ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165 
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Post by ivan on Mar 8, 2014 18:29:20 GMT -5
Just joined the Group and been viewing the many topics & forums. Slow learner but have thoroughly been impressed with the information and the posting that the people have taken the time to share. Have a long way to go and if you find me out of line do not hesitate to let me know.
? - Has anybody successfully been able to fuse Sterling Silver wire for example? I've seen Pure silver jump ring wire being fused on one of the links provided. That chain was done very nicely without the use of a flux. From time to time I've attempted to make small projects most all using Sterling. Soldering Sterling jump rings takes a lot of time. After seeing the Silver chain on one of the topics I would like to know if anybody has been able to do this successfully, with Sterling, and possibly disclose your secrets to us. My work bench is cluttered up so bad that I need to do some Spring cleaning before I can get to the torch setup. Thank you very much! IV
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Post by Pat on Mar 8, 2014 18:49:19 GMT -5
Hi, Ivan,
You can fuse pure silver, but solder sterling.
When soldering sterling , I just line them up in the groove I cut in the firebrick , flux, place the solder chips, and go at it. Zap, zap, and I'm done.
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 8, 2014 21:38:38 GMT -5
Welcome  Argentium sterling silver can be fused for chain links and jump rings. It is more expensive, but if you are just looking to do a chain, fusing will work. Google fusing argentium silver wire. Argentium IS sterling silver but it is a different alloy than the regular sterling silver. |
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Post by Tony W on Mar 9, 2014 20:24:51 GMT -5
I've been using Blue Fuse to fuse sterling, pure, sterling to pure, lol. All the stuff that it was said I couldn't do with enamel, like using sterling, and getting the enamel to stick, and to fuse onto sterling, etc. I've gotten it all to work. That Blue Fuse is great since it lets the parts you paint with it, fuse at lower heat, while it keeps me from melting the wire, or plate, or bezel wire..whatever it is. I'm great at melting stuff, so the Blue Fuse is the way to go for me. T
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 10, 2014 9:00:49 GMT -5
I've been using Blue Fuse to fuse sterling, pure, sterling to pure, lol. All the stuff that it was said I couldn't do with enamel, like using sterling, and getting the enamel to stick, and to fuse onto sterling, etc. I've gotten it all to work. That Blue Fuse is great since it lets the parts you paint with it, fuse at lower heat, while it keeps me from melting the wire, or plate, or bezel wire..whatever it is. I'm great at melting stuff, so the Blue Fuse is the way to go for me. T I've never heard of that. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the heads up. |
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Post by Pat on Mar 10, 2014 10:11:56 GMT -5
I've been using Blue Fuse to fuse sterling, pure, sterling to pure, lol. All the stuff that it was said I couldn't do with enamel, like using sterling, and getting the enamel to stick, and to fuse onto sterling, etc. I've gotten it all to work. That Blue Fuse is great since it lets the parts you paint with it, fuse at lower heat, while it keeps me from melting the wire, or plate, or bezel wire..whatever it is. I'm great at melting stuff, so the Blue Fuse is the way to go for me. T Hmm, I've tried fusing using pure silver several times. Each time, I melted the wire. Thanks for the information. Could be very useful here! |
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ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 10, 2014 14:40:58 GMT -5
I've been using Blue Fuse to fuse sterling, pure, sterling to pure, lol. All the stuff that it was said I couldn't do with enamel, like using sterling, and getting the enamel to stick, and to fuse onto sterling, etc. I've gotten it all to work. That Blue Fuse is great since it lets the parts you paint with it, fuse at lower heat, while it keeps me from melting the wire, or plate, or bezel wire..whatever it is. I'm great at melting stuff, so the Blue Fuse is the way to go for me. T Your information is encouraging. Most of the sources & notes I reviewed and read indicated that it would be almost impossible to do what you, and maybe very few others. have proven to work. The first step I will have to find a source of Blue Fuse Flux that you mentioned and practice. Thank you for your note and congratulations on your work with enameling, fusing, onto sterling, etc. What other metals have you found this to be effective on? Eventually may try to do a bit of enameling in the future. Kindest regards - IV |
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Post by Tony W on Mar 11, 2014 1:42:20 GMT -5
Well, I always mess things up and get weird results. And I'm always trying what they say you can't do Tom/Connrock fuses sterling without Blue Fuse, just does it. I don't know if he is trying, or not To me the whole thing with fusing, or soldering is controlling the heat, and the Blue Fuse lets me see the flash before I melt the wire. I'm color blind and can't read flame very well, and often miss the flash, or never get the flash, etc. The Blue Fuse lets me see the flash easily. With sterling you have to bring the pure silver up to the surface to get a fuse, and controlling the heat is hard. I'm always melting stuff. But I started using the BF I was able to get the pure silver to come up without melting the wire. Ornamentea has it. store.ornamentea.com/store/search.asp Now I've warned you I'm weird when it comes to this kind of stuff, so your results may vary Tony |
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Post by Tony W on Mar 11, 2014 12:23:18 GMT -5
Ok, I just fused some sterling 21 gage square to remind myself how I do it, lol. The trick is to go real easy with a low flame, and keep it moving. After a bit you'll see some silver flashing around the wire, and that's the pure coming up, and that's the glue you want to use, but it's also right on the edge of going poof, so I back off immediately when I see the bright silver, and then go back in and bring it up again on the spot I'm fusing...and I keep doing that until I see the bright silver fill in the space at the join. Takes a quick hand and a quick eye, but it can be done. I just painted the Blue Fuse a quarter inch either side of the join, then watch the whole piece for the bright silver flash, then back off quick, and I mean quick, because it is right at the edge of melting. Just now I melted my first attempt, so I cut the balled ends off, and started over, reacting much faster this time, and voila..fused sterling with 21 gage square. I'll try one without the blue fuse later, if I have time. And if I can get help holding the camera I'll try to get a movie up...but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, lol. Tony
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RickN
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2011
Posts: 85
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Post by RickN on Mar 11, 2014 15:50:54 GMT -5
Fuseing usually only works with pure metals and argentium. With alloys like sterling silver the copper and silver melt at different temperatures making it hard to get a good strong joint. It is best to solder sterling.
