[Jewelry making - Article 00529] - Re: [Orchid] Argentium silver adventures and questions

[Marty Andersen]

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Great questions Pam,

>     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? 

    One of the first posts on my blog

    http://argexp.blogspot.com/2005_05_22_argexp_archive.html

    I attempted to cast a ring with a prong setting in it. I found the
    alloy quite hard, but was able to set the stone after getting used
    to the feel of the alloy. By the way, as mentioned in my blog, I set
    my first casting in the kitchen oven on a cast iron pan to harden it.
    This resulted in the Argentium getting a thin layer of brown color
    that I had to pickle off. The brown color was caused because I was
    placing my Argentium into a dirty oven with a pan that was not
    completely clean either. I now know better, and harden it in a clean
    oven, placed on a honeycomb ceramic block. By the way, I used no
    pickle at all on my latest casting, start to finish (more about that
    will be posted in a few weeks). Note: if you ever get your Argentium
    Sterling and your regular Sterling Silver mixed up, putting it in a
    dirty oven for a time will help you separate it out. The regular
    Sterling Silver will stay the same color and the Argentium will get
    a light brown coating on it. 

>         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 pesumes that the faceted stones can take the heat. 

    With practice, you should have no problem setting durable stones
    with the precipitation hardened Argentium. My latest post on my blog 

    http://argexp.blogspot.com/2006_04_02_argexp_archive.html 

    compares the hardness (in Vickers) of Argentium Sterling Silver with
    the hardness of common gold alloys. 

>     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. 

    This should pose no problems. Try adjusting the length of time you
    have your piece in the oven until you get the maximum hardness
    without wasting energy. 

    Good luck. In time, I hope that you find as I have, that Argentium
    Sterling Silver is much easier to work with than regular Sterling
    Silver. 

Marty Andersen
http://argexp.blogspot.com
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