How We Make Gold Jewellery

Let Andrew Berry melt it all down and create something new that will be treasured for years and become a family heirloom. A solid bangle, chain bracelet, perhaps a fancy dress ring.  Take a look in the bottom of your jewellery box. Do you have any old broken or unwanted pieces of gold jewellery? Why not give it a new lease of life.

The following series of images show how a bangle is manufactured using a clients gold.

What is invalved It does not matter if the gold is of different carats, it all goes into the crucible to be heated. We do not melt down white gold in with yellow or red gold. This is due to the alloys contained within the white gold causing the ingot to crack when it is rolled and worked, making the ingot unusable.

The gold continues to be heated and powdered flux added to clear away any impurities from the surface of the gold. The impurities are then trapped within the flux which then coats the crucible. When the gold is ready to be poured it looks like very shiny and fluid.

The torch is still playing on the gold so the temperature does not drop causing the gold to solidify. The crucible is then lifted and the gold poured steadily into an ingot mould which has been coated with oil which has been burned off leaving a carbon film which helps the finish of the ingot.

The gold is rolled through a rolling machine (similar to an old fashioned mangle) which shapes the ingot. After several passes the gold is annealed (softened) by heating to a dull red colour and left to cool. The gold is then rolled through the next set of grooves, getting smaller, and annealed. The process is repeated until the ingot is the required section.

Once the required section has been achieved the gold is annealed and then one end is placed into a vice. Pliers are used to hold the other end and the gold twisted until the required pattern has been achieved. If it gets harder to twist then the gold is annealed again.  The gold in this picture is almost black in colour. This is due to the oxides on the surface due to the constant annealing. The oxides are removed by quenching the gold in sulphuric acid.

The bangle is measured for length (we manufacture each bangle to the clients individual hand measurements), then turned round and cut.

Once the bangle has been soldered, using hallmarking quality solder of the correct carat the joint is carefully filed to ensure there is no interuption in the pattern. Emery paper is then used to get rid of the file marks to achieve a uniform finish

The final polish is achieved by using a rouge polish on the polishing mops. This imparts a professional highly reflective finish with no surface marks or imperfections.The bangle is then hand polished using a rough tripoli polish to obtain a semi matt finish. This polish removes the marks made by the emery paper.

The result is a bangle that is a pleasure to wear all day every day.