Reticulation problems - metal breaking :(

[Elizabeth]

Hello all and seasons greetings,

I would be really grateful for your advice on the following....

I've been experimenting with reticulating round silver wire in 2mm, with the intention of making into rings. The first few times it seemed to work well and then on the last piece of 2mm silver when I tried to bend the wire into a ring it had become very brittle and snapped.

I then (rather foolishly, without posting on here first...!) tried on a piece of 9ct yellow gold and the same thing happened.

Does anyone know how to prevent this happening again?

Thanks as always for your help.
Best wishes,
Elizabeth

[Goldsmith]

Hi Elizabeth, I cannot comment about reticulation as I never use it. May I ask if you are quenching the metal after melting it's surface for reticulation, if you are this will make the metal brittle. Perhaps you could try annealing the strips after you have done your reticulation, heat the strip to a dull red and let the it cool without any quenching.
Or perhaps try making the ring before reticulating it's surface, make sure that you solder the ring with hard solders, enamel solder is the best as it doesn't usually run twice.

James

[Elizabeth]

Hi James,
Thanks very much for the reply. I haven't quenched it afterwards, just pickling once I've left it to cool.
I'll try both the suggestions, thanks. I wonder if it's possible I'm over heating it when reticulating - do you think that could be making it brittle?

[CJ57]

I can't help either, I tried it for the first time earlier this year and couldn't get anything nice out of it. The only time I've managed an attractive piece of reticulated silver was purely by accident and it became part of the design!

[LydiaNiz]

Hi there,
I make reticulated rings a fair deal, definitely try what James suggested in letting them cool, but also maybe anneal and shape it in increments. I've not had a snapping issue before (whether with wire or sheet), but I haven't been able to reticulate after soldering them ever, as they have always come apart on the seam. Good luck!

[Wallace]

weird question, what colour does the metal turn, when you are hearing? I only ask, as sometimes, it might be a clue to the breaking.

[Elizabeth]

Hi all,

Thanks for tips will try the annealing & shaping gradually, though I did try annealing afterwards, as James suggested, but it seems that once it's got to that hard and brittle point it won't go back to being softer with annealing.

I think the silver went black and then orangey pink and the 9k gold went sort of black and then pink (I think!).

I just read somewhere that if the alloy has a high copper content that you should quench it after heating to stop it going brittle.
It's all so confusing!