Casting with Argentium Sterling®

I've cast several rings using Argentium Sterling®. I haven't had much to say because there has never really been any problems or strange situations. Here are some of the things to remember when casting with Argentium Sterling®.

Temperature: 1750-1800 deg F. is recommended for casting (casting by sight is not recommended). Unfortunately I don't have the equipment the accurately gage the temperature of the AS so I must go by sight. I have tried to go with the lowest temperature that I can. Remember that if the metal looks yellow or light orange, it is too hot. I have been casting in low light conditions and heating it just until I know all the metal is fluid. The metal at that temperature has an interesting orange glow. One thing that has not been a problem for me is pitting (a common problem using regular Sterling silver). It is my guess that the problem has been lessened, at least in part, due to the lower casting temperatures.

Contamination: As recommended when fabricating with AS, do everything you can to prevent contamination from other alloys. Use a separate crucible, and when it comes time to polish, use buffs reserved only for AS, don't switch between AS and regular Sterling. AS seems to easily pick up copper from contaminated surfaces.

Oxygen: As you would with regular Sterling, protect the alloy from oxygen. I will usually use a pinch boric acid as I am heating the AS to protect it.

Hardening: Once the item is cast, I like to allow the flask to cool to room temperature before removing it from the investment. Cooling to room temperature in this manor makes the piece very hard (you should notice the difference when cutting off the button). The piece can be made only slightly harder if hardened using the precipitation method.

More flux information

I received an email from Peter Johns, the inventor of Argentium Sterling(tm) Silver. He told me that they have found that some fluxes leave a stain on the surface of the metal. He has found My-T-Flux(tm) from Rio Grande to be very good on Argentium Sterling(tm). My-T-Flux(tm) after washing in hot water and a quick pickle is stain free. He also informed me that Cynthia Eid uses ready made Prip’s flux very successfully with no stains and is very easily removed.
Looks like there are more experiments to be done!

Argentium® Soldering problems...Results of flux testing

The reason for my soldering problems seems to be the flux I was using. After doing the test, I switched fluxes and have had no problems since.

After doing some research on the web, I was able to find a source for the these F flux. Unfortunately, with shipping, it was way to expensive. I then went to my local rock shop and got five different types of fluxes that they always kept in stock.

I took five pieces of Argentium Sterling® Silver all the same size and placed them on a piece of Argentium Sterling® Silver. A small piece of hard Argentium® Solder was placed by each piece of Argentium Sterling® Silver. I used a different type of flux for each piece of silver. The following is the order, best to worst, of which fluxes did the best (according to my very unscientific test). NOTE: The Ultra Flux® paste is the flux I was using when I had soldering problems.

1. Horizon Tool Co.® Paste Flux ($5.95 for 2 oz.)
2. Cupronil® liquid flux ($4.95 for 4 oz.)
3. Dandix® Paste Flux ($5.50 for 1 oz.)
4. Ultra Flux® Paste ($5.50 for 8 oz.)
5. Batterns® Self-pickling Flux ($7.75 for 16 oz.)

It is surprising what a difference the flux used can make. I know there are lots of other fluxes on the market, some of which, probably work better than the ones I've tried. These are just the ones that are easy for me to get locally. The moral of the story is to keep an open mind when working with Argentium Sterling® Silver. Things that worked alright with regular Sterling Silver, may work differently with AS.

Argentium® Soldering Problems Update

Thanks goes to Judie Raiford and Trevor F. for their comments about not using steel wool when soldering. Trevor also mentioned that he preferred to use Thessco F flux when soldering Argentium Sterling® Silver. I believe Thessco is from Europe. I’m going to try some other fluxes that I can get locally and let you know how it goes.

Heat Hardened Argentium Sterling® Silver

I am amazed at how hard Argentium Sterling® Silver turns when it is heat hardened. Last week I made a beautiful turquoise ring. The ring was made so that it could be adjustable. After hardening, I realized the ring was no longer adjustable. Just another one of those things that needs to be kept in mind when working with Argentium Sterling®. Because the properties of Argentium are so different, I have trying to treat Argentium Sterling as though it is a totally different metal, rather than comparing it with standard Sterling Silver. The two metals have very different properties. Standard Sterling conducts heat well, AS does not. Oxygen must be kept away from standard Sterling silver. Oxygen is desirable when working with AS. The melting temperatures are different. The way the metal reacts when heated is different. Working with AS is not that hard, it’s just different.

Argentium® Soldering problems

I've been having some problems using the Argentium® solders. I tried just about everything I could think of. I made sure the surfaces matched well. I made sure my silver was clean and scrubbed it down with steel wool. I tried several types of flux. My easy and medium solders worked just fine. It's taken me a couple of weeks to figure it out. I simply needed to clean the solder itself. I started with soap and water and then I scrubbed it with steel wool. Works great now.

Argentium projects update

It's been quite a while since I made the pendant and the cast ring. I am happy to say that each are wearing quite well. There has been no signs of tarnish on the ring or the pendant. We have noticed considerably few scratches on the ring and the scratches that are there are quite shallow. Good news!

Argentium Solder has Arrived!!!

I finally was able to get some Argentium solder! Now it’s time to get back to work. Can’t wait to give it a try. I got the following:

Hard = 1355 F
Medium = 1319 F
Easy = 1253 F

Note that the flow temperatures seem to be quite a bit lower than that of regular Sterling solder.

