OK Ladies and Gents...debate time. My sweety and I are debating about White gold or Palladium. As you know I'm destined to order my Engagement ring in a day or two I hope but we cannot settle on the mettle (sorry I had to lol). I had my sights set on Palladium which I've never seen before but I did do my background check on it and did some reading. From what I understand it's got a TON of pros and then I go and read that you need to find a special jeweler that will/can work with it if you need a resizing or whatever done to it. My Hunny likes and LOVES white gold personally. I read within the last day or two that white Gold scratches easy, you can lose your stones easy, you need to get your ring re-dipped in Rhodium and all that. PLEASE help me figure it out.

Only thing with gold is that it wears down over time. Like a certain % is actually lost each year..If you bump it or scratch it, it sloughs off vs plat or palladium it just kinda moves but you dont lose any of that $$$ metal you paid for. Also the reason why if you see any old gold jewelry, if at one time there were nice etchings and millgrain it looks worn down or even like a plain gold band. But all metals scratch.

Im for the palladium. Even if you have to send your ring out for adjustments.

I'm so glad our NY bench as well as our new custom cad bench works with both 14k and 18k white gold with palladium alloy. You get the benefit of the whiteness of palladium without the drawbacks of it feeling really lightweight and being a nightmare to work on like regular palladium.

I read on another forum that Palladium and platinum are both softer than gold SO , for instance , if you bang your white gold ring the setting might snap off and you lose your stone but with Palladium or plat the setting is just going to bend and you won't lose your stone. I also read on that same forum that jewelers that are doing white gold with Rhodium plating are starting to use plat/palladium heads to hold the stones so you don't lose it but who knows if your ring will have that or not ?

Ooooh that white gold/palladium alloy sounds fab!! Great compromise!

I'm currently reading up on Rhodium plating as I await replies and that seems interesting but a little confusing for a newbie. I read here on BTD forum someone had a palladium E-ring but a white gold wedding band and she was having some issues with scratches and want not. Made me think exactly how many palladium bands are out there versus the gaggle of white gold rings are out there tied in with this supposed color difference I'm hearing about - I guess you really can't mix and match metals...you have to be loyal to either one or the other ??

14kt is stronger. A high-end local jeweler suggested I do 14kt in white and 18kt for the yellow shank of a ring I was considering having him make. It made sense, but ideally platinum would have been better with the 18kt gold. This is purely for strength as, of course, the 14kt has less gold and more of the base metal. Are you doing a lot of pave? May be best to do palladium or 14kt, although I'm not in my ring. I wouldn't mind a palladium/gold blend.

Palladium is bright white, white gold needs to be rhodium plated for it to be bright or you can go unplanted for an antiquey, warmer finish. And if you want really antiquey I think unplated 18kt would be warm and rich. But what do you prefer? Bright or dingy?

One of our clients recently had palladium prongs (not our creation!) snap off because it got snagged on something while shopping.

Palladium gained favor during WWII when platinum and gold were scarce. They quickly realized how difficult the metal could be and it fell from favor when the war was over. Palladium does have its drawbacks – it’s the only member of the platinum group that oxidizes when heated. Though this bluish purple oxidation is easily removed by quenching the piece in water, repeated heating and quenching can cause the metal to become brittle and crack.

Where platinum is impervious to all acids except aqua regia, palladium is solvent in aqua regia, attacked by nitric acid and sensitive to sulfuric and hydrochloric acids.

Palladium’s color may be a pleasing light gray, but it doesn’t take a high polish the way platinum does and has a tendency to become dull over time.

Yep. I am going to order the 3 row Micro pave from BDT. My future mister and I were arguing over what metal is better. He's never heard of Palladium before I dropped the word on him so he's looking at me like I'm out of my tree.

Here is a link to someone who posted pics of her ring which is the same we are going to order.

3 row micropave from forums

DA, I've never seen in person a high polish on platinum. Do you have an example pic?