[Jewelry making - Article 00191] - Re: [Orchid] Working with 316LVM surgical steel and PTFE

[Celeste]

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Aron

    This is something I know about on the practical level but not the
    technical level. 

    Mcmaster-Carr online sells stainless alloys in many forms some of
    which I have worked with, including one listed as 316L, but this is
    for industrial use which may or may not make a difference. this is
    what I use but i don't do body jewelry beyond rings. No doubt there
    is some available elsewhere that is designated for body jewelry or
    medical use. Some GOOD hardware stores will know what grade of
    stainless they carry in washers etc, they are likely to have either
    316 or 304 or both. Some washers are actually imprinted with the
    type. I'm not sure what kind of stainless they sell at hobby shops
    but they usually have stainless tubing etc and I think you could
    inquire or order online from the distributor which is usually K and
    S Engineering. 

    Any grade of silver solder on stainless works with generous paste
    flux or better yet use the black high temp brazing flux from a
    welding store.Like all steel it looks like a mess when you are
    soldering. HOWEVER there may be problems with electrolytic corrosion
    between silver and stainless when worn as body jewelry perhaps a
    gold solder would be better hopefully someone will comment on this
    issue. My damascus (regular carbon steel) rings with silver liners
    are fine after six months of constant wearing but ask me in ten
    years. Stainless may not have the same issues. 

    I also like to use 304 stainless which is the same as the 18-8 used
    in cutlery. Its a really dark grey for good contrast with silver. I
    made some "washer" rings using this and sterling washers with
    regular hard silver solder, they soldered perfectly. I tried
    argentium silver and solder too but the solder seams cracked even
    when air cooling (but then it wasn't designed for that). 

    The 300 series of stainless is hard but probably not as hard as you
    think.you can flush and even bead set, they don't work harden but
    it's hard to drill and grind down.Remember that most tools we use
    for jewelry like drills and gravers are made from tool steel and
    will work fine when used properly. I've done flush setting diamonds
    and at work some more advanced setters have bead set it and
    surprised themselves, but then we are used to setting in the hard
    white golds. 

    Stainless can be contaminated by particles of regular steel causing
    corrosion so you need to keep a separate area and abrasives and
    files and the like if you also use regular steel It can be tig welded
    or laser welded, not sure about torch. Its surprisingly light thats
    all I know about stainless 

Celeste
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