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“K10” gold is a very low purity gold and will even be criticized by pure gold advocates that “this is not gold”. However, jewelry made with K10 is becoming more and more popular today.
Because of its low purity, of course, it can be purchased at a reasonable price. Recently, much K10 jewelry such as earrings or necklaces have appeared, But the charm of K10 is not only these! K10 is stronger and more durable than other purity gold. Its various colors can be used in various designs. Therefore, it is often used for daily wear and is a very popular jewelry material.
This article will introduce the secrets of K10’s popularity and the key points when using it.
Gold content in K10 is less than half?
“K10” refers to gold with a purity of 10 Karat.
Sometimes it is marked as “10K Gold”. Foreign countries use the engraving method K10.
Sometimes it is also engraved as “10K”.
Karat is an index that expresses the purity of gold in terms of weight ratio. With the condition that 24 is pure gold, the gold purity is showed by the 24-point method.
So, speaking of the purity of K10, it is 10 over 24 of the pure gold weights, which is 10 ÷ 24 = 0.416…，about 42% of the total weight equivalent to pure gold.
Foreign countries often marked with a thousand points method, so K10 is sometimes engraved as “416” or “417”.
From the explanation above, you should be able to understand that the proportion of gold contained in K10 is less than half. Common K gold in the market is K18 and K14, the weight ratio is about 75% and 58% respectively.
K12 with exactly half the gold purity is also in the market but K10 is more common.
Is K10 cheap?
If the purity of K10 converts to a weight ratio, it contains about 42% gold, which means that the remaining 58% mixes with other metals. This kind of metal is called “Alloy metal.”
The reason why K10 becomes mainstream in the market is mainly that the price of gold is soaring. Therefore, consumers cannot easily buy gold jewelry. If you have ever experienced an era when the gold price has not yet risen, the purity of K10 may seem strange to you. Since the pure gold content is less than half, it seems that many people think that K10 is “not gold” If compared with K18, it may feel a little cheap.
However, as the gold price remains high today, K10 cannot be said to be too cheap. Besides, recently, more and more K10 jewelry designs are very lovable, and they do not feel cheap.
Variety of K10 Gold Color
K10 contains up to 58% of alloy metals.
The alloy metal of K10 will use silver, copper, palladium, nickel, etc.
By changing the mixing ratio of these metals, various colors can be created. The hardness will also change. But after adjusting the proportional of the alloy metal, the obvious change is the color tone.
Representative gold color includes White gold, Yellow gold, and Rose gold.
White Gold
White gold has extremely high Vickers hardness (indicates the level of resistance to deform when pressure is applied) in Color Gold.
For example, the Vickers hardness of K14 is 165 (Hv); the Vickers hardness of K10 is 190 (Hv).
The hardness of the two purities is much higher than the 25 (Hv) of pure gold, and the white gold of K10 is even harder.
White gold often uses high content of palladium. This is because color tone of palladium is like platinum (platina, also commonly known as platinum). If palladium is mixed with pure gold, an alloy with color close to platinum will be produced.
However, K10 platinum will eventually be plated with a layer of rhodium, which is the same for K14. Rhodium is a precious metal of platinum group elements. Although it is cheaper than gold, it is still a high-priced metal.
In 2008, the price of rhodium experienced a rare spike, making it the highest-priced metal in record history.
By the way, K10 white gold is sometimes engraved with K10WG, so you might as well take note of it first!
Yellow Gold & Rose Gold
Each manufacturer has its own alloy ratio but basically these two are mixed with silver and copper.
Generally, yellow gold has higher silver content while rose gold has higher copper content. Silver gives gold a greenish tone while copper has the effect of making gold into red.
K10 designs suitable for daily use
Many jewelry made with K10 are stylish. There are various types, and you can choose the style you want to wear to suit your mood. Pure gold jewelry is extremely high end and gorgeous, but the golden yellow color of pure gold may give people a strong feeling of luxury at certain times, places, and occasions.
The yellow gold of K10 shows color tone close to lemon yellow, which can create an unpretentious and refreshing image.
K10 rose gold can be made into deep pink tone, therefore many jewelry with feminine design are sold in the market.
K10 is also suitable for ring.
