[Jewelry making - Article 00464] - Re: [Orchid] Argentium silver adventures and questions

[pam chott]

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    We're back from our traveling and I want to thank everyone again for
    the helpful information and encouragement regarding the Argentium
    experience. 

    I'll be back at the torch tomorrow and am eager to see where things
    lead and hopefully will be able to report more progress. 

    An additional question has come up: Is anyone mounting faceted stones
    in prongs of Argentium Silver? 

    Occasionally I use a faceted stone on a silver piece and in the past
    have used commercial heads. The prongs of a regular sterling head
    would be annealed after soldering and then hardened by the setting
    process. 

    As far as I know, there are no commercial heads available in AS but
    even if there were, wouldn't the prongs be rather more difficult to
    set after the heat precipitation? 

    Or would the hardened AS prongs seem only a little harder than
    annealed regular sterling due to the small prong size? 

    If I were using AS heads (commercial or self-fabricated) would it be
    advisable to set the faceted stones while the AS is in the annealed
    state, heat harden the piece and then set any cabochons? This
    presumes that the faceted stones can take the heat. 

    Am I right to believe that starting with a cold oven would not be a
    problem in achieving the full hardness of AS? In order to avoid
    temperature shocking stones, I'd prefer to place the piece in the
    oven and bring it up to temperature rather than placing it in a
    pre-heated oven of 500 degrees or more. 

    Thanks again for sharing your insights and experience. 

Pam

Pam Chott
www.songofthephoenix.com
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