{"id":7231,"date":"2019-01-23T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/?p=7231"},"modified":"2023-07-01T13:21:18","modified_gmt":"2023-07-01T17:21:18","slug":"can-you-polish-white-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/can-you-polish-white-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"CAN YOU POLISH WHITE GOLD?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Can<\/div>\n

By now, most people probably realize that white gold is plated<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nThey understand that white gold is basically yellow gold with some white alloys added to it to make it look white<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nThey also know that white gold is then rhodium plated to make it look even whiter.<\/strong> If you don’t know this, read: What is white gold?<\/a><\/p>\n

\nNow, if you know all that and are up to par, then the next most asked question<\/strong> is:<\/p>\n

Can white gold be polished?<\/h2>\n

\nWill polishing white gold remove the rhodium plating?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The short answer: YES!<\/h2>\n

\nThe long answer: YES! – With some special side effects.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course white gold can be polished.<\/h2>\n

\nAny metal (platinum, stainless steel, copper, brass, sterling silver) can be polished and shined up<\/strong> to remove scratches, nicks, dents and dings. It only takes a couple of minutes to polish them up again and they all look brand new.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gold is one of the easiest metals to polish…<\/h2>\n

\nBecause gold is a fairly soft metal (2.5 – 3 on the Moh’s scale<\/strong>), and even though gold is mixed with other metals (read: Gold and alloys<\/a>) to make it more durable, it still is very susceptible to scratching<\/strong> (anything that is harder than gold can scratch it if it comes in contact with it).<\/p>\n

Here’s where the problem comes into play…<\/h2>\n

\nIf you polish out those little nicks and scratches, you’re actually polishing off a fine layer of that rhodium plating as well.<\/strong> There’s no way around it. Polishing removes layers of both plating and gold.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nIf the plating is already worn down (through years of normal wear and tear<\/strong>), or if the jeweler accidentally pushes down too hard<\/strong> while polishing your jewelry, or if they have to polish the item really well to remove deeper nicks and abrasions… Then the outer layer will be polished off.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nPolishing off that outer layer can expose the true metal beneath<\/strong> it. Which, in this case, would be the true white gold<\/strong> (so if you get your ring back and it looks yellow <\/strong>you now know why).<\/p>\n

\nThe sad thing about all of this is:<\/strong><\/p>\n

White gold is not really white in color.<\/h2>\n

\n(Which is why it’s plated.<\/strong>) It has a whitish-yellowish<\/strong> hue. It’s a dingy, yellow cast that most people find undesirable <\/strong>and looks like it’s been tarnished<\/strong> (see picture to compare white gold to rhodium plated white gold – Big difference<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\nSo what is the cure if you can’t polish white gold without removing part of the rhodium plating???<\/p>\n

\nEither just have it polished very, very lightly<\/strong> to remove only the soft surface scratches (touching it up<\/strong>), or do what I recommend most people to do…<\/p>\n

Let it wear off naturally.<\/h2>\n

\nOr just wait until your ring gets a good amount of scratches on it before getting it polished <\/strong>(no more than twice a year – Otherwise you will actually do harm to your prongs<\/strong>, channel walls and mounting). Have it polished good a couple of times a year and at the same time have it re-rhodium plated<\/strong> to give it that clean, bright-white look again.<\/p>\n

\nI also advise purchasing a gold polishing cloth<\/a> so you can quickly hand polish your jewelry in between professional cleanings<\/strong> and polishings (just don’t polish it too hard<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\nSo yes, white gold can be polished.<\/strong> But you may get a yellowish looking ring back unless you also ask them to rhodium plate it again. And rhodium plating is not cheap <\/strong>(usually $25-$50 and up). <\/p>\n

\nSo, if you like your white metals to look white<\/strong>, then I don’t see much of an alternative…<\/p>\n

Unless you buy platinum, steel, titanium, or tungsten.<\/h2>\n

\nCheers! :)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By now, most people probably realize that white gold is plated. They understand that white gold is basically yellow gold with some white alloys added to it to make it look white. They also know [Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jewelry","category-metals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}