Argentium - Dim the lights!!!

From the picture above you can see I had a little trouble today. I was annealing a piece of Argentium to prepare it for hammering. I was working in fairly strong light and thought the piece had cooled sufficiently to allow me to quench it in water….Wrong! As you can see, the results were disastrous. Oh well, another piece to be used in casting or fusing. The next piece I tried to anneal I allowed to cool a bit more and had no problems. Working in dim light, and waiting for the red glow to almost go away is a much safer approach to the problem. The picture of the Argentium above was taken right after it was quenched. Note the lack of tarnish or firescale that you would see on standard Sterling.
My wife wore the pendant shown in my last posting to the Tombstone, AZ Gem and Mineral show Tombstone's Gem & Mineral Show this weekend. The piece attracted a lot of attention. There was quite a bit of interest shown, not only in the piece, but also in Argentium.

Argentium - Trying something new

Last week I received my first shipment of Argentium Sterling® silver sheet and wire from Max And Me Beads. I only ordered a small amount (1.87 feet 10G round wire, 48 feet 24 G round wire, (1)6”x3” 30 G sheet, and (1) 6”x3” 24 G sheet). On the weekend I started on my new project.

The first thing I would need for my project was some square wire. I have not been able to find any square wire yet so I had to make my own. I didn’t have a draw plate for square wire so I took a piece of the 10 G round wire and hammered it on four sides until I had a piece of square wire. I then cut and filed the wire so that all my solder joints would match up well with no gaps. I also took a small piece of wire and hammered on it a little more than I did with the square wire. Without warning the metal splintered into many small slivers. Now I have a pretty good idea when I need to anneal the metal.

The next step was to solder the frame together. I used Ultra Flux® brand paste flux. Soldering went well. Using medium solder, the flux turned clear just before the solder flowed. Easy! I did have one problem during the soldering process. As I was soldering, I tried to man-handle a piece of wire with a soldering pick. I was surprised how easily the piece of wire broke in two. I replaced the broken piece of wire and was off and running again.

I wanted the piece to have a bold hammered surface so I annealed the piece and went to work with my planishing hammer. The metal was surprisingly soft and the small hammer made nice deep marks with very little effort. I then took the piece to my flat lap and sanded the back side nice and smooth.

Next I made a bezel cup for my Angelite cabochon using a piece of the 24 G sheet and some fine silver bezel wire. Once the cup was made, I soldered it to the frame using easy solder. I then made a small bezel setting for a 4mm pink Tourmaline (this was my first attempt ever to set a facetted stone in a bezel). I took a small piece of the 30 G sheet and made a small tube just large enough for the Tourmaline to fit into. I then made another tube that fit inside the first tube. The smaller tube was also a little bit shorter than the larger tube. I inserted the small tube into the larger tube and soldered them to a piece of 30 G sheet. I trimmed the sheet to match the tube, leaving a small tab on the side of the tube (this tab was used to help secure the bezel to the frame). I then soldered the small cup to the frame using easy solder. Because the Argentium Sterling® doesn’t seem to conduct heat as well as standard Sterling, I didn’t feel the need to go to an easier solder.

Next I made a tube for the bail. Since I don’t have a draw plate with large enough holes to make my tube, I had to improvise. I cut out a small square of 24 G sheet and bent it over a small bezel mandrel. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the ends to match up enough to solder them properly. I then took the tube and smashed it down on the ends with my rawhide mallet. This made the ends match up perfectly. I then soldered the tube with medium solder. After the tube was soldered, I reshaped it on the bezel mandrel. I then filed the ends so that they matched well.

After the tube was completed, I soldered it to the top of the frame with easy solder. All the ends were then filed smooth and the piece was polished.

I put the piece in the oven at 550 Deg. for 45 minutes. The purpose for putting the piece in the oven was to harden it. After the piece cooled, I took the piece out of the oven. It had a brownish tarnish over all the Argentium® pieces. I also noted that I could now easily see where the solder was verses the Argentium®. The soldered areas showed no sign of the brownish tarnish. I then polished the piece again. Wow, what a nice luster. I then set the stones and polished the piece once more.

My wife gets all my prototypes. She tests them to see what kind of comments we get on the pieces and also to test them for durability before I start producing them for sale. It will be interesting to see what kind of comments she gets out of this piece.

First experience with Argentium® Sterling Silver

Yesterday was my first experience with Argentium® Sterling silver. I was able to get a couple of ounces of casting grain to practice with.
I was quite pleased with the results of my first experience. My son is graduating from high school this year and I wanted to make him a class ring.
I cast the ring in the same manor that I cast regular Sterling. As I melted the casting grain it seemed to me to be more viscous or "jelly like" than regular Sterling.
I let the flask cool fully before removing the ring. As I cut off the sprue, I noticed that the silver seemed to be harder than common Sterling. Filing it and cleaning it up too, took a little bit more work. I polished the ring using Tripoli® and then followed up with Zam®. It looked great.
I then decided that I would like to harden the ring a little bit more so I put the ring in the kitchen oven on a cast iron pan for an hour on the highest setting it would go (approximately 550 deg.).
When I took the ring out it had a thin layer of oxidation on it. I pickled the ring and polished it again.
This ring had a prong setting cast into it. The metal was hard enough that it was quite a lot of work setting the stone. Guess I need more practice working with Argentium® :).

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