[Jewelry making - Article 00530] - Re: [Orchid] Argentium silver adventures and questions

[Cynthia Eid]

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    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. Regarding
    Argentium Solder, keep in mind that the creation of a solder is very
    complicated. Not only does it have to match the alloy that it is
    for, but we need at least three different melting temperatures, and
    we don't want cadmium...... I think that the Argentium Solders are
    still being improved. Some of the earlier batches, especially, don't
    always melt completely. If this seems to be happening to you, don't
    keep heating---that's not going to help. Just put the solder where it
    is easy to clean up. 

>     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 > 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?

    I think this is correct. It would not be difficult to set, and, like
    traditional sterling, there would be some work hardening from the
    process. 

>     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. 

    You can definitely start with a cold oven. Just don't start timing
    until the temperature is reached. You can use as low a temperature as
    360F if you extend the time to two hours. Remember, too, that it is
    ok to heat longer----there is no negative effect from doing so. 

    I hope this helps. Keep us posted! 

Cynthia Eid
http://www.cynthiaeid.com
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