[Jewelry making - Article 00318] - Re: [Orchid] My apprenticeship...

[James Binnion]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

>     I dunno. I was taught at UofO that annealing is best when air
>     cooled and enen delayed quenching will shock the metal. Quenching
>     is fine for demo material or quickie projects but masterworks, and
>     expensive material that another person owns, should be air cooled. 

    There is no universal way to anneal metal. Each alloy reacts somewhat
    differently. Some need rapid quenching to achieve maximum softness
    (sterling) some need to be very slowly cooled over a period of hours
    or days (air hardening tool steels) some don't really care ( most
    brass alloys or copper). Some will crack if you cool too slowly (red
    gold) or if you cool too fast (some white golds). Some alloys are hot
    short and will crack if you quench too hot but will harden somewhat
    if you air cool like sterling or some yellow golds. You just can not
    say that there is one way to correctly anneal. Some metals are
    forgiving enough that improper annealing will not cause a total
    failure as long as you don't push them too hard but some are picky.
    The many bench jewelers and craft metalworkers over anneal their
    metal which is also a big problem if you are asking the metal to
    preform in demanding processes like raising, die striking or forging.
    If your metal develops an orange peel like surface when you bend or
    stress it you have over annealed metal. If you have not put a
    significant amount of cold work into the metal (like a 50% reduction
    in section) before annealing then you run a real risk of over
    annealing the metal which causes overly large grains which causes
    failures like orange peel, inter-granular cracking etc. 

Jim

James Binnion
jbin AT mokume-gane.com
James Binnion Metal Arts
http://www.mokume-gane.com
360-756-6550
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________