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Moon Willow
07-12-2014, 01:33 PM
Okay Cat amongst the pigeons time

Why do folks quench their Work?

Whenever I teach students I advice them to put their hot masterpieces onto a steel block, Why?
If you've got a thin piece of metal .9mm or .5mm it could buckle and become miss shaped, Or!
The metal could have a stress fracture which would open up when going from 800c to 10c in nano seconds
I've seen it happen in both cases specially the later when gold or silver has been melted down and has
a bit of dirt inside.

It will be interesting to hear from the quenchers out there.

Carlton

Goldsmith
07-12-2014, 02:22 PM
Hello fellow regalia maker. Like you Carlton I never quench hot precious metals I also place them on a steel block to cool down, the only time I quench is when I am hardening silver steel tools before tempering.

James

enigma
07-12-2014, 02:30 PM
Thats good to hear .
I dont quench at all if its something I want to shape afterwards but normally I will quench after a couple of minutes when the glow has gone, is that still risky?
I guess I do that because I don't always want to wait the time it takes to cool.

susieq
07-12-2014, 02:43 PM
If it's a soldered join then I was taught to wait a little before quenching to avoid shocking it and risk opening up the join; however I did think that for annealing you needed to quench quite quickly after heating?

Moon Willow
07-12-2014, 03:07 PM
Hello fellow regalia maker. Like you Carlton I never quench hot precious metals I also place them on a steel block to cool down, the only time I quench is when I am hardening silver steel tools before tempering.

James

Ha ha there you go James, obviously you were taught by the same guru as me, big bushy beard long white hair and a big staff in his right
hand.
I'm back with my big wooden stick to stir the pot and try to enlighten my fellow jewellers.

Moon Willow
07-12-2014, 03:10 PM
Spot on Susieq

Good advice, whenever anyone tells you to do something ask why.

Carlton

ps_bond
07-12-2014, 04:43 PM
Post-soldering I'll leave things to cool off to well below black heat, but I'll often quench before I put it in the pickle.
It's worth mentioning that for *some* alloys, quenching from heat is the recommended way to handle them. RTFM.

josef1
07-12-2014, 05:24 PM
I quench rose gold quickly as I find it keeps its colour better

caroleallen
07-12-2014, 06:15 PM
I've never really given it any thought. I usually quench things straight into the pickle. I know it's wrong, but I love to hear the sizzle! I won't do that in future.

Wallace
07-12-2014, 06:56 PM
thermal shock can really ruin solder joins. I will sometimes put annealed metal into boiling water to keep it from oxidising too quickly. *slaps hand*

Keia
07-12-2014, 07:01 PM
I don't quench. I put the items on a tile until it's cool. I have a quench bowl next to my slow cooker, but that's to rinse the pickle off =)

Tabby66
07-12-2014, 09:05 PM
None quencher here.....onto a steel block to cool!!

FloWolF
08-12-2014, 02:05 PM
If annealing raw cut stock that I want as ductile as I can get, then into cold water it goes, but for after soldering it goes into hot pickle at about 55 -65 c ('cos that's about how hot my old filter coffee maker gets it lol!).

If I've cast the 'lump' myself then I give it a quick while to air cool, then into the hot pickle.

I may be doing it all wrong - but it seems to just about work so I can't be that far off - I haven't the experience yet to say for certain ',;~}~


Shaun.

Nick martin
08-12-2014, 04:11 PM
After reading this thread, and doing a little experimentation, I'm a newly converted 'non quencher'.

Steel block after soldering and annealing it is from now on.

Nick


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