[Jewelry making - Article 00236] - Re: [Orchid] Argentium Sterling: Annealing

[Trevor]

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>     How do you anneal AS? I.e., does it matter how quickly it is
>     heated, or how long it is held at annealing temperature? 

    Judging from the description of your annealing experience I'd say
    that you've got to cut back and/or disperse the heat from your torch
    a lot more. 

    With thinner wire, AS or not, you often have to heat it gently or
    indirectly to avoid the problems you're having. I use a bushy flamed
    propane torch for this kind of thing, sometimes even with a flame
    spreader on it to fan the flames out and get a gentler heat out over
    a larger area. Another trick is to put the stuff you're heating on
    top of a mesh screen, or even two, and heat from below to break the
    heat up and spread it around. Or you can heat it in a tin can but I
    don't personally like subjecting my AS to that kind of miscellaneous
    oxides and such. 

    No offense Janet but this is pretty basic stuff. Ways to deal with
    annealing thinner wire is in all the major references --I think I
    could name at least 6 without even looking at my bookshelf-- so you
    might want to put the torch down for a bit and hit the books. I'm
    truly sorry if this sounds condescending or hurtful but RTFM does
    seem to apply here. 

>     Is quenching necessary, and does it have to be done as soon as the
>     red glow disappears? 

    Yes quench. Yes, after the red is gone. 

    Again, all this stuff has been covered time and again. I've done it,
    Marty has done it, I'm pretty sure it's in Cynthia's SNAG article
    (which I believe Rio Grande is now hosting in addition to the copy on
    her site http://www.cynthiaeid.com/argentium_1-5.html), and I'm
    almost certain we've gone over this stuff before here so it's in the
    Archives too. It's even in the basic fact sheet that AsCo has on
    their site (ArgentiumSterling.com). Again, a little RTFM will serve
    you well. 

Cheers,
Trevor F.
in The City of Light
Visit TouchMetal.com at http://www.touchmetal.com
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