[Jewelry making - Article 00919] - Re: [Orchid] Argentium silver adventures and questions

[jesse Brennan]

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>     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. 

    The colors on a heated surface are a film interference color and a
    difference is mostly (all) just a matter of thickness of the film.
    This is not necessarily true if you cook the piece in a contaminated
    oven and condense a film of carbonaceous tar on the surface. The film
    thickness is a time at temperature thing, but this is totally true
    only if the material and temperature control is identical and the
    oven is not contaminated. Different materials will be subject to a
    difference in ability to oxidize ( include sulfurization ) with
    silver and copper especially. Visual impressions are subjective and
    are difficult (impossible?) to compare out of context. Trevor and
    Cynthia's test impressions make technical sense, what might be
    expected just from material knowledge. : 

    "The regular sterling will often go quite dark or even black while
    the AS will only yellow or brown at most." 

    I believe your "testing" results are uncontrolled and results out of
    context in some fashion. 

jesse
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