Aluminum or sterling silver in stamping metal ?

[Bluebirdjew]

Hi,
can anyone tell me the difference between Aluminum and sterling silver in stamping metal??
Just wondered which is best to use and can you solider, pickle and use a tumbler for polishing with aluminum ???
Also which sites are best to purchase stamp blanks ???
Thanks for any advise !!

[Dennis]

I don't do stamping Bluebird, but are you really asking the difference between aluminium and silver?

They are both valid materials for exercising your stamping skills and the choice is yours. If you opt for silver it will cost more, but is also perceived as being more valuable, especially if hall marked, and therefore worth more elaborate treatment.

Aluminium can probably be tumbled (someone will step in to verify this), but I would reserve a separate barrel and shot exclusively for this.
It cannot be soldered, only cold connected by rivets, glue, jump rings,or split rings, so pickle would be irrelevant.

You might already have looked up our old barrelling threads, or if not then put single key words into our search box top right.
Briefly, flat objects will become textured with pin pricks if your shot contains needles.

You can also search our many past threads about stamping and letter stamps. Dennis.

[caroleallen]

I do barrel anodised aluminium to polish up the edges and it works fine.

[mizgeorge]

The biggest difference for stamped stuff is that aluminium is too lightweight for things like pendants to hang well. It's great for cuffs, where lightness is a good thing, but for pendants and charms, it ends up just feeling cheap. If you don't want to use sterling, there are some OK alternatives in pewter, which isn't as durable, but has a better feel.

[Bluebirdjew]

Thank you all for the advise!!