In the class that I taught in Columbus many of the students were very interested in how to use Argentium Sterling Silver. When I mentioned that Argentium could be hardened in the oven, the questions began to fly. So I thought that i would pass on the information to everyone.

This information comes directly from Appendix B in my book Wiresmithing - The New look of Wire Art.

Hardening Argentium

 Argentium silver can be heat hardened in a kitchen stove.

Place the metal on a Pyrex® dish or a soldering brick; I prefer a soldering brick (you can pick one up at most jewelry supply stores). Place the dish/brick, with the finished project - stone removed - in an oven set at 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius). Let it sit there for about 3 hours. Remove the piece from the oven. You’ll notice that there is an odd colored scale on your piece…don’t panic, that’s what the pickling agent is for.

To remove the scale, prepare the pickling agent according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Make sure that you read all of the safety precautions; this is a mild acid that you are dealing with…safety first. You might want to place the pickle in a small 5 quart slow cooker because the pickle works better when it’s warm. Place the metal in the pickle and let it rest there for about 10 minutes or until all of the discoloration is gone. Carefully remove the piece from the pickle. To remove the piece from the pickle you can use long tweezers or make a neat little hook out of a thick piece of Argentium Sterling wire. Just hook the piece and pull it out. Once you have it out, place it in a small container of water to wash off the pickle. Remove it from the water and check out how much harder the metal is…amazing isn’t it?

After pickling, the piece will have a dull look. All you need to do is polish the piece using a flex shaft fitted with a polishing tip and jewelers rouge. You can also place the piece in a rotary tumbler with a burnishing agent, which will polish it up really nicely in a few hours.

This process only hardens the metal. To bring out the slow tarnish properties of the metal we need to do one more thing. Once the metal is polished you need to place it back in the oven. Set your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius), set the piece - without the stone - on a Pyrex® dish or a soldering brick and place it in the oven for about 20 minutes. At the end of 20 minutes remove it from the oven and let it air cool. This process brings out the metals tarnish resistance properties.  

That's pretty much it. As you can see it isn't all that difficult and the results are amazing.

'Til Next Time.

Jim McIntosh