[Jewelry making - Article 01353] - [Orchid] Argentium lecture by Peter Johns and Sam Davis

[Sam Davis]

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    Yesterday, Peter Johns and Sam Davis gave a presentation to the
    Boston Section of TMS (The Minerals Metals and Materials Society) on
    Argentium Sterling Silver: Past, Present and Future. Over 40 people
    attended the dinner meeting, with diverse affiliations such as the
    jewelry industry, academia, metal smiths and flute manufacturing. The
    meeting room was located on the sixth floor of the Sloan building on
    the MIT campus in Cambridge. The view overlooking the Charles river
    and the reflections cast from the Boston skyline on the water at 
night
    were magnificent. 

    Equally entertaining were the sweet sounds of an Argentium flute,
    which was Manufactured and played by Jonathon Landell of Landell
    Flutes in Vermont. Mr. Landell also brought regular sterling and
    titanium flutes to play and hear the difference in tones emitted. The
    increased hardness of the Argentium flute produced crisper, warmer
    and more resonant notes. 

    During the social hour, time was spent mingling with guests over a
    drink and watching the video playing, titled "The Silversmith of
    Williamsburg". 

    From this video, we learned how ancient silversmiths disguised fire
    scale on regular sterling by raising the fine silver content on the
    surface. On display were fine works of Argentium sculpture and
    bracelets by Cynthia Eid, Argentium mill products, granules and paste
    solder from Stern-Leach, Argentium findings from Hallmark-Sweet and
    Argentium chain made by Excel. 

    After dinner, desert and coffee, Peter Johns (the inventor of
    Argentium) spoke to the audience on the history of the Argentium
    invention and development, the benefits of Argentium (improved fire
    scale and tarnish resistance, improved ductility and welding,
    reversible age hardening and so on). Mr. Johns explained that
    germanium (the key ingredient in Argentium) was invented by a german
    named Clemens Winkler who named it after his homeland germania (latin
    for german). Ironically, Germanium had no practical use until WWII,
    when england used it to make transistors that were used for radars to
    defend England from Germany and eventually win the war. Peter
    finished his presentation by showing many fine works of Argentium
    art, such as the carousel cuff links made by Eva Martin in Argentium
    and 18K gold, which won the prestigious 2006 Saul Bell award. 

    Mr. Sam Davis (Senior Process Engineer at Stern-Leach) then gave a
    talk on Argentium based upon his experiences manufacturing it and
    providing customer technical support since Stern-Leach (a company of
    the Cookson Material Products Group, Cookson Precious Metals
    Division) became the sole licensed manufacturer of Argentium in North
    America in August of 2004. The benefits of Argentium were explained
    from a metallurgical and chemical basis, technical problems and
    solutions were discussed, the business case for switching to
    Argentium from other sterling alloys was presented, and examples of
    many products and processes were given. This information was
    pertinent to everyone from large scale jewelry manufacturers to
    artisans, craftsman, students and metal smiths. 

    After their presentations, questions from the audience were fielded.
    Karen Eraslen, Chair of the Boston Section of TMS, presented Mr.
    Johns with an engraved dish spun out of Argentium in appreciation for
    his travels from Old England to New England to make the presentation. 


Samuel A. Davis, P.E.
Sr. Process Engineer
Stern Leach
49 Pearl Street
Attleboro, MA 02703
Ph: 508-222-7400 x1284
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