Jewelry Metals
Learn about the various types of precious metals used in gemstone jewelry including rings, necklaces and more.
Jewelry Metals 101: Gold, Silver, and Platinum
Gold, silver, and platinum are the most commonly used jewelry metals. Learn about their physical properties, alloys, and history.
An Introduction to Polishing Metals
Getting a brilliant polish is one of the most important steps to finishing fine jewelry. Learn the tools and techniques you'll need for polishing metals.
Soldering Precious Metals
Soldering is one of the most useful techniques a metal smith can have. It is used both to create new pieces and to repair damaged jewelry.
What is Pewter?
The basics of pewter as a precious metal.
Silver Marks: What are Coin, Sterling, Mexican, and German Silver?
Understanding the differences between coin silver, sterling silver, mexican silver, german silver, etc.
Calculating the Karat Content of Gold and Interpreting Marks
This article will hep you understand how to calculate karat content of gold, what to watch out for, and what the various marks on gold jewelry mean.
How to Calculate the Jeweler's Markup for Gold Jewelry
If you learn the meaning of the trade terms for gold weight and karat, you can calculate the gold content value of any item as well as the jeweler's markup.
Relationship Between the Price of Gold and the Price of Your Jewelry
Understanding how the price of an underlying jewelry metal, such as gold, impacts the price of your finished jewelry.
Skin Discoloration by Gold and Other Jewelry Metals
Why your skin gets discolored by certain jewelry metals, and what you can do about it.
Underkarating fraud in the jewelry trade
Underkarating is a fraudulent practice whereby a jeweler represents a piece of jewelry or gold as containing more precious metal than it actually does.
Robert Casting Platinum
This is a quickie, the day the Kraft Masters were setting up Robert who is the plant manager at Precious Metals West casting platinum.
An Introduction to Precious Metal Clay Jewelry
Precious metal clay (or PMC) is just what it sounds like: fine silver or gold ground extremely small and suspended in a binder to create clay. For both novice and experienced jewelry makers, working with this material has many advantages. Read on to learn more about this versatile medium.
Mokume-Gane Metal Techniques
Mokume-Gane Metal Techniques with James Binnion. This is a very old technique of fusing various different metals together using pressure and heat.
Milling Platinum Sterling (A New Alloy)
Milling Platinum Sterling-A New Alloy. This year at Kraftwerks the refiners of a brand new alloy were there to demonstrate this new and interesting metal.
Casting Platinum Sterling - A New Alloy
This new alloy is called Platinum Sterling, and is mostly fine silver with a modifier of Platinum in it (4-6%). There is also a small amount of copper.
