[Jewelry making - Article 01220] - Re: [Orchid] Tarnishing Argentium

[Trevor F]

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>         Bummer. I thought, guess texturing messes up the
>     tarnish-resistance. 

    Hi Judy, I couldn't resist adding a few more words on this. FWIW I've
    been making nothing but heavily textured stuff this last month --lots
    of anticlastic raising which I've thoroughly enjoyed-- and I'm having
    no trouble with the sparkly finish at all. From what I can tell
    nothing short of a chisel, file or saw seems to effect the tarnish
    resistance of a nicely oxidized piece of Argentium Sterling (AS). 

    When I was forging a spoon a while back I noticed that after a few
    annealings the spoon would not darken at all on subsequent
    annealings. I concluded from this that the germanium oxide layer on
    the metal is a lot deeper and more durable than one might think: I'd
    bash away on the metal, heat, quench and go back to bashing. Pickling
    was totally unnecessary because there was nothing to pickle off. In
    fact, nothing short of actually cutting into the metal seemed to
    damage the no-firescale (and by extension I include the tarnish
    resistance) properties of the piece. (the pictures in the "Oxide and
    annealing footnotes" post on the blog
    (http://www.touchmetal.com/blog/argentium-blog.html) illustrate this) 

>         I'll pop that textured cuff into the oven and see what
>     happens. 

    If I may suggest something, try this to be absolutely certain that
    you're getting the full benefits: torch anneal the cuff at least
    once, pickle, then precip harden it. My guess is that your
    discoloration problems will be history. I only suggest this because
    it may well be that you're starting with oxygen starved AS and the
    torch annealing should solve that problem good and proper. 

>         I'm wondering if it should be pickled or cleaned ionically
>     BEFORE precip hardening. Guess I'll find out if that's critical. 

    My experience is that precip hardening will often bring a slight
    discoloration to a piece. This is easily pickled off which is why I
    pickle _after_ precip hardening and not before. Needless to say your
    mileage, and needs, may differ. 

Cheers,
Trevor F.
in The City of Light
www.touchmetal.com

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