There is a popular misconception that platinum and white gold are both lustrous cold white metals. If you have purchased a wedding band made from either platinum or white gold then you may think you have a white ring. Which do you prefer? Let’s look at the differences between them.

White gold - one of the most popular metals around these days when it comes to jewelry. However, white gold is not a natural substance. Pure gold is yellow and is far to soft to use as jewelry.

Pure gold is mixed with other metals to form a harder alloy that is then suitable for jewelry making. The quantity of pure gold in an alloy is measured in carats with 24 carat describing 100% pure gold. Once you create an alloy the purity drops so with gold, you end up with common alloys of 9 carat, 12 carat, 18 carat and 22 carat gold. Eighteen carat, for example, contains at least 75% pure gold.

Metals used to create a href=http://jewelrywhitegold.netjewelry white gold/a include copper, nickel, silver, zinc, and palladium. These metals also help to harden the white gold for jewelry use. The white gold effect is achieved through a bleaching process caused by silver or palladium. Some metals have a stronger bleaching effect than others, however they also have stronger hardening effects.

Wedding bands need to be hard so an 18 carat wedding band will have 75% pure gold, 10% palladium, 7.5% silver and 7.5% copper. A wedding band that is 18 carat white gold can be longer wearing than a yellow gold band of 18 carats. You can buy very cheap versions of white gold, however, they are generally made with inferior metals and don’t last as long as quality white gold.

Platinum - as precious metal, it is rarer and more expensive than pure gold. Platinum is much harder than pure gold and often needs to be alloyed to soften it a little for jewelry making purposes. Like white gold, platinum has various grades of purity and is actually a light grey in color - not white.

Since neither platinum or white gold are ‘white’, they need to be plated with a substance known as rhodium - this creates the brilliant white finish that both metals are famous for. Rhodium itself is rather soft and will wear away over a three to five year period. White gold wedding bands will eventually turn a dirty light grey in color as the rhodium wears off. Your platinum wedding ring will have a very light grey to off white look about it.

While platinum is far more expensive than white gold, they will both look like cheap metals once the rhodium plating wears off. Having your jewelry re-plated will bring back the brilliant white finish that white gold and platinum are famous for. Which is the better option for wedding bands, platinum or white gold? Because platinum was so expensive, metallurgists created white gold as an imitation. Today, white gold is popular for being white gold, not a platinum imitation. If you want the platinum look at half the price, you will only buy rubbish these days since gold has become so expensive. For anyone looking for the platinum finish, I suggest buying platinum.

If you like white gold as white gold, then make sure the alloys used are silver and palladium and not other cheaper metals. I like a href=http://jewelrywhitegold.net/index.php/2009/12/28/caring-for-your-white-gold-jewelry/white gold wedding bands/a, not because it looks like platinum, but because it looks like white gold.

If you intend having a gemstone added to your wedding band, then the a href=http://findingtheidealdiamond.comideal diamond/a is one that is small and well cut. You can find both a href=http://findingtheidealdiamond.com/The-Worth-of-Diamond-Jewelry.phpwhite gold and diamonds/a through many websites. Just be sure to check the quality of the products first.

I signed up for trial offer with a href=http://bit.ly/cmchkfBuyLowAuctions/a for $4.95. I received 10 bid coupons with my trial order, but quickly upgraded to lots more for next to nothing. If you like auctions, you will like this. What a rush!

The a href=http://bit.ly/cmchkfBuyLowAuctions/a stick is that you never have to pay over $20 for anything….any they have $500 gift cards in the mix. Bids go up by a penny each bid, which makes for very interesting last 20 seconds. What intrigued me was that the bidding could go to $300 or $400 and yet the price would be $20….or less.

The BuyLowAuctions’ auction model is well thought out and very addicting so be careful….you might not get anything else done.

….OK. Got to get back to an auction that I’m watching.

bit.ly/cmchkf

Regards, RobertWStart
a href=http://BobStartBlog.blogspot.comThe Bob Start Blog/a

I just found an offer from VistaPrint
a href=http://bit.ly/aOg3KAVistaPrint/a and wanted you to know about it. 500 premium business cards for $10…including shipping and handling. I checked into these and found that they are not the cheap, thin, poorly printed cards that usually accompany these types of offers. Very high quality cards.

Why is VistaPrint doing this? Great question that I had also. So I talked to the company and found that they are trying to get new customers. Simple enough. Their philosophy is that if they can get a new customer at slightly below their costs to produce the 500 cards, they will have a customer for life.

Now to make this more enticing, they are giving a 25% discount to their entire offering if you order the 500 cards for $10. Give it a shot. I did and I’m very glad that I did. Wanted you to know about this before they close this bargain down.

Regards,
Robert W Start
BobStartBlog.blogspot.com

Is there a new smartphone on the market that you simply can’t wait to buy? The trouble is, if you are presently in the middle of a 2-year wireless contract, you are not yet qualified for a free upgrade. The good news is you can still get your greedy little hands on the new phone now without losing a good deal of cash in the process. Doing so includes a two-part process.

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After the release of the original Nokia 6300 in January 2007, a gold colour variation of the popular handset has recently been released. A versatile handset, the new gold colour is sure to attract new users to this previously discontinued handset.

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The growing popularity of mobile phones has prompted makers of handsets to innovate and come up with new models and various phone deals frequently. To get information about the various handsets available, users can easily compare mobile phones online.

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Nokia 5800 has been recently launched in the market with a great thump. It scores well on many accounts. It seems to be better than its nearest rival, Apple 3G iPhone.

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