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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing 1989-2025
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Need to make a silver ring look gold without using gold
Tip: Readers want to learn from Your Situation 🙂
(little can be learned from abstract questions, so many readers skip them)
Q. Hey guys, hope all of you are doing well and staying safe. I'm looking for a service where I can get my silver rings plated with a golden hue without using gold. Thanks a lot!
Roberto Boz- Doral, Florida
August 6, 2021
Ed. note: This RFQ is outdated, but technical replies are welcome, and readers are encouraged to post their own RFQs. But no public commercial suggestions please ( huh? why?).
A. Hi cousin Roberto. It would help us if you prefaced your question with your situation (is 'my rings' a couple of old ones hanging around, or are you a custom jewelry designer with thousands to do?), and why you don't want to use gold (because we'd have a better idea of things that might suit you). If you feel you're allergic to gold for example you might be equally allergic to suggested alternatives; whereas if you think going gold-free will save you money, you'd sometimes be right.
You could probably request a particular brass plating which looks a lot like gold (see Pinchbeck Alloy & Nordic Gold in topic 37526; you could probably get a tinted lacquer that will look at least somewhat gold-like. The gold-free titanium nitride coatings like you see on gold-colored drill bits at the hardware store can be a great answer for high volume production, but no shop is going to risk contamination of their very expensive PVD vacuum chambers with a few old rings.
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August 2021
A. The obvious thing that comes to mind is Anodizing.
www.instructables.com/Make-Silver-Different-Colors-by-Anodizing/
reengineer - tulsa, Oklahoma
November 9, 2021
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