10k vs 14k vs 18k & 24k - Gold Karat Compared and Explained

Thank you for joining us in the Gold Karat explanation video where we'd explain EVERYTHING you'll need to know about the different gold jewelry that is on the market.
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[@BourbonInhibitions]

This video is masterfully done.

[@mahoro5437]

Exactly what I was looking for, thank you! 🙂

[@JODIMMOSLEY]

Loved this simple and concise explanation. Thank you so much! ✨✨✨

[@floridaplumber7512]

Very professional video, thank you

[@kamranhashmi009]

Great. Thanks for educating

[@laoxshousebuildingtidbits7760]

Well done Katie. I used to work at a major precious metal fabricator back in the early 80's, and my job was to check customer orders each morning and put together the raw materials for each melt based on the orders, take the melts to the melting department, take assay samples and send them to the lab, take the alloy to the shop for processing, and ship the orders. We made semi-finished products in the form of sheet, wire, tubing, casting grain, etc. for major jewelers. Each melt of alloy gold is usually 3 KG and that's decided in part by the size of the crucible and furnace. Sometimes we combine several small orders of the same kind into one melt, and sometimes we make several melts for one big order. Regarding gold content, using 10 karat gold as an example, even though theoretically it is 41.67% gold, we actually aim for 41.77% when putting together the melts, and any assay result that falls between 41.72 and 41.82 gets an automatic passing grade. If a melt falls between 41.69 and 41.72, we take a second assay sample and if the result is still above 41.69 the plant manager's approval is needed to take the melt to the next manufacturing process. Anything that is below 41.69 is automatically rejected. Anything that is above 41.82 needs the plant manager's approval again because we are giving away too much gold. The same safety factor is built into 14k, 18k and all other karat gold products, but I am not sure if everyone is doing the same thing especially those in other parts of the world, so my advice is to buy from a reputable company if you are in the market for precious metal jewelry. Karat gold bill of materials. With a few exceptions, most karat golds are made of gold, silver, copper, nickel, and zinc. The percentage of base metal varies depends on the desired color, strength, workability, etc. The exceptions are: 22k gold is just gold and silver; rose gold is just gold and copper and maybe a little bit of zinc or nickel or silver depending on the desired properties; gold solder has indium which helps lower the melting point. When I first joint the company we used cadmium but soon after it was replaced with indium. White gold - some people confuse white gold with platinum but white gold is made of gold, silver, a bit of copper, zinc, and a bigger percentage of nickel than yellow karat gold. Why are some alloy gold brittle? Each melt of alloy is cast into a flat bar or round ingot, and as they are being rolled thinner they also become harder and more brittle, and if the rolling process continues they will eventually crack, so before this happens they are put through a process called annealing. Annealing makes the gold alloy soft again, at this point the bar or ingot can be rolled again, and these steps are repeated until the desire thickness or diameter is achieved. If a piece of jewelry is too brittle most likely it is because the jewelry manufacturer processed it further without annealing it. How melts are "put together". Sometimes we use pure gold, preferable grain, plus silver, copper, zinc and nickel all in grain form. This is the easiest method and it doesn't require any calculation you just weigh each metal according to the prescribed weight. However, very often we need to "reconstitute" certain karat gold that we have in excess inventory into other karat to fill orders. For example, we have an order for 3kg of 14k gold, but we have too much of 18k in stock and we would like to reduce that in order to minimize carrying cost, so the rational thing to do would be to "reconstitute" some 18k into 14k. To do that we need to calculate how much 18k gold we can use by adding the required amount of silver, copper, zinc and nickel such that the final percentages are correct for 3kg of 14k gold. Or we need 14k but we have too much 10k in stock, and this time we need to add gold and adjust the base metal amount but the principle is the same. A simplified version of this calculation was part of the job interview and fortunately for me, most people failed this test. 9999 gold. Making 9999 gold bars or coin seems simple but the manufacturing process is highly disciplined, for any little contamination can result in the purity going below 9999. The crucible must not have been used for melting anything other than 9999 gold, the plastic container and cart must be lined with clean white paper, the roller must be cleaned every time, people working in the clean room must wear white gown, cap, and gloves. Even with these measures some batches still get rejected. Sterling silver. Sterling silver is just 92.5% silver plus copper. Buybacks. Jewelry buybacks are based on simple acid test. Gold jewelry is sent to our refinery and any diamond cluster grains are removed and thrown into garbage. Gold bars bearing our company marks are bought back at spot price. Yes, we did catch some fraudsters from time to time, including one who drilled holes on the side of some gold bars and replaced the shavings with tungsten.

