1

ANNEALING What happens to St. Silver when we cut, file or shape it? Becomes Work Hardened. Why do we anneal? To soften precious metal so that we can bend and form it three dimensionally. What temperature do we require? 650 What colour should the metal be at annealing temperature? Dull purple/red. Do we anneal the entire piece of metal? Yes. If we do not anneal the entire piece there will be hard spots and soft spots so you will not be able to shape the work uniformly. How quickly do we quench Sterling Silver in water? Straight away. What do we used to clean the metal once it has been quenched? Pickle Pot containing Safety Pickle Name the tweezers used to pick up hot metal Reverse action insulated tweezers. Name the tweezers used to move work in/out of the Safety Pickle Brass or plastic tweezers. What do we do if Safety Pickle gets splashed on someone? Rinse with copious amounts of water. Why do weAnneal? Annealing is a vital operation in silversmithing. It is the process by which we keep metal pliable as we are forming our work. We heat the metal to a point where the internal crystal structure reforms to make the material softer, more ductile and easy to work. As metal is forged, drawn, bent or rolled, it becomes work hardened and will fracture if work is continued. The molecular structure has tightened causing the metal to become hard and annealing will cause the molecular structure to loosen out. We use a blowtorch, with a wide flame to produce what is termed a reducing flame. We use this wide flame to try to create a reducing atmosphere to try to keep down the level of open air as we work.

Imogen Waitt

October, 2010

2
For annealing purposes the most effective part of the flame to use is 1 from the end (the point at which the orange centre meets the blue section.) The metal is then put immediately into cold water to be quenched. This will help maintain the loosened molecular structure we have achieved. Then it is put into the pickling solution, known as Safety Pickle.

Internal structure of Sterling Silver:

1. Metal that has been work hardened

2. Recrystalisation has begun, new seed crystals are growing as the metal is heated.

3. Growth by absorbing old crystals

4. Annealing process complete.

Each metal has its own annealing and quenching temperature. It is vital to learn this because: We need to achieve a uniformly softened piece of metal To prevent overheating that can either melt your piece of work or cause it to become brittle and fracture. This brittleness is due to the fact that overheating induces undesirable grain growth in the metal and a significant loss of ductility.

Imogen Waitt

October, 2010

3
When moving a piece of metal from the charcoal or soldering block we must use insulated tweezers. Once the metal has been quenched in cold water we must use brass or plastic tweezers to insert and remove the item from the pickle solution. Never use steel or iron as they will turn everything bright pink! This is because chemical will react with the base metal forming a copper solution that will automatically plate onto Sterling Silver. When silver alloys are annealed in open air, copper oxides will form. These oxides fall into two categories: 1. Cupric Oxide: This is the black layer that is visible to the naked eye after annealing or soldering. This is removed using the pickle solution. Cuprous Oxide: (the dreaded firestain). This has to be removed by laborious polishing.

2.

. Applying Flux or Argotech can reduce the formation of Cuprous Oxide. These are applied in paste form to the entire surface of your work. As they become glass-like you have reached annealing temperature. Obviously, in the average workroom it is impractical to accurately measure temperature, so we have to learn to rely on our eyes. We can do this by observing colour changes over the entirety of the metal: When the metal turns a dull purplish-red you have achieved 650C. As you reach annealing temperature, it is necessary to back the blow torch away, or reduce the flame strength to maintain constant heat, whilst holding the desired temperature. Hold that temperature for 10 30 seconds. Quench after a minute in cold water.

Imogen Waitt

October, 2010