[Jewelry making - Article 01257] - Re: [Orchid] Discoloration on my satin finish too

[Trevor F]

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>     I am feeling totally confused as to how to use Argentium Silver
>     now. 

    In my experience it's not a big deal Grace, very few changes should
    be necessary from the way you normally work sterling silver. But
    there are some differences, namely: 

    - there's no need to firecoat Argentium Sterling (AS).  The purpose
    of firecoat is to keep the oxygen away from the hot metal and that is
    totally unnecessary, and somewhat counterproductive, when working with
    AS.  AS likes to react with oxygen and it is good for it todo so. 
    Standard sterling silver _loves_ to react to oxygen and it's
    generally not a good thing at all. 

    - for the same reasons there is no need to use reducing flames with
    AS or work on charcoal in order to get a reducing atmosphere.  A
    reducing atmosphere starves the AS of oxygen which, as explained
    above, you generally don't want to do. 

>     I purchased the argentium from Stuller and I don't recall seeing
>     anything about having to heat treat it first .... 

    I haven't bought AS from Stuller yet so I don't know what
    documentation they include when you do but I do know that some folks
    have reported getting tarnish in the bag or shortly after putting it
    into use.  Whether Stuller mentions it or not this shouldn't happen
    unless the metal has been oxy-starved in production.  The solution is
    easy: heat treat it. 

    If you're not having any tarnish problems then your stock may well
    have been heat treated before you received it and that's great
    because you're good to go. 

    If you're like me and you're not into taking those kind of chances
    then by all means heat treat your new stock and then you'll know
    exactly where you're at. 

    Just to make sure we're on the same page by "heat treat" I mean torch
    anneal.  Kiln annealing is probably just as good but I don't have a
    kiln so I wouldn't know for certain. 

>     Does the soldering process automatically do this? 

    Yes, as long as you haven't firecoated everything. If you've heated
    your AS with a torch to annealing or soldering temps _without_ the
    use of firecoat and _without_ the use of oxygen reducing flames or
    environments then yes, you have heat treated your AS. 

>     And a post I just read talked about using flux like that was a no
>     no. 

    I think that post was talking about firecoat not flux.  There's
    nothing whatever wrong with using flux with AS, assuming you're using
    it in the normal way for the normal reasons. 

>     I use manufactured Prips Flux and have been working the argentium
>     pretty much like I would any sterling, fluxing everything before
>     heating. Have I missed something? 

    If by "fluxing" you mean adding flux to your soldering joint to aid
    the soldering process then no, you're right on track. If by "fluxing"
    you mean firecoating your entire piece then ... well, see above:
    firecoating AS is generally unnecessary and is in fact somewhat
    counterproductive. 

    I can't stress enough that there's no reason to be confused or upset
    about this. Just remember that AS likes oxygen when heated. That's
    really all there is to it. This of course means hold the firecoat and
    forget about reducing flames and atmospheres. 

    Other than that nothing really changes ... except that you'll never
    have to worry about firestain and tarnishing is pretty much history.


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

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