[@endlesummer_]

did you enjoy your career ?

[@crli4353]

First of all, well done Katie. Its nice to hear a presenter who doesn't say "umm" or "uhh" during their presentation. That said, the information she gave is not quite correct. More often than not, customers do not have the choice for what their gold is alloyed with unless it is a custom design. So, if you think you can walk into a jeweler store and say you want to look at silver alloyed rose gold, you will have few to no options. Secondly, and what is my biggest pet peeve, 10K. 10K gold is NOT strong and durable. It is HARD and BRITTLE. She was correct in that many jewelers do not offer 10k. This is usually because 10k gold is a terrible metal. When you wear 10k gold and someone asks what you are wearing, you should say this is a copper ring with some gold in it, because thats what it is. Lastly, she mentioned that platinum is scratch resistant??? Um, no. Platinum is the most durable of precious metals, not because its hard, but because its SOFT and dense. When you hit your platinum ring on something hard like a wall or concrete, the metal isn't scratched off, it just moves to the side like butter. Platinum is beautiful stuff, but definitely not scratch resistant.

[@BourbonInhibitions]

If someone is that concerned with the alloy in the jewelry, they are likely going to have the piece custom made so they can control that process. Every piece of gold jewelry outside of 24k is a *insert alloy here* "with some gold in it." 10k is tough, which is what Katie says, because it is comprised of mostly alloys. It is just not appealing for jewelry because it doesn't have a good ratio of gold in it. That's why 14k is such a popular option because it fuses the best of both worlds instead of relying mostly on either alloy or gold. You are correct about platinum and I think that was just a simple mistake on her part. It is more prone to scratches than even 14k because of its softness.

[@crli4353]

@@BourbonInhibitions Please recognize there is a difference between "toughness" and "hardness". Diamonds are very hard but not tough. They do not bend, they fracture. They do not compress they shatter. 10K is the same, it is not a tough metal, it is a hard metal, When you bend 10K it will crack and fracture far more quickly than 14K and higher. However, it is more scratch resistant than higher karats. "Tough" 10K has been a marketing ploy by those who sell it in order to move copper and nickel economy jewelry to the masses, period.

[@bettybho2168]

Good luck in finding a jeweller who understands the gold alloy process, typically jewellers buy the gold ready made in various karats from refiners in casting grain, wire or sheet. If a jeweller attempts to make their own gold alloy they had better be 100% accurate with their ratio calculations or they might end up with the wrong karat gold and/ or something that's unworkable ie there could be problems with porosity and the metal could be extremely unmalleable.

[@xXSasukeXx89]

@@bettybho2168most jewelers are just resellers and have knowledge of marketing and sales not the process of making jewelry. Just like car salesmen.

[@starmorning6197]

Greeting from your million fan from Cambodia. We strongly support you. Please continue your explaintation.

[@dim_lina2476]

Thanks for your video

[@fhulufhedzani1665]

Thank you

[@teez_the_plug]

You forgot to add 22karat

[@LNatureblush]

Nickel is a known allergen so I am surprised the jewelry industry is still using it in making alloy metals. I only know Cartier who does not add nickel to their white gold. And Tiffany yellow gold is the only one that I know does not give me ear allergies.

[@MoneyBuysDrug]

correction carat can be used to weigh ANY gemstone

[@enemydown.gaming]

Hello i have a question, should all 18k yellow gold be the same color? I have 2 pieces/styles of 18k gold ring bought from different stores in italy but one is more yellow than the other. Is it normal? Thank you for your response.

[@Fidgottio]

No, it depends on the alloy metal(s)

[@SnifferAndFrens]

if anyone has an allergy to base metals they probably shouldn't be allowed to go outside