Annealing 14k gold--HELP!

[EagleRowe]

I've been working with sterling, brass, and copper for 2 yrs now. I've got those metals down and with gold prices so low, I recently bought some 18g 14k gold from Rio Grande to "play" with. (It's pure gold, not filled. See here: www.riogrande.com/Product/14K-Yellow-Gold-Sheet-18-Ga-Dead-Soft/600...)

On Sunday, I went to start my project and never got past annealing. For everything I tried, nothing worked. I tried:

1. Heating to red and immediately quenching
2. Heating to red, let red fade, quench
3. Heat to red and let come back to room temperature on its own
4. Extended red hot heating (keeping red hot for 1-2 mins), then quenching.

What am I doing wrong?? It's killing me. I'm stumped!!

[Former_Member]

Hi Andrea, I don't think your doing anything wrong. I am started to work with Gold myself, like you I been working with coper and brass for 2 years. The thing with gold, specially 14k, is that its hard, even after you annealing it, it does get a little softer after heating it up but it will never be as soft as copper, even copper after you hammer it hard, will still be softer than 14k.

the differences in 10k, 14k, 18k, and 24k, that I found, based on the research that I did myself, is that 14k and 10k, because they are mixed with other materials, they are harder than 18k and 24k which should be softer, I even read somewhere that 24k is not ideal for jewelry because its too soft. But don't quote me on this, I am no means an expert on gold, this is just what I learned from my experience.

I hope this info helps.

[handmademetalworks]

Hi Andrea,
Sorry the late comeback here.
I do not do many god works. i do some 8.9 9.4, 9.8, 9.9 gold.
May be i get used to the metal works. I do not feel there is a problem for the annealing. i just heating it once the color change to red. and let red fade. then it will be soft some. no quenching needed.

And, Thanks expert Andrea's help. it help me a lot at least.