The Job of a Goldsmith in the Process of Producing Gold
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in the working of gold and other precious metals to produce jewelry and other ornamental items. Goldsmiths have worked with gold for thousands of years, with Egyptian goldsmiths being some of the best known from the ancient world. Gold as a metal has some special products that make it sought-after and valuable. It is rare, malleable, ductile and the only element with a yellow color. It also does not react with most other elements and is free from the usual oxidation problems that occur when working with other metals.
Other People Are Reading
-
Refining
-
After the gold has been mined and delivered to the goldsmith the process of refining can begin. Refining involves taking the gold from its rough natural state and making it into the base units from which more sophisticated gold-smith processes can begin. This involves melting it down, removing impurities and re-casting the gold into bars, ingots, sheets or wire. This is achieved by casting it in molds, beating on an anvil or rolling into sheets and possibly being cut into wire.
Wax Casting
-
A goldsmith's main function is to work the unshaped gold into items of decorative jewelry or other ornamental pieces. One of the main ways of doing this is by pouring the gold into wax casts of the desired shape and form of the piece being made. For this the wax cast must be carved using intricate tools, drawing on the artistic skills, steady hand and good eye of the goldsmith.
-
Soldering
-
One of the main ways of working with gold is through the process of soldering. This practice has been used since the ancient Egyptians who used tin for soft soldering, as it had quite a low melting point. For hard soldering, a mixture of gold, silver and often copper was used as it had a much higher melting point.
Welding and Plating
-
The other method used to finish the process of gold production from mining to refining to finished jewelry was welding. Welding involves affixing a part with a lower melting point -- it may be the gold itself or another metal -- to a part with a higher melting point. Another process that is used in producing finished gold jewelry is the practice of gold, silver and rhodium plating.
-
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
