Blog by John Cattermole talking about Jewelry Design and production, and sometimes independent music. www.johncattermole.com

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

What is the difference between gold, 14 18 24k ect..

So 24 karat is pure gold. Gold used in jewelry is mixed with harder metals for strength and durability. You really cant make anything out if pure gold to last, that’s why we add alloy, the metal that makes up the rest of the parts. The higher the percentage of pure gold, the higher the karat. 


In 14 karat gold. The “14” represents how many parts of 24 is pure gold. Therefore 14 karat gold is 58% pure gold. I prefer 14 k with white gold and 14 and 18k in yellow are both great.


Karat

Parts Gold to Alloy

Percentage

Fineness

10K

10/24

41.67%

417

14K

14/24

58.33%

583

18K

18/24

75.00%

750

22K

22/24

91.66%

917


You can follow this link, “what is karat?”, to read a detailed explanation


On my site,  just about every thing is in 14k White. Also it is rhodium plated. Both 14 and 18k white are plated at finishing with a platinum like metal that is very expensive... Rohium This keeps it white and lovely, until it rubs off and needs re-plating.? Avoid this buy using platinum instead of gold. 


I’ll talk about platinum later, and it’s pros and cons


thanks for reading !

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