Silver Questions

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Todd in PA

Todd in PA

Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2021
Messages
731
Location
Port Matilda, PA
Hi, All.

So I've started making kitless pens and I'm using aluminum bands (rings) to offset my section and end caps. It looks nice and is doing the job. But I'm not happy with the amount of shimmer (luster?) I get after wet sanding the acrylic material with the aluminum bands. I read somewhere on IAP that oxidation of the aluminum kills your shine over a short span of time.

My first question is if there is not another soft metal which holds a shine better than aluminum. Perhaps an aluminum alloy?

The eventual landing spot answer is probably to consider SILVER. Silver is of course very expensive to buy in sheet, particularly if I'm going to drill it and turn 85% of it to shavings. I could get a disc cutter to better salvage my scrap (what I do with the scrap is a whole nother question). Maybe there is a good source for ordering precut rings to specific dimension to fit my pen design? I think I would like move into using some precious metals to elevate my product. I'm looking for suggestions and input from those that have gone down this road before.

Thank you,

Todd in PA
 
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Many years ago (20+), I purchased sterling silver pen kits from a website in England. Made many pens, and like most silver, they tarnished. Over the years I tired several ways to "seal" them. Nothing worked. Photo taken today.
 

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carlmorrell said:
Many years ago (20+), I purchased sterling silver pen kits from a website in England. Made many pens, and like most silver, they tarnished. Over the years I tired several ways to "seal" them. Nothing worked. Photo taken today.
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Ugh. That's not good.

If I were to go down the silver road, I understand that Argentium Silver doesn't tarnish, or tarnishes less.
 
jalbert said:
Buy a soldering kit and fabricate them from square wire. Wire is comparatively cheap.
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Thank you, John. That's a fantastic idea. I wasn't aware of this option and is exactly the reason I posted my question here. 20 gauge Argentium square wire is $2.50 per foot. I'm pretty sure I could make that work. Quick look into fusing silver, I think I'd need some flux, torch, and copper tongs to close my rings.

I'll see if anyone else chimes in with other intel or experience on this front.
 
Save any and all scraps, even the "sawdust" to recycle @ 85% of spot market. We just sent 200+ ounces of sterling scrap for refining last week. Argentium is tarnish resistant but turns to a taterskin brown or light gold color as it does tarnish. We keep sunshine cloths around to spot shine.

There are several varients of arc fusers on Amazon

jewelry fuser
 
Todd,
Its possible to have the ring sizes you want to use cast using the lost wax method. It helps if you keep it to a couple of sizes rather than each ring on each pen is a different size. There is less waste than stamping them out but there are limitations on how thin you can make them. You can make rings that have a standard inside diameter and a large Outside diameter that can be turned down to your needs. One of the issues with cast rings is they need turned and finished. Your dealing with surface oxidation from the casting processes and out of round issues from the mold to casting steps. Depending on where they are on the pen you can glue them on the pen and just turn it round with the rest of the pen body.
Its possible to cut rings to size out of hard wax, like File-A- Wax and cast them but the most economical way is to make a rubber mold of the size you want to use from a master model that is slightly larger than the finished dimensions. That mold is injected with wax and then the wax model is put through the casting process. Once its cast you turn it to the finished size you need.
If you make the rings by soldering flat wire, form the ring size. cut the ring off the main wire. Make a "D" out of the ring with the joint in the middle of the straight part of the D. Make your joint as perfect a fit as possible, solder your joint and then round it on a mandrel. You may need to grind or clean the extra solder off the inside of your joint if you over do it, before putting it on the mandrel to make it round.
The only real way to keep silver, even Argentium from oxidizing is to have it plated with Rhodium or Nickel.
 
If you want to use stainless steel buy washers from the hardware store, drill them out to size and turn them down.
Chrome is a plating and will not take soldering.
 
Follow up:

I bought Argentium Silver square wire, 20 gauge. And made jump rings. It wasn't too hard to do, but time consuming.

Here are the first two pens I made with silver accents. I'm happy with them overall. The silver sings so brightly compared to aluminum.

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I have ordered 14 gauge square wire for next time. The 20 doesn't give much room for error. For example, I wanted to shape the brown pen a bit more, but had to stop once I hit my silver ring. More experience and better planning will help, but doubling my wiggle room is probably best for now.

I like the center ring being visible on the closed pen. But I notice others put it in front of the cap threads. It's probably safer there— held captive except when filling the pen.
 
builtbybill said:
So you just put a containment groove in there and then turn down to the silver? Is the silver soft enough to turn down, if necessary?

TIA
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Yes. I just created a groove big enough to put my jump ring into then threaded the pieces together and turned it down until I met the silver. You will have to turn off some of the silver, in order to get a nice clean line between the silver and the surrounding material.
 
Todd in PA said:
Yes. I just created a groove big enough to put my jump ring into then threaded the pieces together and turned it down until I met the silver. You will have to turn off some of the silver, in order to get a nice clean line between the silver and the surrounding material.
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Awesome, thanks for the inspiration!
 
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