Argentium Bracelet

[Nick martin]

Hello all,

Been experimenting with Argentium for the past several weeks or so and here's a bracelet I recently completed the other week.

The spherical elements serve to hold each loop together, but also although them to rotate so that they fit nicely around the wrist.

Its not perfect, but I'm still pleased with the result. The brief was to keep it simple and elegant so I think I've managed it.

Heres what I'm learning about Argentium....

Fabrication is tricky due to the alloy sagging, so great care is needed. As is widely noted, the parts need to be well supported.

Annealing is tricky so more care needed as opposed to working with Sterling.

When soldering, I've noticed that the whole element thats being soldered needs to be heated more thoroughly before focusing the heat on the solder join ( as opposed to soldering sterling ).

Loving the fact that you can easily fuse Argentium therefore leaving no visible seam, and that some lovely organic creations can be formed. Perfect spheres are also simple as many of the folks on here who work with Argentium have already found out.

It polishes up lovely, especially once its been hardened in a kiln for a few hours ( or in my case the kitchen oven! )

Cheers,

Nick

[metalsmith]

Hello all,

Annealing is tricky so more care needed as opposed to working with Sterling.

We all see the flaws in our own work; don't get hung up on it.
Luckily everyone else sees my flaws too so there's less to argue about

That's a beautiful bracelet tho you've stolen your own thunder by showcasing the mechanism earlier!

Could you elaborate on 'annealing is tricky'?

[enigma]

Looks great Nick! love the video presentation too!

[Dennis]

Elegant construction Nick. Dennis.

[Nick martin]

Maybe tricky was the wrong phrase.. should have said that great care is required. It's simple to miss the point where it anneals so careful observation of the flame and change of the colour in metal is needed. Thanks everyone.

[ajda]

Could you elaborate on 'annealing is tricky'?

If I can butt in here...

The problem with Argentium at high temperatures is something called red-short, a term normally used to describe what happens to steel contaminated with sulphur - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-short .

One consequence of this is that heavier or more elaborate pieces may sag and may therefore need to be supported when torching, as Nick points out.

Another consequence is that, heated to annealing temperature, the alloy becomes fragile until it cools down again. As long as you don't try to lift or move a piece while red hot, this isn't a problem - but move it too early and it may fracture.

I was talking a while back to Peter Johns, the inventor of Argentium, specifically about best practices for annealing. (I had 1.2kg of 960 tubing to anneal and was discussing furnace-annealing methods and temperatures). He reckons that most silversmiths tend to overheat silver when annealing, especially in the case of Argentium which anneals at a lower temperature than some other alloys, but also in the case of traditional sterling. He was a silversmith, metallurgist and technical/jewellery-making tutor for many years before Argentium, so this was not a new observation or only relevant to the new alloy.

Anyhow, his advice when torch annealing is to heat quite rapidly and evenly until there's just a hint of red glow, then leave to cool well into the black-heat range before moving or quenching. In fact, he suggests that quenching isn't necessary at all unless you really need to get the metal into the softest possible condition. Fully annealed and quenched at the optimum point, Argentium will be significantly softer than trad sterling, but leaving it to air cool or perhaps slightly accelerating the rate of cooling by laying it on a steel block is more than adequate most of the time. I now follow his advice, rarely have any problem with sagging and never fracturing.

The reason why, as Nick has found when soldering, you need to heat the whole more thoroughly before focusing heat on the joint, is (I think) because Argentium does not conduct heat as rapidly as trad sterling. Conversely, that's also one of the reasons why it fuses so well.

Lovely bracelet, by the way!

Alan

[Nick martin]

No problem Alan, and as you've worked with it more than me you're by far and away more qualified to comment. Plus you've explained it far better than me so thank you!

I love working with Argentium now, although I can see applications where its not as practical to use as other alloys. I plan on getting a PUK shortly, so hoping to make some interesting fabrications with the two in the near future.

I simply dissipate the heat from my peices on a steel block once they've cooled down and like yourself I've had no issues with fracturing. The last point you made about soldering is extremely important as I've found that items will become pitted at the point where they join otherwise.

Thanks for the post, made for interesting reading as always.

Nick

[theresa]

Lovely bracelet, great design Nick.
I too love working with Argentium and the fact that I can fuse it is very useful on thinnish rings.

[Nick martin]

Thanks Theresa, appreciated as always. Yep I'm an Argentium convert alright although I can clearly see occasions when it still wouldn't be my first choice of material to work with.

Nick

[Petal]

Hi Nick, I'm not sure if its just me, but, much as I'd love to see it, I can't to load the pic of your work. Have you got it in another format by any chance?