Silver Craft- Basic Techniques for
Working with Silver
Silver is extremely malleable and
ductile and as such, it is highly
preferred by silversmiths for making
silverware and silver jewelery. Silver
craft takes years to learn as an
apprentice to a silversmith, or in some
college or university offering such
courses. Perfection comes only with
practice. However, the basic techniques
can be learned by anyone who has
patience, and the right tools!
Piercing: Silver is cut to form a basic
shape or to make a decorative pattern
with a piercing saw. When creating a
pattern, a small hole is drilled in the
silver sheet to allow the blade of the
saw to be positioned. The blade is then
attached to the piercing saw, under
tension. Blades can be coarse allowing
fast cutting or very fine for detailed
work. The blades are delicate and can be
easily snapped. As such, work must be
done slowly. The blade is held
vertically and metal is moved slowly to
make curves or corners. Blades are also
lubricated by passing them through
beeswax, which makes cutting smoother.
The work is supported on a bench peg
which is screwed to a workbench having a
V cut into it so that both the sides of
the cut are supported. Small shavings of
metal called lemel are collected from
under the piercing onto a leather or
paper cloth, which are then recycled
into new silver.
Soldering: Pieces of silver are joined
by soldering. Silver solder, that comes
in various alloy mixes but mainly
containing silver, is used for
soldering. Silver solder melts at a very
high temperature and so a blow torch is
used. The temperature required to melt
silver solder is very close to the
temperature at which the piece being
worked upon would itself melt. To manage
the temperatures, soldering and other
torch work is usually done in darkness
so that the color of the metal, as it
heats, can be used to measure the
temperature of the piece. Silver solder
come in soft, medium and hard versions
having lower, higher and highest melting
points. Pieces where multiple soldering
is required use hard solder at first,
and work down the grades with subsequent
soldering so that each addition does not
melt or distort the previous one. Lead
solder should never be used as its high
temperatures cause the solder to run all
over the silver, damaging and making it
useless.
Annealing: The more a piece is worked,
the harder and more brittle it becomes.
Repeated annealing keeps silver soft,
malleable and easier to work with. It is
done with a torch in darkness. Silver is
heated until it gives soft pinkish red
glow, which is the point just before
melting. The piece is then immediately
cooled in cold water, which freezes the
molecules into the alignment they were
in when almost molten, and thus makes it
easier to work. However, working with a
torch leaves fire stain on silver which
is removed by pickling.
Pickling: Fire stained silver piece is
placed in acid bath, mostly sulphuric
acid, to remove any oxidization before
working on it. Pickling salts are used
for works done on smaller scale. The
pickling solution is kept warm to speed
the process. The piece is then rinsed in
running water, and cleaned with pumice
powder to remove any remaining traces.
Shaping: The work is shaped into
finished form in many ways, depending on
the desired shape. Tubular shapes like
rings and bangles are formed on mandrels
that are held in a vice, while the
annealed metal is hammered with a mallet
of wood or hide. Bowls and other such
curved pieces are domed on leather
sandbags, wooden or metal doming blocks,
using wooden or shaped metal hammers.
Polishing: Polishing is a long process,
where a piece is rubbed with
progressively finer wet and dry papers
to remove any tool marks. It can then be
wheel polished, polished with a fine
polishing mop on a pendant drill, or
barrel polished, where it is soaked in a
soap solution with steel shot and
rotated for 10 minutes or so. Polishing
makes the piece smooth and shiny, free
of all marks.
These were the basic techniques of
silver craft. Silversmith, however,
adopt many other advanced techniques
also like hand fabrication, lost wax
casting, die striking, and
electroforming etc. For beginners,
initially its better to work in a base
metal such as brass or copper, as they
are much cheaper metals to allow for
mistakes.
Find here more information about silver
craft accessories like silver furniture
etc.
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Silver is extremely malleable and ductile and as such, it is
highly preferred by silversmiths for making silverware and
silver jewelery.