over annealing

[Mango]

Hello all,
Much as I love working with silver, I am still a novice. In an attempt to create an anticlastic cuff bracelet from a 22 gauge sheet, I must have over annealed the metal. The cuff has become very hard. Have I wasted a cuff, or can I still anneal it again and continue working. And will this over annealing jeopardize the metal? Thank you. Mango.

[Sheen]

Annealing is the process of heating the metal til it glows a dull red colour, this softens the metal. Hammering the metal work hardens it. If you have a torch, you just need to heat it up to soften it again. As for as I know you can soften the metal as many times as you like then continue working it.

[Dennis]

Yes it's going on hammering without re-annealing, that will cause cracks to appear.

[pearlescence]

Annealing allows the individual molecules in the metal relax and snuggle down comfortably. Hammering, bending or otherwise working the metal jumbles them all up to the point where they are tangled together and become locked hard.. Think of a coil of string. all neat and tidy (annealed) until the kittens arrive (you, the silversmith).
Work hardening leads to metal fatigue and that is when the wings literally fall off the plane (and which plane manufacturers spend a lot of time and money researching and testing and preventing, obvs)

[Mango]

I like your metaphor Pearlescence!

[Mango]

Thank you Sheen. I'll re-anneal then, and continue working being more careful of how much heat I use.

[CJ57]

You can’t over anneal, that would probably be melting. Overworking will do more damage to work hardened metal without annealing regularly.. if the metal is hard after annealing it means you haven’t brought it to temperature, if it’s hard after hammering then it needs annealed again

[Mango]

You can’t over anneal, that would probably be melting. Overworking will do more damage to work hardened metal without annealing regularly.. if the metal is hard after annealing it means you haven’t brought it to temperature, if it’s hard after hammering then it needs annealed again

Thank you, Caroline. I took the advice and reannealed with confidence and got the job done beyond my expectations. Thank you all.

[CJ57]

Thank you, Caroline. I took the advice and reannealed with confidence and got the job done beyond my expectations. Thank you all.

That’s great news! Being nervous about something is half the battle and once you overcome that it all falls into place. Beyond ones expectations is even better!