[Jewelry making - Article 00373] - Re: [Orchid] Sterling silver engagement ring hardness

[James Binnion]

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    Traditional sterling silver is about as soft as 22k gold. It is
    possible to work hardened it to between 115-130 HV which would be a
    little soft for daily wear but not too bad. The problem is to get to
    these hardness ranges you would have to cold work it to reduce its
    section by 70% - 80% without ever annealing or soldering it during or
    after the reduction or the ring would return to its softer annealed
    state. This is totally impractical for virtually any method of
    jewelry fabrication. However the new alloy of sterling silver,
    Argentium offers a solution that will be much better than trying to
    get huge amounts of cold work into the ring. It can be precipitation
    hardened after fabrication to 100-120 HV by following the suppliers
    instructions. While it will not be as hard as even annealed 14K or
    18K yellow golds (140-150 HV) it will be much better than the
    annealed state of sterling at 76 HV. There is a learning curve
    associated with Argentium but there is a lot of good information in
    the Orchid archives on working with it. 

James Binnion
jbin AT mokume-gane.com
James Binnion Metal Arts
http://www.mokume-gane.com
360-756-6550
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