Silversmithing

[Chris Cramer]

Steel isn't the only type of metal you can craft with. Since I haven't been able to do any steel work until we finish our renovations I've taken on another form of metal work. Silversmithing is another field where I can put my metal forming skills, my soldering/brazing skills, and of course my creativity into play. After taking an online course on the fundamentals of silversmithing I've learned so much more on making jewelry, from rings, to pendants, and earrings.

 

[Janger]

Holy s$&) ! Chris! Wow!

 

[PeterT]

Nice. Who did you take the online course through?

 

[CalgaryPT]

That's beautiful Chris. You're a very talented guy. Holy cow.

 

[Johnwa]

Wow Chris that’s impressive!
The snowbird park where I spent the last few months had a jewelry room Where you could work with silver and gold. I took a look around and theñ realized that I could never create anything worth keeping. I’m envious of the creative types like you.

 

[Chris Cramer]

Thanks guys, if you are interested in learning, the course I took was through Bluprint. Foundations in silversmithing is the course by a professional jewelry professor Mark Nelson. https://shop.mybluprint.com/jewelry/classes/foundations-in-silversmithing/40630

 

[PeterT]

Some good silver soldering resources there on your link. Did I ask you this already - what kind of torch system do you use?

 

[Chris Cramer]

A butane micro torch is all you need to solder silver, along with some flux. Silver has the highest heat conductance an a lower melting point; so you don’t need too much heat, especially to solder not to weld.

 

[Chris Cramer]

Silver is also pretty easy to cast as well. Cuttlebone casting is an easy way to cast jewellery, simply carve the inside of the bone and use it as a mold.

 

[mprozycki]

Nice metalwork! Just wondering if you have any experience soldering mild steel/ and or stainless steel with silver solder? And if so, how did you clean the part's afterwards?

 

[Chris Cramer]

Black flux, a flux formulated for stainless steel is needed to solder stainless to silver. More heat is required to bring stainless to a soldering temperature, and in order for the solder to flow, the flux needs to withstand that higher temperature. For the cleaning, you should try to prevent most of the fire scale and fire stain from forming by using some borax mixed with isopropyl alcohol. What ever does form I usually clean with wire wheels, abrasive wheels, sand paper and polishing rods. Pickle doesn't work on stainless, but you can use citric acid.

 

[Chris Cramer]

When soldering stainless make sure that the type of metal can resist the higher temperature without losing its corrosion resistance.

 

[PeterT]

More heat is required to bring stainless to a soldering temperature.
Why do you say this Chris? Aren't we just concerned about getting the parent metal to the correct temperature so that flux will activate properly & silver solder will flow etc. ie. if you raised the temperature above that, wouldn't that be encouraging problems relating to the solder ingredients themselves? Or are you saying stainless is unique in some way?

I was thinking of silver soldering a hex key into some 303 stainless for a gadget. I don't know what decent hex keys are made of but probably semi hardened bolt grade steel. Aside from the usual surface prep, do you see anything out of the ordinary to bond these 2 dissimilar materials together?

I heard about that black flux on one of my YouTube sites, cant recall which one off hand. Where do you buy it & where do you get your silver soldering supplies in general?

 

[Chris Cramer]

both sides need to reach soldering temperature to bond to the solder. There have been many times where I've failed to solder a small piece of silver such as a bezel wire or prongs to the base of my piece because I only managed to get the smaller piece hot enough to bond to the solder. often I just focus the heat on the base and allow the high heat transfer to heat the component; but stainless does not have that high heat conductance like silver, so the flux often gets too hot by how much heat is needed for the stainless.

 

[Chris Cramer]

Ken's Jems is where I get most of my soldering supplies and material because its located here in Calgary, but if you want to save money and your willing to wait, you can find pretty much everything for less if you order it online.

 

[PeterT]

Yes I know the place, thanks!

 

[Chris Cramer]

Soldering stainless to stainless could very well be done the same way with black flux, silver hard solder, and an acetylene torch or any torch hot enough to reach brazing temperature. After you finish soldering/brazing you could clean it with citric acid or abrasives.

 

[mprozycki]

More heat is required to bring stainless to a soldering temperature...

In the past I have soldered pre-drilled stainless steel balls to the end of rods. I used hard sliver solder and went about it the same way I soldered non-ferrous metals. I never new of black flux back then and used regular jewellery flux.

The real challenge was cleaning the metal afterwards. I had help from a technician who mixed a pickle for stainless made up of nitric, hydrochloric and water. There's an article online from "The Designers Handbook" that addresses descaling stainless which I'm reading right now.

Gesswein Canada - is a great site for buying supplies online!

 

[RobinHood]

Here are the components I use for Silver Brazing:



on the flux container it says to ”clean excess flux with hot water”; water is also used to thin the paste to the desired consistency. After brazing, i use a wire wheel to clean the joint of residue.

got the items at OxyPro in Calgary. Not cheap, especially the 45% pure silver wire. But then you only need the smallest of amount if the joint is prepped properly and the solder wicks into it.

here is a picture of a silver brazed part: I added the section on the right to the existing part on the left. The silver joint is ever so slightly visible in the center (two parallel lines).



ditto on heating the larger part first and let the heat transfer into the smaller one.

I have not used it on Silver together with any other metal. But for all the dissimilar metals I have brazed, it worked great.

 

[PeterT]

What kind of torch do you use Rudy?