Jewelry Metals: A Guide to Working with Common Alloys

Great book

Jewelry Metals is an amazing book! It's answered all my questions that most other books couldn't. I feel more comfortable & confident as a Metalsmith, than I was before.

The content is great, but wanted to post a "buyer beware" in case there were a whole case of these. A little annoyed to pay the full price (technical books are already too expensive) only to find the whole book is bound upside down from the cover. There's also some minor damage to the spine from the binding process itself (clearly machine marks and not use/wear marks)

Maybe not for a beginner, this book provides a wealth of information about the metals themselves, but also about the legalities of hallmarking and other issues that could affect the professional. (When legalities concern you, checking the most recent versions of regulations would be a good idea.) I give it top marks for its details regarding karat gold, silver and its alloys, platinum, and palladium, a platinum-like metal. It also covers some base metals, including brass and bronze, stainless steel, and others. The authors also cover the metals' casting and working characteristics, even the kinds of torches and flux that give best results. Conspicuous by its absence is 'german silver,' a silver-free alloy based on copper and nickel. Nickel is the issue here. Many people have an allergy to it, and can get 'contact dermatitis' from wearing many of the alloys with appreciable nickel content, especially piercings. In fact, the problem is so widespread that EU regulations set tight limits on minute allowable amounts of nickel. People working in white gold alloys should be most concerned, because many traditional white gold alloys incorporate large amounts of nickel - and not all sources of metal will tell you their composition. The only weak spot I found was chapter 6, "Metal Techniques, step by step." It's a fast-paced review of some common and not-so-common techniques. I found the few page devoted to each technique far too short to give even an advancing metal worker a realistic idea of what's involved. That doesn't detract from the other material, though, and thus my recommendation for any smith who's gaining serious experience.

Great book for beginners or advanced jewelers.

Excellent.