The pair ring is also suitable with K10 material.
Men prefer white and light color on the ring. Therefore, it is recommended that when choosing a pair of rings, men may choose white gold and women may choose rose gold. There is no difference in the price range between the material used by men and women, so you can use them daily.
Hard K10, sometimes difficult to resize or repair.
K10 is a commonly used material for various jewelry.
Color Gold such as yellow gold, rose gold and white gold is becoming more and more popular, which makes K10 appear more frequently.
Paired rings are also one of the commonly used K10 jewelry. The ring is worn on the hand every day and there are always times when need to resize (jewelry repair). If you are thinner than when you bought the ring, your fingers will become thinner. For women who have successfully lost weight, this may be a happy change, but the ring often fell off. If it is a favourite ring, you will want to wear all the time! At this time, resize is necessary.
However, please be aware that the K10 may be too hard to repair. Overall, K10’s Color Gold has roughly the same hardness compared to K14. Some Color Gold is quite hard when the purity is K10.
Rose gold, yellow gold, white gold, etc. are all hard materials. When repairing the jewelry, please make sure to ask carefully with the shop staff!
Step to resize ring
If you need to resize the ring, please entrust it to a jewelry repair specialty store. The following introduces the general steps to smaller the ring.
1. Measure size
First, put the ring on a stick called “ring stick” and measure the ring’s size. This way, you can know the size and the master will decide the range to intercepted according to how small it should be.
2. Cut, Intercept
The master will use a tool as thin as a thread to cut the ring, Then, only intercept the necessary parts.
3. Welding
Connect the cut surface. At this time, the bonding solder is placed on the cut surface and then the ring is heat with flame gun. After such welding, the cut surfaces will be joined together. The suitable type of solder depends on the color tone or melting point of gold.
4. Final process
Finally, clean the welding surface. Use a file to remove the remaining solder. Then, use a grinding rod, file, and grinder to smoothen the ring. Lastly, rub the surface with a polishing wheel until it is bright and then clean it up.
What if the master refuses to repair?
Jewelry repair requires delicate work. If the material is too hard, the master may not be willing to resize for the customer. This is because when the material is too hard, cracks may occur during cutting.
In addition, if it is a design or size that is not easy to work, the master sometimes refuses to deal with it.
For example, in a diamond-encrusted design, during heating, the diamond may be damaged or the color may become turbid. Some people will concern about this and refuse to repair it.
If you really want to repair, look for laser welding!
Recently, there seems to be more shops using the latest machine “laser welding machine” to repair jewelry for customers. Using laser welding technology, many jewelry that cannot be resize with flame gun can also be properly resized. Therefore, it is recommended that you find a store with this technology.
The repair cost of laser welding is slightly expensive, but it can be safely repaired while avoiding damage to the jewelry. Apart from the above two methods, there are also stores that use arc spot welders to repair jewelry. If you want to have a beautiful final product with no cut off welding marks, this repair method will definitely win your heart.
Difference between K10 & K9
K10 has gradually become the mainstream of the jewelry materials in Japan but the popularity of K9 seems to be lower than K10. However, the UK or Europe likes to use K9. K9 and K10 have little difference in purity but the types or purpose of alloy metals are different.
British Gold
The British royal family loves K9.
KK9 also has the reputation of “British Gold” or “Royal Gold”, which is quite popular among British people.
K9 has high proportion of alloy metals, so a variety of Color Gold can be allocated. Color Gold。Therefore, not only does the royal family who value the sense of design to make K9 jewelry. It is also a common material for British antique jewelry.
Why does the UK love to use K9?
The reason why K9 is loved by everyone in the UK is because in the past, the purity of K14 and above was mostly concentrated in the United States, and K9 was gathered in the historical background of the UK.
K14 pure gold contains 58.3% of the weight in terms of purity, and there are sufficient conditions to regard it as gold, but the pure gold of K9 only accounts for 37.5% of the weight.
At that time, the culture of making antique jewelry in the United States was not as developed as in Europe, so they paid more attention to the purity of gold. Therefore, if the purity is less than K14, the quality assurance cannot be engraved. In UK, excellent gold craftsmen are much more.
