked a and I'd also be interested in the answers to the other questions. I'll be checking in from time to time :-)
kaye
I have so much trouble with soldering gold fill wire and sheet. In the end I gave up and now I just make pieces that require cold connections when working with gold filled metals.
Cynthia Callard
Can I solder a small length of gold filled wire to a solid gold ring to lengthen it? My fingers have thickened as I age and the rings don't fit any more. Would I need to use "gold solder"?