The most direct way to turn white gold back into yellow gold is by melting it down and removing the alloys that make it white, although practically, this is extremely difficult and not usually done. A more common and practical approach is to plate the white gold with yellow gold.
Understanding the Composition
To understand why directly reversing the process is difficult, it's important to know what makes white gold "white" in the first place.
- Yellow Gold Base: Gold in its pure form is yellow.
- Alloying Metals: White gold isn't naturally white. It's created by alloying (mixing) pure gold with white metals like:
- Palladium
- Nickel
- Silver
- Zinc
These metals lighten the gold's color and make it more durable. Sometimes, white gold is also plated with rhodium, a very hard, bright white metal, to enhance its whiteness and shine.
Reversing the Alloying Process
Theoretically, to turn white gold back into yellow gold without plating, you would need to:
- Melt the White Gold: The piece of jewelry needs to be melted down.
- Separate the Metals: You would then need to precisely remove all the added white metals (palladium, nickel, silver, zinc) from the molten gold. This is incredibly difficult and requires specialized refining equipment and expertise. It's not something a typical jeweler can do.
- Adjust Purity (if needed): Depending on the original karat (gold purity), you might need to add other metals (like copper or silver, depending on the desired karat) to achieve the desired karat of yellow gold.
Why it's Impractical: The separation process is complex, expensive, and not typically done for individual pieces of jewelry. The cost and effort usually outweigh the value of the gold itself.
Yellow Gold Plating: The Practical Solution
The far more common and cost-effective method to give white gold a yellow appearance is to plate it with yellow gold.
- Electroplating: This process uses an electric current to deposit a thin layer of yellow gold onto the surface of the white gold.
- Process: The white gold piece is submerged in a solution containing gold ions, and an electric current is applied, causing the gold ions to adhere to the white gold surface.
Considerations with Plating:
- Wear and Tear: Gold plating is a surface treatment and will wear off over time, especially with daily wear. The piece will eventually need to be replated.
- Thin Layer: The layer of gold is very thin (measured in microns).
- Cost-Effective: Plating is a relatively inexpensive way to change the color of white gold jewelry.
Conclusion
While technically possible through a difficult and expensive refining process, it's impractical to turn white gold back into yellow gold by removing the alloys. Yellow gold plating is the widely preferred and practical solution to achieve a yellow gold appearance on white gold jewelry.
