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Thread: Cracked silver or deep scratch...? Help!

  1. #1
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    Default Cracked silver or deep scratch...? Help!

    Hello,

    Probably a stupid question; but I'm confused and it makes sense to pick the brains of the more experienced Silversmiths here... if you can help....

    So I've been wearing a few small pendants together, and noticed a faint line going all the way around the side of my favourite one. Terrified I'd cracked it; I heated it up in an attempt to get the silver to liquify and close the gap. But this particular pendant has a thin layer of gold on it so I was mindful about damaging or moving that, so I don't think I got it the temperature to make the silver section liquid enough.

    I can still see the blemish.

    My question is this: if I heated a piece with a crack in it, would that have just crumbled under the heat? It's got to have made it worse if it was a crack...? This doesn't seem worse so wondering if maybe it was just a scratch... I let it cool down on it's own after heating it up so as to minimise any chance of further damage.

    Hope that makes sense and someone can help!

    Thanks for reading 👍 xx

  2. #2
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    PS. I have stopped wearing items together also!!

  3. #3
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    A photograph would be helpful
    Last edited by CJ57; 11-07-2019 at 12:54 PM.

  4. #4
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    Thanks for taking the time to reply Caroline...

    It has gold on it; no plating (I personally dislike it anyway) but I'm not so inexperienced that I'd try to melt plating... Also can't be from casting as this was an already established piece...

    I see your point about the lack of pictures... I don't have a good enough camera to show you all what I'm talking about unfortunately, or I'd have lead with pictures...

    Honestly, I didn't really think it would work but was worth a try I thought; from the way you worded your reply I gather that was a stupid attempt at a solution, not really sure why, but I am new to this and don't have access to any resources besides what I can find in books and online.

    As I say, I don't know for sure whether it's a crack or not... all I was looking for really was someone to tell me what would happen if you tried to heat a crack, so I could work out for myself what I have here.

    Maybe a moderator could delete this thread since it's not going to go anywhere...? I just feel like an idiot now.

  5. #5
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    I’ve deleted my post Vawny so that someone else can advise

  6. #6
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    I don't think much would happen if you gently heated a crack.
    Its impossible to say without photos but if its a scratch you could polish it out, if a crack you could try filling with hard solder.

  7. #7
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    Thank you for your reply Sarah (ps am familiar with, and love your work!) I have tried to polish it out which is why I began to fear I had a crack in the first place...

    I think perhaps I'll chalk this one up to inexperience, as my concern stems from a worry that I quenched too hot after attaching a jump ring... soldering is still a difficulty of mine at times... adding this detail as I realised I forgot to mention this earlier, D'oh! (I have a neurological condition that makes me a bit scatty!) I never quench when it's red, but this piece has lived a few lives; first as a ring, then a pendant that I changed the bail of...maybe the silver has just been overworked at this point. I'll call it a learning curve I guess. Steep curve tho...

    Jeez I hope I don't have to learn everything the hard way! But, as my Dad used to say " if you're learning from a mistake, it was a mistake worth making" (or words to that effect) xx

  8. #8
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    Jeez I hope I don't have to learn everything the hard way! But, as my Dad used to say " if you're learning from a mistake, it was a mistake worth making" (or words to that effect) xx[/QUOTE]

    ....That's called active learning...
    Poor old Les

  9. #9
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    I learn everything the hard way, don't worry about it, at least the lesson tends to stick
    And soldering still sometimes goes wrong for me 5 years down the line....
    Thanks for the compliment

  10. #10
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    Lol, I like that... from now on all mistakes will be called active lessons lol!! Thanks :'D

    True, I suppose once I've royally fudged something up, I do tend to remember it. Interesting to know solder is tricky for lots of experienced people too; I hear that a lot when I whinge about it on social media lol...

    Shame about the piece I messed up tho, was a nice piece. Cést la vie I guess... my items should be back from casting tomorrow, looking forward to confronting a different problem (I've never finished my castings at home, but got to learn... I suspect some of that will go spectacularly wrong lol, I mean I will have actively learnt something new lol) I'll probably open another thread and bore you all when it's done

    Thank you to everyone for your answers; I appreciate I am pretty new at this, but my husband says the only stupid question is one you already know the answer to. So, thank you and sorry but there will be more I expect. Have a lovely weekend everyone xx

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