In the Victorian era of the 19th century, many antique jewelry were made using K9. Therefore, among the existing antique jewelry, many designs were made using K9’s Color Gold at that time with pearls, sapphires, amethysts, garnets, diamonds and other colorful gems.
France, where antique jewelry technology is also developed, often uses K9. Because of this historical background, K9 is still a favourite gold for Europeans.
K9’s British Gold often adds platinum as an alloy metal, which is very expensive. Platinum is a precious metal that is more expensive than gold and can show a feeling of luxury in design.
K10 as flute material
Sometimes gold is used in the body of the flute.
It is said that if the tube body uses gold, it can play a very deep tone.
Representative purity is K9, K14, K18 and K24. If the purity is higher than K14, not only the price will be much higher, but the weight will also become heavier, so it is more suitable for advance users. Beginners mostly start with K9.
However, there are still manufacturers who makes K10 flutes. Some flute players upgrade from K9 to K10.
The purity of gold only increased by 1/24, and the characteristics of the tube body will change, making the tome more “profound penetrating”, so the K10 flute seems to be well received.
Aware to K10 metal allergy
The fascinating feature of K10 is that it can be made into necklaces, chains, rings, earrings and other daily wear jewelry. However, K10 has a high proportion of alloy metals, so be aware of metal allergies.
Alloy metals sometimes use silver, copper, nickel, etc. that are easily dissolve. Especially, nickel is known to be a metal that easily caused allergies. Jewelry that has been manufactured for a long time contains nickel, so please be careful.
It should be aware that some people use K14 without metal allergy but use K10 will cause symptoms.
K10 storage & keeping method
K10 is sometimes used in the form of gold plating or gold filled. The gold-plated label is “K10GP” and gold-filled label is “K10GF”. Both may peel off due to friction, please be careful.
Also, K10 sometimes corrodes due to contact with air, making the color dull. Therefore, it is recommended that the jewelry should be kept tightly closed to avoid exposure to the air. K10 will also corrode when exposed to water, so remember to take the shower without wearing a ring on your hand.
Please also be careful not to let jewelry get oily such as cream for skin care products. Usually wipe it gently with a soft cloth.
If you find that the jewelry is dirty, please dissolve the neutral detergent in hot water and then put the jewelry in the water to clean it. After cleaning, please wipe it dry carefully. To dry the moisture, it is recommended to blow with hair dryer.
Summary
K10 (10K gold, :416”, “417”) is gold with a purity about 42% if calculated by weight. In the past, this purity was not very popular in Japan but due to the high price os gold, noe K10 has become the mainstream of jewelry materials in the low-price range.
K10 is a material that is as tough and not easily damaged as K14. Adding alloy metals such as silver, copper, palladium, and nickel to cold can make white gold, yellow gold, and rose gold. Jewelry made with these Color Gold like K14 is becoming more and more popular.
K9 and K10 are very different. Although K9 and K10 are not much different in purity, K9 is known as “British Gold” and is a favourite material for British royal jewelry and British antique jewelry.
Many of these K9 use platinum as an alloy metal and are therefore very expensive. The difference in purity of K9 and K10 sometimes causes great changes in the characteristics of the flute tube. Feeling the difference is also a way to enjoy K10.
K10 is a very hard material, so some store cannot resize the ring or repair the jewelry for customers. It is recommended not to find a store that uses flame gun heating, and it is better to as a store with laser welding technology. Laser welding is sometimes faster. If you want to send jewelry for repair, you can try laser welding. However, if the master is not using laser welding, he may not be able to weld nicely.
K10 is gold with extremely high alloy metal content, so pay special attention to the way of storage and keeping. Please avoid contacting K10 too frequently with air, moisture, oil, etc.
K10GP (gold-plated) and K10GF (gold-filled) should avoid friction to prevent the surface from peeling off.
If is known that K10 is more likely to cause metal allergy than other gold. Some people who use K14 will not have metal allergy but use K10 will cause symptoms. Please be careful. Please choose free nickel material for the jewelry you wear.
The price of K10 is close to the people, and it can also be designed as necklaces, chains, earrings, paired ring, and other daily wear jewelry. These advantages are the biggest weapons of K10.
The K10 with multiple charms is not cheap at all!