RickN
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ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 11, 2014 21:20:37 GMT -5
Drat & Double Drat! I can't seem to locate the fine silver handmade chain that some member of this Hobby Group fabricated, if my feeble memory serves me right, did such a splendid chain project with. It was done using fine silver jump rings than stretching them into and oval than putting each one through the other. Something like that? However I'm not sure whether the fused sterling jump rings would, in the long scheme of things, be faster & hold up as well?
In any event I'll just have to look into the process of fusing the sterling and see if I might get it to work for me. Now that I know that it can be make to work. IV
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Tom
fully equipped rock polisher
My dad Tom suddenly passed away yesterday, Just wanted his "rock" family to know.
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,557
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Post by Tom on Mar 11, 2014 22:04:39 GMT -5
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ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 12, 2014 21:56:00 GMT -5
That's it exactly, Tom! You made my day. Your project is what got me thinking if it could be done by fusing sterling? Very nicely done. It's going to be a future project for the little woman. I bookmarked it this time. Thank you for posting. IV |
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Tom
fully equipped rock polisher
My dad Tom suddenly passed away yesterday, Just wanted his "rock" family to know.
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,557
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Post by Tom on Mar 13, 2014 19:48:41 GMT -5
You are welcome Ivan. Why are you so set on fusing sterling anyway. Fine silver is not much more cost wise. Got to be some reason:)
Take care
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ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 13, 2014 22:37:36 GMT -5
In the beginning I wanted to know if it was possible and easy to fuse sterling. I appreciate all the outstanding replies, suggestions, and insight that was contributed to assist me in the final analysis of what I can use & how to accomplish it. If I understood correctly So far as a silver chain goes, it could be fine silver, Argentium sterling silver, for the fusing process or sterling if I prefer to solder. You're right I am fairly set on the outstanding chain design that you fabricated & posted. Since I already have some sterling wire and a rolling mill, & drawing plate for configuring wire, if need be, will probably set up as Pat mentioned. Hope this serves to answer your inquiry satisfactory - Tom? Thank you all so very much for your sage advice & assistance. IV |
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Tom
fully equipped rock polisher
My dad Tom suddenly passed away yesterday, Just wanted his "rock" family to know.
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,557
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Post by Tom on Mar 14, 2014 7:55:45 GMT -5
Hi Ivan,
Oh for sure it answers my question:) You have everything you need to make the chain from sterling I would do it too. The rings were wound around a 3/8 inch mandrel and then stretched. Then they were bent in a "U" shape around a 3/16 inch mandrel. From there is just linking them together (a pain at first). Then I used a small burnisher to open/round the links some as they will get bent out of shape when you link them. Then I put an OPEN set of round nose pliers in a vice and tried to round out all 4 sides of each link perfectly. Then I pulled the chain through a wooden chain draw plate to get the outside size correct.
Be forwarned:) If a link breaks on you when you are doing all this sizing you HAVE to take the chain apart link by link to fix. In your case using sterling you could likely solder a ring in place to fix it up. This being said I did the rounding stretching stuff about every 2 inches just in case. I did have one link break on me so this is a good idea as I only had to go back a few links to fix it.
FYI, it takes about 5 links per inch of chain, so my 26 inch chain took 130 links.
Its fun BTW, actually fusing the links is a blast. Watching for that super shiny flash and then pulling back a mS before the link melts is cool. Enjoy your project Ivan and post us a pic when you are done. If you need any other help just let me know.
Tom
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ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 15, 2014 22:32:03 GMT -5
Hello Tom, It was good of you to take the time to post the details of your project. This will serve very well when I actually get my work area cleaned and set up. You did a super job in making the chain very very nicely done and I hope that you will have more of your work posted. Thank you for sharing. IV |
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Post by Tony W on Mar 16, 2014 0:39:38 GMT -5
Tom is right! Just get some fine silver wire and some Blue Fuse, and go at it. I only fuse sterling to tack it down so I can solder it where I want without flux moving it. But you asked if it could be done...not if it should be done, lol....and it's not near as easy as pure is, nor near as reliable as solder. T
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ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 16, 2014 21:04:20 GMT -5
Hi Tony - It appears that you have developed a method of holding the pieces and than soldering for your projects. You answered my question about fusing sterling and I have also come to the conclusion that soldering the sterling will be most reliable & cost effective for me. As I have the sterling on hand. Thanks again for taking the time to post your results & conclusions. IV |
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Post by Tony W on Mar 17, 2014 11:44:25 GMT -5
YOu are most welcome. Yep, spend your time learning to solder sterling. My guru Tom/Connrock help me learn soldering and it took me a long time to get where I could control the flame. I was melting everything but the solder, and now I can solder with all hard solder on most stuff, and even fuse sterling, lol, so practice makes the difference, along with a good teacher. It's so much about heat control, and that takes doing a lot of it. Good luck, Tony
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Argentium sterling silver can be fused for chain links and jump rings. It is more expensive, but if you are just looking to do a chain, fusing will work. Google fusing argentium silver wire. Argentium IS sterling silver but it is a different alloy than the regular sterling silver. 
X - Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's rocks
- O Henry