Hi,
has anybody ever used this as an alternative to silver? (Ok, I know it's not as nice, but just wondering!). If so, what problems did you find with it? Where do you get it?
cheers from a cold Glasgow :help:
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Hi,
has anybody ever used this as an alternative to silver? (Ok, I know it's not as nice, but just wondering!). If so, what problems did you find with it? Where do you get it?
cheers from a cold Glasgow :help:
I occasionally make chains with stainless steel - usually commissions for 'real men' who think it's namby pamby to wear silver ;)
These only use wire, which I find very hard to work. At the bigger gauges (which these inevitably are) it's tough on the fingers. And I go through saw blades like nobody's business!
I haven't worked with it yet but I have a stainless steel ring that's really nice to wear and I definitely want to give it a go.
I think you have to keep it away from silver during making, can't remember why though. It's unsolderable and turns silver unsolderable or turns silver a funny colour, or something.
There's an awful lot of different stainless steels...
Many of them are complete pigs to work with. Some of them are hardenable. Some aren't. All of them contain 12% chromium or greater. Most of them contain nickel - which is potentially a problem with the EU Nickel Directive.
I've seen references to using 316L in watches (and that's a nickel one). 416 is a nice one to work - free machining, so it cuts about the same as brass.
I can't remember if the sheets I've got sat around are 316L or not. They eat sawblades though, and they're just 1.6mm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ps_bond
Can I be so cheeky as to ask where you got the stainless steel sheets from?
Nowhere useful for anyone else, I'm afraid... They're from scrapped equipment - rack-mounted stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tags
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