I have a million questions about" Sterlium" to be used only in
fabrication (no casting). How does it differ from Argentium? Can you
pick it up hot without it falling apart? Does it fuse well? Stuller
says it should be firecoated unlike Argentium. I can’t seem to find
anythi ng about the working properties on line as I can with
Argentium. Could som eone point me in the right direction? Thanks for
your help,
Richard Langbert
Richard,
I got some, and it works like argentium. I was able to fuse. I would
assume it is fragile red hot and that it might slump at high temps. I
think it is more or less argentium, but I am not sure because
argentium is trademarked, so they may not be able to use the exact
same composition. The properties seem similar to me; it is my
understanding they they are offering it as their own proprietary
version.
Melissa
Richard,
Argentium has had a lot of press and good P.R., so the manufacturers
and retailers really got the word out on that metal.
The other sterling alloys have not had anywhere near the attention
of Argentium.
Unfortunately, Argentium has that little problem with being very
brittle when hot. The other alloys I personally have experience with,
the S57NA and the S88 sterlings, do not have this problem. There is
no brittleness when hot, just like traditional sterling.
Firecoating with flux is a good idea with these new alloys, but they
don’t seem to have anywhere near the fire scale issues traditional
copper-alloyed sterling has.
In short, there is NO difference that I can find between how these
new sterling alloys and traditional sterlings perform. They would
seem to be almost identical, but the newer alloys are so much cleaner
to work with, cast without needing pickling, and finished work stays
much brighter longer, without the severe tarnishing issues
traditional sterling suffers from.
So to infer that working with these new sterling alloys require some
kind of new soldering technique, new acids, or whatever, just don’t
seem to be true, in my experience. Fuse’s the same, too. Whatever you
do with traditional sterling, you do the same with these new alloys.
Anyone out there have good or bad experiences with these new alloys?
(Frank Goss?)
Jay Whaley
I have to agree with Jay on almost every point. The only exception
would be that the S88 alloy fuses easier than traditional sterling.
I believe this is because the alloys take higher heat without the
oxidation levels that occur with the elevated copper levels in
traditional alloys. I still have to try the S57NA ( on my list of
things to do), but I trust Jay to know what he is talking about. I
have been touting the S88 alloy since I started using it back in the
dark ages. I was sold the first time I did a casting and it came out
of the investment white, with no pickle. What else can I say. Try
it, the alloy is inexpensive and the result will save you hours of
clean up and frustration. Last, this stuff is very forgiving in the
casting process.
Frank Goss
Hi Richard,
We appreciate your patience and have posted some l
materials on Sterlium Plus on our website. Please follow this link:
As always, if you have any additional questions, please don’t
hesitate to call me.
Best,
Dottie
Dottie Lukaszeski
Stuller Metals Manager