To Quench or not to Quench

[Moon Willow]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Spot on Susieq

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

Carlton

[ps_bond]

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]

I quench rose gold quickly as I find it keeps its colour better

[caroleallen]

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]

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*